diff --git a/nac3artiq/src/lib.rs b/nac3artiq/src/lib.rs
index c22990a1..4db1258e 100644
--- a/nac3artiq/src/lib.rs
+++ b/nac3artiq/src/lib.rs
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ use nac3core::codegen::{gen_func_impl, CodeGenLLVMOptions, CodeGenTargetMachineO
 use nac3core::toplevel::builtins::get_exn_constructor;
 use nac3core::typecheck::typedef::{into_var_map, TypeEnum, Unifier, VarMap};
 use nac3parser::{
-    ast::{ExprKind, Stmt, StmtKind, StrRef},
+    ast::{ExprKind, Located, Stmt, StmtKind, StrRef},
     parser::parse_program,
 };
 use pyo3::create_exception;
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ struct Nac3 {
     string_store: Arc<RwLock<HashMap<String, i32>>>,
     exception_ids: Arc<RwLock<HashMap<usize, usize>>>,
     deferred_eval_store: DeferredEvaluationStore,
-    /// LLVM-related options for code generation.
+    /// LLVM-related options for code generzation.
     llvm_options: CodeGenLLVMOptions,
 }
 
@@ -191,30 +191,12 @@ impl Nac3 {
                         })
                         .unwrap()
                     });
-                    body.retain_mut(|stmt| {
-                        if let StmtKind::FunctionDef { ref mut decorator_list, .. } = stmt.node {
-                            decorator_list.iter_mut().any(|decorator| {
-                                if let ExprKind::Name { id, .. } = decorator.node {
-                                    id.to_string() == "kernel"
-                                        || id.to_string() == "portable"
-                                        || id.to_string() == "rpc"
-                                } else if let ExprKind::Call { func, .. } = &decorator.node {
-                                    // decorators with flags (e.g. rpc async) have Call for the node;
-                                    // this is to remove the middle part
-                                    if let ExprKind::Name { id, .. } = func.node {
-                                        if id.to_string() == "rpc" { 
-                                            println!("found rpc: {:?}", func);
-                                            println!("decorator node: {:?}", decorator.node);
-                                            decorator.node = func.clone().node;
-                                            true
+                    body.retain(|stmt| {
+                        if let StmtKind::FunctionDef { ref decorator_list, .. } = stmt.node {
+                            decorator_list.iter().any(|decorator| {
+                                if let Some(id) = decorator_id_string(decorator) {
+                                    id == "kernel" || id == "portable" || id == "rpc"
                                 } else {
-                                            false
-                                        }
-                                    } else {
-                                        false
-                                    }
-                                } 
-                                else {
                                     false
                                 }
                             })
@@ -226,9 +208,8 @@ impl Nac3 {
                 }
                 StmtKind::FunctionDef { ref decorator_list, .. } => {
                     decorator_list.iter().any(|decorator| {
-                        if let ExprKind::Name { id, .. } = decorator.node {
-                            let id = id.to_string();
-                            id == "extern" || id == "portable" || id == "kernel" || id == "rpc"
+                        if let Some(id) = decorator_id_string(decorator) {
+                            id == "extern" || id == "kernel" || id == "portable" || id == "rpc"
                         } else {
                             false
                         }
@@ -862,6 +843,19 @@ impl Nac3 {
     }
 }
 
+fn decorator_id_string(decorator: &Located<ExprKind>) -> Option<String> {
+    if let ExprKind::Name { id, .. } = decorator.node {
+        return Some(id.to_string());
+    } else if let ExprKind::Call { func, .. } = &decorator.node {
+        // decorators with flags (e.g. rpc async) have Call for the node,
+        // extract the id from within
+        if let ExprKind::Name { id, .. } = func.node {
+            return Some(id.to_string());
+        }
+    }
+    None
+}
+
 fn link_with_lld(elf_filename: String, obj_filename: String) -> PyResult<()> {
     let linker_args = vec![
         "-shared".to_string(),