diff --git a/RELEASE-NOTES-next b/RELEASE-NOTES-next
index 8542b8fc8..2975cef29 100644
--- a/RELEASE-NOTES-next
+++ b/RELEASE-NOTES-next
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ option is enabled and only then sets a screenshot as background.
   • Add 'all' window matching criterion
   • Acquire the WM_Sn selection when starting as required by ICCCM
   • Add --replace command line argument to replace an existing WM
+  • Notify systemd when i3 is ready, allowing other services to use i3 as a dependency
 
  ┌────────────────────────────┐
  │ Bugfixes                   │
diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
index a588a0a23..c73601da6 100644
--- a/src/main.c
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -1010,9 +1010,9 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
         ev_io_start(main_loop, log_io);
     }
 
-    /* Also handle the UNIX domain sockets passed via socket activation. The
-     * parameter 1 means "remove the environment variables", we don’t want to
-     * pass these to child processes. */
+    /* Also handle the UNIX domain sockets passed via socket
+     * activation. The parameter 0 means "do not remove the
+     * environment variables", we need to be able to reexec. */
     listen_fds = sd_listen_fds(0);
     if (listen_fds < 0)
         ELOG("socket activation: Error in sd_listen_fds\n");
@@ -1196,5 +1196,6 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
      * when calling exit() */
     atexit(i3_exit);
 
+    sd_notify(1, "READY=1");
     ev_loop(main_loop, 0);
 }