diff --git a/cmd/api_serve.go b/cmd/api_serve.go
index eb146b8f..fae2702a 100644
--- a/cmd/api_serve.go
+++ b/cmd/api_serve.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 
 	"github.com/smira/aptly/api"
+	"github.com/smira/aptly/systemd/activation"
 	"github.com/smira/aptly/utils"
 	"github.com/smira/commander"
 	"github.com/smira/flag"
@@ -34,8 +35,24 @@ func aptlyAPIServe(cmd *commander.Command, args []string) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	listen := context.Flags().Lookup("listen").Value.String()
+	// Try to recycle systemd fds for listening
+	listeners, err := activation.Listeners(true)
+	if len(listeners) > 1 {
+		panic("Got more than 1 listener from systemd. This is currently not supported!")
+	}
+	if err == nil && len(listeners) == 1 {
+		listener := listeners[0]
+		defer listener.Close()
+		fmt.Printf("\nTaking over web server at: %s (press Ctrl+C to quit)...\n", listener.Addr().String())
+		err = http.Serve(listener, api.Router(context))
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("unable to serve: %s", err)
+		}
+		return nil
+	}
 
+	// If there are none: use the listen argument.
+	listen := context.Flags().Lookup("listen").Value.String()
 	fmt.Printf("\nStarting web server at: %s (press Ctrl+C to quit)...\n", listen)
 
 	listenURL, err := url.Parse(listen)
@@ -70,7 +87,8 @@ func makeCmdAPIServe() *commander.Command {
 		Long: `
 Start HTTP server with aptly REST API. The server can listen to either a port
 or Unix domain socket. When using a socket, Aptly will fully manage the socket
-file.
+file. This command also supports taking over from a systemd file descriptors to
+enable systemd socket activation.
 
 Example:
 
