diff --git a/src/shrpx.cc b/src/shrpx.cc
index 088eb23d..cefb720d 100644
--- a/src/shrpx.cc
+++ b/src/shrpx.cc
@@ -120,6 +120,12 @@ constexpr auto ENV_UNIX_PATH = StringRef::from_lit("NGHTTP2_UNIX_PATH");
 // descriptor.  <PATH> is a path to UNIX domain socket.
 constexpr auto ENV_ACCEPT_PREFIX = StringRef::from_lit("NGHTTPX_ACCEPT_");
 
+// This environment variable contains writable end of pipe(2) created
+// by parent process.  The new process is expected to write single
+// byte to this fd to notify the parent process that this process is
+// ready to serve requests.
+constexpr auto ENV_IPC_FD = StringRef::from_lit("NGHTTPX_IPC");
+
 #ifndef _KERNEL_FASTOPEN
 #define _KERNEL_FASTOPEN
 // conditional define for TCP_FASTOPEN mostly on ubuntu
@@ -174,6 +180,8 @@ namespace {
 void worker_process_child_cb(struct ev_loop *loop, ev_child *w, int revents);
 } // namespace
 
+class SyncExecHandler;
+
 struct WorkerProcess {
   WorkerProcess(struct ev_loop *loop, pid_t worker_pid, int ipc_fd)
       : loop(loop), worker_pid(worker_pid), ipc_fd(ipc_fd) {
@@ -226,6 +234,7 @@ struct WorkerProcess {
   struct ev_loop *loop;
   pid_t worker_pid;
   int ipc_fd;
+  std::unique_ptr<SyncExecHandler> sync_exec_handler;
 };
 
 namespace {
@@ -364,7 +373,75 @@ int save_pid() {
 } // namespace
 
 namespace {
-void exec_binary() {
+void sync_exec_notifycb(struct ev_loop *loop, ev_io *w, int revents);
+} // namespace
+
+class SyncExecHandler {
+public:
+  SyncExecHandler(WorkerProcess *wp, struct ev_loop *loop, int fd)
+      : loop_(loop), fd_(fd) {
+    ev_io_init(&rev_, sync_exec_notifycb, fd, EV_READ);
+    rev_.data = wp;
+
+    ev_io_start(loop, &rev_);
+  }
+
+  ~SyncExecHandler() {
+    ev_io_stop(loop_, &rev_);
+    close(fd_);
+  }
+
+  int on_read() {
+    ssize_t nread;
+    uint8_t b;
+    while ((nread = read(fd_, &b, 1)) == -1 && errno == EINTR)
+      ;
+    if (nread == -1) {
+      if (errno == EAGAIN || errno == EWOULDBLOCK) {
+        return 1;
+      }
+
+      LOG(ERROR) << "New process is not ready; probably aborted";
+
+      return -1;
+    }
+
+    LOG(NOTICE) << "New process is ready to serve request";
+
+    return 0;
+  }
+
+private:
+  struct ev_loop *loop_;
+  ev_io rev_;
+  int fd_;
+};
+
+namespace {
+void ipc_send(WorkerProcess *wp, uint8_t ipc_event);
+} // namespace
+
+namespace {
+void sync_exec_notifycb(struct ev_loop *loop, ev_io *w, int revents) {
+  int rv;
+  auto wp = static_cast<WorkerProcess *>(w->data);
+
+  rv = wp->sync_exec_handler->on_read();
+  if (rv == 1) {
+    return;
+  }
+
+  wp->sync_exec_handler.reset();
+  if (rv == -1) {
+    return;
+  }
+
+  ipc_send(wp, SHRPX_IPC_GRACEFUL_SHUTDOWN);
+}
+} // namespace
+
+namespace {
+void exec_binary(WorkerProcess *wp) {
   int rv;
   sigset_t oldset;
   std::array<char, STRERROR_BUFSIZE> errbuf;
@@ -380,12 +457,29 @@ void exec_binary() {
     return;
   }
 
