diff --git a/src/daft-io/src/object_io.rs b/src/daft-io/src/object_io.rs
index 60a79d03b2..d74d8a3541 100644
--- a/src/daft-io/src/object_io.rs
+++ b/src/daft-io/src/object_io.rs
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ use async_trait::async_trait;
 use bytes::Bytes;
 use futures::stream::{BoxStream, Stream};
 use futures::StreamExt;
-use tokio::sync::OwnedSemaphorePermit;
 use tokio::sync::mpsc::Sender;
+use tokio::sync::OwnedSemaphorePermit;
 use tokio::sync::Semaphore;
 
 use crate::local::{collect_file, LocalFile};
@@ -86,7 +86,12 @@ pub(crate) trait ObjectSource: Sync + Send {
         continuation_token: Option<&str>,
     ) -> super::Result<LSResult>;
 
-    async fn iter_dir(&self, uri: &str, delimiter: Option<&str>, _limit: Option<usize>) -> super::Result<BoxStream<super::Result<FileMetadata>>> {
+    async fn iter_dir(
+        &self,
+        uri: &str,
+        delimiter: Option<&str>,
+        _limit: Option<usize>,
+    ) -> super::Result<BoxStream<super::Result<FileMetadata>>> {
         let uri = uri.to_string();
         let delimiter = delimiter.map(String::from);
         let s = stream! {
@@ -108,38 +113,26 @@ pub(crate) trait ObjectSource: Sync + Send {
     }
 }
 
-pub(crate) async fn nested(
+pub(crate) async fn recursive_iter(
     source: Arc<dyn ObjectSource>,
     uri: &str,
 ) -> super::Result<BoxStream<super::Result<FileMetadata>>> {
     let (to_rtn_tx, mut to_rtn_rx) = tokio::sync::mpsc::channel(16 * 1024);
-    let sema = Arc::new(tokio::sync::Semaphore::new(64));
-    fn add_to_channel(
-        source: Arc<dyn ObjectSource>,
-        tx: Sender<FileMetadata>,
-        dir: String,
-        connection_counter: Arc<Semaphore>,
-    ) {
+    fn add_to_channel(source: Arc<dyn ObjectSource>, tx: Sender<FileMetadata>, dir: String) {
         tokio::spawn(async move {
-            let _handle = connection_counter.acquire().await.unwrap();
             let mut s = source.iter_dir(&dir, None, None).await.unwrap();
             let tx = &tx;
             while let Some(tr) = s.next().await {
                 let tr = tr.unwrap();
                 match tr.filetype {
                     FileType::File => tx.send(tr).await.unwrap(),
-                    FileType::Directory => add_to_channel(
-                        source.clone(),
-                        tx.clone(),
-                        tr.filepath,
-                        connection_counter.clone(),
-                    ),
+                    FileType::Directory => add_to_channel(source.clone(), tx.clone(), tr.filepath),
                 };
             }
         });
     }
 
-    add_to_channel(source, to_rtn_tx, uri.to_string(), sema);
+    add_to_channel(source, to_rtn_tx, uri.to_string());
 
     let to_rtn_stream = stream! {
         while let Some(v) = to_rtn_rx.recv().await {
diff --git a/src/daft-io/src/python.rs b/src/daft-io/src/python.rs
index 306ecdc745..808836e6b2 100644
--- a/src/daft-io/src/python.rs
+++ b/src/daft-io/src/python.rs
@@ -2,8 +2,13 @@ pub use common_io_config::python::{AzureConfig, GCSConfig, IOConfig};
 pub use py::register_modules;
 
 mod py {
-    use crate::{get_io_client, get_runtime, object_io::LSResult, parse_url};
+    use crate::{
+        get_io_client, get_runtime,
+        object_io::{recursive_iter, LSResult},
+        parse_url,
+    };
     use common_error::DaftResult;
+    use futures::{StreamExt, TryStreamExt};
     use pyo3::{
         prelude::*,
         types::{PyDict, PyList},
@@ -13,10 +18,11 @@ mod py {
     fn io_list(
         py: Python,
         path: String,
+        recursive: bool,
         multithreaded_io: Option<bool>,
         io_config: Option<common_io_config::python::IOConfig>,
     ) -> PyResult<&PyList> {
-        let lsr: DaftResult<LSResult> = py.allow_threads(|| {
+        let lsr: DaftResult<Vec<_>> = py.allow_threads(|| {
             let io_client = get_io_client(
                 multithreaded_io.unwrap_or(true),
                 io_config.unwrap_or_default().config.into(),
@@ -27,12 +33,25 @@ mod py {
 
             runtime_handle.block_on(async move {
                 let source = io_client.get_source(&scheme).await?;
-                Ok(source.ls(&path, None, None).await?)
+                let files = if recursive {
+                    recursive_iter(source, &path)
+                        .await?
+                        .try_collect::<Vec<_>>()
+                        .await?
+                } else {
+                    source
+                        .iter_dir(&path, None, None)
+                        .await?
+                        .try_collect::<Vec<_>>()
+                        .await?
+                };
+
+                Ok(files)
             })
         });
         let lsr = lsr?;
         let mut to_rtn = vec![];
-        for file in lsr.files {
+        for file in lsr {
             let dict = PyDict::new(py);
             dict.set_item("type", format!("{:?}", file.filetype))?;
             dict.set_item("path", file.filepath)?;