diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index db8ee9d0..6ae18361 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -404,6 +404,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "ruma",
  "rusqlite",
  "rust-argon2",
+ "sd-notify",
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
  "serde_yaml",
@@ -2315,6 +2316,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "untrusted",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "sd-notify"
+version = "0.4.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "621e3680f3e07db4c9c2c3fb07c6223ab2fab2e54bd3c04c3ae037990f428c32"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "security-framework"
 version = "2.7.0"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index ae519459..801d3635 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -93,8 +93,10 @@ tikv-jemallocator = { version = "0.5.0", features = ["unprefixed_malloc_on_suppo
 lazy_static = "1.4.0"
 async-trait = "0.1.57"
 
+sd-notify = { version = "0.4.1", optional = true }
+
 [features]
-default = ["conduit_bin", "backend_sqlite", "backend_rocksdb", "jemalloc"]
+default = ["conduit_bin", "backend_sqlite", "backend_rocksdb", "jemalloc", "systemd"]
 #backend_sled = ["sled"]
 backend_persy = ["persy", "parking_lot"]
 backend_sqlite = ["sqlite"]
@@ -103,6 +105,7 @@ backend_rocksdb = ["rocksdb"]
 jemalloc = ["tikv-jemalloc-ctl", "tikv-jemallocator"]
 sqlite = ["rusqlite", "parking_lot", "tokio/signal"]
 conduit_bin = ["axum"]
+systemd = ["sd-notify"]
 
 [[bin]]
 name = "conduit"