+  std::array<int, 2> ipc_fds;
+  if (pipe(ipc_fds.data()) == -1) {
+    auto error = errno;
+    LOG(ERROR) << "Could not create IPC file descriptors: "
+               << xsi_strerror(error, errbuf.data(), errbuf.size());
+  }
+
+  util::make_socket_closeonexec(ipc_fds[0]);
+  for (auto fd : ipc_fds) {
+    util::make_socket_nonblocking(fd);
+  }
+
   auto pid = fork();
 
   if (pid != 0) {
     if (pid == -1) {
       auto error = errno;
       LOG(ERROR) << "fork() failed errno=" << error;
+    } else {
+      close(ipc_fds[1]);
+
+      wp->sync_exec_handler =
+          make_unique<SyncExecHandler>(wp, wp->loop, ipc_fds[0]);
     }
 
     rv = shrpx_signal_set(&oldset);
@@ -436,7 +530,8 @@ void exec_binary() {
 
   auto &listenerconf = get_config()->conn.listener;
 
-  auto envp = make_unique<char *[]>(envlen + listenerconf.addrs.size() + 1);
+  // 2 for ENV_IPC_FD and terminal nullptr.
+  auto envp = make_unique<char *[]>(envlen + listenerconf.addrs.size() + 2);
   size_t envidx = 0;
 
   std::vector<ImmutableString> fd_envs;
@@ -459,6 +554,11 @@ void exec_binary() {
     envp[envidx++] = const_cast<char *>(fd_envs.back().c_str());
   }
 
+  auto ipc_fd_str = ENV_IPC_FD.str();
+  ipc_fd_str += '=';
+  ipc_fd_str += util::utos(ipc_fds[1]);
+  envp[envidx++] = const_cast<char *>(ipc_fd_str.c_str());
+
   for (size_t i = 0; i < envlen; ++i) {
     auto env = StringRef{environ[i]};
     if (util::starts_with(env, ENV_ACCEPT_PREFIX) ||
@@ -466,7 +566,8 @@ void exec_binary() {
         util::starts_with(env, ENV_LISTENER6_FD) ||
         util::starts_with(env, ENV_PORT) ||
         util::starts_with(env, ENV_UNIX_FD) ||
-        util::starts_with(env, ENV_UNIX_PATH)) {
+        util::starts_with(env, ENV_UNIX_PATH) ||
+        util::starts_with(env, ENV_IPC_FD)) {
       continue;
     }
 
@@ -541,7 +642,7 @@ void signal_cb(struct ev_loop *loop, ev_signal *w, int revents) {
     reopen_log(wp);
     return;
   case EXEC_BINARY_SIGNAL:
-    exec_binary();
+    exec_binary(wp);
     return;
   case GRACEFUL_SHUTDOWN_SIGNAL:
     ipc_send(wp, SHRPX_IPC_GRACEFUL_SHUTDOWN);
@@ -1050,6 +1151,17 @@ void close_unused_inherited_addr(const std::vector<InheritedAddr> &iaddrs) {
 }
 } // namespace
 
+namespace {
+// Returns IPC file descriptor from environment variable ENV_IPC_FD.
+int get_ipc_fd_from_env() {
+  auto s = getenv(ENV_IPC_FD.c_str());
+  if (s == nullptr) {
+    return -1;
+  }
+  return util::parse_uint(s);
+}
+} // namespace
+
 namespace {
 int create_acceptor_socket(Config *config, std::vector<InheritedAddr> &iaddrs) {
   std::array<char, STRERROR_BUFSIZE> errbuf;
@@ -1255,6 +1367,11 @@ int event_loop() {
     close_unused_inherited_addr(iaddrs);
   }
 
+  auto ipc_notify_fd = get_ipc_fd_from_env();
+  if (ipc_notify_fd != -1) {
+    util::make_socket_closeonexec(ipc_notify_fd);
+  }
+
   auto loop = ev_default_loop(config->ev_loop_flags);
 
   int ipc_fd;
@@ -1275,6 +1392,13 @@ int event_loop() {
     save_pid();
   }
 
+  if (ipc_notify_fd != -1) {
+    LOG(NOTICE) << "Notify parent process that we are ready to server requests";
+    write(ipc_notify_fd, "\0", 1);
+    shutdown(ipc_notify_fd, SHUT_WR);
+    close(ipc_notify_fd);
+  }
+
   ev_run(loop, 0);
 
   return 0;