diff --git a/man/aptly.1 b/man/aptly.1
index 3e504b35..df488671 100644
--- a/man/aptly.1
+++ b/man/aptly.1
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 .\" generated with Ronn/v0.7.3
 .\" http://github.com/rtomayko/ronn/tree/0.7.3
 .
-.TH "APTLY" "1" "February 2017" "" ""
+.TH "APTLY" "1" "March 2017" "" ""
 .
 .SH "NAME"
 \fBaptly\fR \- Debian repository management tool
@@ -1685,10 +1685,13 @@ host:port for HTTP listening
 \fBaptly\fR \fBapi\fR \fBserve\fR
 .
 .P
-Start HTTP server with aptly REST API\. The server can listen to either a port or Unix domain socket\. When using a socket, Aptly will fully manage the socket file\.
+Start HTTP server with aptly REST API\. The server can listen to either a port or Unix domain socket\. When using a socket, Aptly will fully manage the socket file\. This command also supports taking over from a systemd file descriptors to enable systemd socket activation\.
 .
 .P
-Example: $ aptly api serve \-listen=:8080 $ aptly api serve \-listen=unix:///tmp/aptly\.sock
+Example:
+.
+.P
+$ aptly api serve \-listen=:8080 $ aptly api serve \-listen=unix:///tmp/aptly\.sock
 .
 .P
 Options:
diff --git a/system/t12_api/__init__.py b/system/t12_api/__init__.py
index 8151d0a9..41959ec4 100644
--- a/system/t12_api/__init__.py
+++ b/system/t12_api/__init__.py
@@ -10,3 +10,4 @@ from .graph import *
 from .snapshots import *
 from .packages import *
 from .unix_socket import *
+from .systemd_handover import *
diff --git a/system/t12_api/systemd_handover.py b/system/t12_api/systemd_handover.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a8838395
--- /dev/null
+++ b/system/t12_api/systemd_handover.py
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+import requests_unixsocket
+import time
+import urllib
+import os.path
+
+from lib import BaseTest
+
+class SystemdAPIHandoverTest(BaseTest):
+    aptly_server = None
+    socket_path = "/tmp/_aptly_systemdapihandovertest.sock"
+
+    def prepare(self):
+        # On Debian they use /lib on other systems /usr/lib.
+        systemd_activate = "/usr/lib/systemd/systemd-activate"
+        if not os.path.exists(systemd_activate):
+            systemd_activate = "/lib/systemd/systemd-activate"
+        if not os.path.exists(systemd_activate):
+            print("Could not find systemd-activate")
+            return
+        self.aptly_server = self._start_process("%s -l %s aptly api serve -no-lock" %
+                                                (systemd_activate, self.socket_path),)
+        super(SystemdAPIHandoverTest, self).prepare()
+
+    def shutdown(self):
+        if self.aptly_server is not None:
+            self.aptly_server.terminate()
+            self.aptly_server.wait()
+            self.aptly_server = None
+        if os.path.exists(self.socket_path):
+            os.remove(self.socket_path)
+        super(SystemdAPIHandoverTest, self).shutdown()
+
+    def run(self):
+        pass
+
+    """
+    Verify we can listen on a unix domain socket.
+    """
+    def check(self):
+        if self.aptly_server == None:
+            print("Skipping test as we failed to setup a listener.")
+            return
+        session = requests_unixsocket.Session()
+        r = session.get('http+unix://%s/api/version' % urllib.quote(self.socket_path, safe=''))
+        self.check_equal(r.json(), {'Version': '0.9.8~dev'})
diff --git a/systemd/README.md b/systemd/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1c07e682
--- /dev/null
+++ b/systemd/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+Partial import of https://github.com/coreos/go-systemd to avoid a build dependency on systemd-dev (which is not reasonably available on the type of Travis CI that is used - i.e. Ubuntu 14.04).
+
+This import only includes activation code without tests as the tests use code from another directory making them not relocatable without introducing a delta to make them pass.
+
+Code is Apache-2 which is equally permissive as MIT, which is used for aptly.
diff --git a/systemd/activation/files.go b/systemd/activation/files.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c8e85fcd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/systemd/activation/files.go
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+// Copyright 2015 CoreOS, Inc.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+// Package activation implements primitives for systemd socket activation.
+package activation
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"strconv"
+	"syscall"
+)
+
+// based on: https://gist.github.com/alberts/4640792
+const (
+	listenFdsStart = 3
+)
+
+func Files(unsetEnv bool) []*os.File {
+	if unsetEnv {
+		defer os.Unsetenv("LISTEN_PID")
+		defer os.Unsetenv("LISTEN_FDS")
+	}
+
+	pid, err := strconv.Atoi(os.Getenv("LISTEN_PID"))
+	if err != nil || pid != os.Getpid() {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	nfds, err := strconv.Atoi(os.Getenv("LISTEN_FDS"))
+	if err != nil || nfds == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	files := make([]*os.File, 0, nfds)
+	for fd := listenFdsStart; fd < listenFdsStart+nfds; fd++ {
+		syscall.CloseOnExec(fd)
+		files = append(files, os.NewFile(uintptr(fd), "LISTEN_FD_"+strconv.Itoa(fd)))
+	}
+
+	return files
+}
diff --git a/systemd/activation/listeners.go b/systemd/activation/listeners.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fd5dfc70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/systemd/activation/listeners.go
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+// Copyright 2015 CoreOS, Inc.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package activation
+
+import (
+	"crypto/tls"
+	"net"
+)
+
+// Listeners returns a slice containing a net.Listener for each matching socket type
+// passed to this process.
+//
+// The order of the file descriptors is preserved in the returned slice.
+// Nil values are used to fill any gaps. For example if systemd were to return file descriptors
+// corresponding with "udp, tcp, tcp", then the slice would contain {nil, net.Listener, net.Listener}
+func Listeners(unsetEnv bool) ([]net.Listener, error) {
+	files := Files(unsetEnv)
+	listeners := make([]net.Listener, len(files))
+
+	for i, f := range files {
+		if pc, err := net.FileListener(f); err == nil {
+			listeners[i] = pc
+		}
+	}
+	return listeners, nil
+}
+
+// TLSListeners returns a slice containing a net.listener for each matching TCP socket type
+// passed to this process.
+// It uses default Listeners func and forces TCP sockets handlers to use TLS based on tlsConfig.
+func TLSListeners(unsetEnv bool, tlsConfig *tls.Config) ([]net.Listener, error) {
+	listeners, err := Listeners(unsetEnv)
+
+	if listeners == nil || err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	if tlsConfig != nil && err == nil {
+		for i, l := range listeners {
+			// Activate TLS only for TCP sockets
+			if l.Addr().Network() == "tcp" {
+				listeners[i] = tls.NewListener(l, tlsConfig)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	return listeners, err
+}
diff --git a/systemd/activation/packetconns.go b/systemd/activation/packetconns.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..48b2ca02
--- /dev/null
+++ b/systemd/activation/packetconns.go
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+// Copyright 2015 CoreOS, Inc.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package activation
+
+import (
+	"net"
+)
+
+// PacketConns returns a slice containing a net.PacketConn for each matching socket type
+// passed to this process.
+//
+// The order of the file descriptors is preserved in the returned slice.
+// Nil values are used to fill any gaps. For example if systemd were to return file descriptors
+// corresponding with "udp, tcp, udp", then the slice would contain {net.PacketConn, nil, net.PacketConn}
+func PacketConns(unsetEnv bool) ([]net.PacketConn, error) {
+	files := Files(unsetEnv)
+	conns := make([]net.PacketConn, len(files))
+
+	for i, f := range files {
+		if pc, err := net.FilePacketConn(f); err == nil {
+			conns[i] = pc
+		}
+	}
+	return conns, nil
+}