diff --git a/lan-mouse-gtk/src/lib.rs b/lan-mouse-gtk/src/lib.rs
index 9908e05f2..c1ac4a8fb 100644
--- a/lan-mouse-gtk/src/lib.rs
+++ b/lan-mouse-gtk/src/lib.rs
@@ -98,12 +98,34 @@ fn setup_menu(app: &adw::Application) {
 }
 
 fn build_ui(app: &Application) {
+    // If a window already exists (re-activation), just present it
+    if let Some(window) = app.windows().first() {
+        window.present();
+        return;
+    }
+
     log::debug!("connecting to lan-mouse-socket");
-    let (mut frontend_rx, frontend_tx) = match lan_mouse_ipc::connect() {
+    let (mut frontend_rx, frontend_tx) = match lan_mouse_ipc::try_connect() {
         Ok(conn) => conn,
         Err(e) => {
-            log::error!("{e}");
-            process::exit(1);
+            log::warn!("could not connect to daemon ({e}), spawning a new one");
+            if let Err(spawn_err) = process::Command::new(
+                env::current_exe().expect("could not determine executable path"),
+            )
+            .args(env::args().skip(1))
+            .arg("daemon")
+            .spawn()
+            {
+                log::error!("failed to spawn daemon: {spawn_err}");
+                process::exit(1);
+            }
+            match lan_mouse_ipc::connect() {
+                Ok(conn) => conn,
+                Err(e) => {
+                    log::error!("{e}");
+                    process::exit(1);
+                }
+            }
         }
     };
     log::debug!("connected to lan-mouse-socket");
diff --git a/lan-mouse-ipc/src/connect.rs b/lan-mouse-ipc/src/connect.rs
index 1b751bea9..997b0096d 100644
--- a/lan-mouse-ipc/src/connect.rs
+++ b/lan-mouse-ipc/src/connect.rs
@@ -45,8 +45,40 @@ impl FrontendRequestWriter {
     }
 }
 
+/// Try to connect to the service once without retrying.
+pub fn try_connect() -> Result<(FrontendEventReader, FrontendRequestWriter), ConnectionError> {
+    #[cfg(unix)]
+    let rx = {
+        let socket_path = crate::default_socket_path()?;
+        UnixStream::connect(&socket_path)?
+    };
+    #[cfg(windows)]
+    let rx = TcpStream::connect("127.0.0.1:5252")?;
+    make_connection(rx)
+}
+
 pub fn connect() -> Result<(FrontendEventReader, FrontendRequestWriter), ConnectionError> {
     let rx = wait_for_service()?;
+    make_connection(rx)
+}
+
+#[cfg(unix)]
+fn make_connection(
+    rx: UnixStream,
+) -> Result<(FrontendEventReader, FrontendRequestWriter), ConnectionError> {
+    let tx = rx.try_clone()?;
+    let buf_reader = BufReader::new(rx);
+    let lines = buf_reader.lines();
+    let line_writer = LineWriter::new(tx);
+    let reader = FrontendEventReader { lines };
+    let writer = FrontendRequestWriter { line_writer };
+    Ok((reader, writer))
+}
+
+#[cfg(windows)]
+fn make_connection(
+    rx: TcpStream,
+) -> Result<(FrontendEventReader, FrontendRequestWriter), ConnectionError> {
     let tx = rx.try_clone()?;
     let buf_reader = BufReader::new(rx);
     let lines = buf_reader.lines();
diff --git a/lan-mouse-ipc/src/lib.rs b/lan-mouse-ipc/src/lib.rs
index a2c71126d..032f3c5ea 100644
--- a/lan-mouse-ipc/src/lib.rs
+++ b/lan-mouse-ipc/src/lib.rs
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ mod connect;
 mod connect_async;
 mod listen;
 
-pub use connect::{FrontendEventReader, FrontendRequestWriter, connect};
+pub use connect::{FrontendEventReader, FrontendRequestWriter, connect, try_connect};
 pub use connect_async::{AsyncFrontendEventReader, AsyncFrontendRequestWriter, connect_async};
 pub use listen::AsyncFrontendListener;
 
@@ -299,3 +299,18 @@ pub fn default_socket_path() -> Result<PathBuf, SocketPathError> {
         .join("Caches")
         .join(LAN_MOUSE_SOCKET_NAME))
 }
+
+/// Check if a lan-mouse service is already running by probing the IPC socket.
+#[cfg(unix)]
+pub fn is_service_running() -> bool {
+    let Ok(socket_path) = default_socket_path() else {
+        return false;
+    };
+    std::os::unix::net::UnixStream::connect(socket_path).is_ok()
+}
+
+/// Check if a lan-mouse service is already running by probing the IPC socket.
+#[cfg(windows)]
+pub fn is_service_running() -> bool {
+    std::net::TcpStream::connect("127.0.0.1:5252").is_ok()
+}
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 0ca54c93d..e9f439b1b 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -73,18 +73,26 @@ fn run() -> Result<(), LanMouseError> {
             //  run a frontend
             #[cfg(feature = "gtk")]
             {
-                let mut service = start_service()?;
+                // Only spawn a new daemon if one isn't already running
+                let mut service = if lan_mouse_ipc::is_service_running() {
+                    log::info!("daemon already running, connecting to existing instance");
+                    None
+                } else {
+                    Some(start_service()?)
+                };
                 let res = lan_mouse_gtk::run();
-                #[cfg(unix)]
-                {
-                    // on unix we give the service a chance to terminate gracefully
-                    let pid = service.id() as libc::pid_t;
-                    unsafe {
-                        libc::kill(pid, libc::SIGINT);
+                if let Some(ref mut service) = service {
+                    #[cfg(unix)]
+                    {
+                        // on unix we give the service a chance to terminate gracefully
+                        let pid = service.id() as libc::pid_t;
+                        unsafe {
+                            libc::kill(pid, libc::SIGINT);
+                        }
+                        service.wait()?;
                     }
-                    service.wait()?;
+                    service.kill()?;
                 }
-                service.kill()?;
                 res?;
             }
             #[cfg(not(feature = "gtk"))]