diff --git a/crates/owlry-core/Cargo.toml b/crates/owlry-core/Cargo.toml
index a6e5b40..0dc162d 100644
--- a/crates/owlry-core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/owlry-core/Cargo.toml
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@ description = "Core daemon for the Owlry application launcher"
 name = "owlry_core"
 path = "src/lib.rs"
 
+[[bin]]
+name = "owlry-core"
+path = "src/main.rs"
+
 [dependencies]
 owlry-plugin-api = { path = "../owlry-plugin-api" }
 
@@ -32,6 +36,9 @@ dirs = "5"
 # Error handling
 thiserror = "2"
 
+# Signal handling
+ctrlc = { version = "3", features = ["termination"] }
+
 # Logging & notifications
 log = "0.4"
 env_logger = "0.11"
diff --git a/crates/owlry-core/src/main.rs b/crates/owlry-core/src/main.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..121dcae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/owlry-core/src/main.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+use log::info;
+
+use owlry_core::paths;
+use owlry_core::server::Server;
+
+fn main() {
+    env_logger::Builder::from_env(env_logger::Env::default().default_filter_or("warn")).init();
+
+    let sock = paths::socket_path();
+    info!("Starting owlry-core daemon...");
+
+    // Ensure the socket parent directory exists
+    if let Err(e) = paths::ensure_parent_dir(&sock) {
+        eprintln!("Failed to create socket directory: {e}");
+        std::process::exit(1);
+    }
+
+    let server = match Server::bind(&sock) {
+        Ok(s) => s,
+        Err(e) => {
+            eprintln!("Failed to start owlry-core: {e}");
+            std::process::exit(1);
+        }
+    };
+
+    // Graceful shutdown on SIGTERM/SIGINT
+    let sock_cleanup = sock.clone();
+    ctrlc::set_handler(move || {
+        let _ = std::fs::remove_file(&sock_cleanup);
+        std::process::exit(0);
+    })
+    .ok();
+
+    if let Err(e) = server.run() {
+        eprintln!("Server error: {e}");
+        std::process::exit(1);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/owlry-core/src/paths.rs b/crates/owlry-core/src/paths.rs
index a846063..2505f37 100644
--- a/crates/owlry-core/src/paths.rs
+++ b/crates/owlry-core/src/paths.rs
@@ -154,6 +154,20 @@ pub fn system_data_dirs() -> Vec<PathBuf> {
     dirs
 }
 
+// =============================================================================
+// Runtime files
+// =============================================================================
+
+/// IPC socket path: `$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/owlry/owlry.sock`
+///
+/// Falls back to `/tmp` if `$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR` is not set.
+pub fn socket_path() -> PathBuf {
+    let runtime_dir = std::env::var("XDG_RUNTIME_DIR")
+        .map(PathBuf::from)
+        .unwrap_or_else(|_| PathBuf::from("/tmp"));
+    runtime_dir.join(APP_NAME).join("owlry.sock")
+}
+
 // =============================================================================
 // Helper functions
 // =============================================================================