diff --git a/bin/polybar b/bin/polybar
index 591c06c..d0d3014 100755
--- a/bin/polybar
+++ b/bin/polybar
@@ -5,14 +5,16 @@ export HEIGHT=$((18 * DPI / 96))
 
 MONITORS=$(polybar --list-monitors | sed -nE 's/([^ ]+): .*/\1/p' | tr '\n' ' ')
 PRIMARY=$(polybar --list-monitors | grep -F '(primary)' | sed -nE 's/([^ ]+): .*/\1/p')
+NMONITORS=$(echo $MONITORS | wc -w)
 PRIMARY=${PRIMARY:-${MONITORS%% *}}
 
 awk 'BEGIN { i=0 } ($4 == "/" && $3 !~ /^0:/) {print "mount-"i" = "$5; i++}' /proc/self/mountinfo \
     > $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/i3/polybar-filesystems.conf
 
-case $(echo $MONITORS | wc -w) in
+case $NMONITORS in
     1)
         MONITOR=$PRIMARY polybar --reload alone &
+        systemd-notify --status="Single polybar instance running on $PRIMARY"
         ;;
     *)
         MONITOR=$PRIMARY polybar --reload primary &
@@ -20,5 +22,10 @@ case $(echo $MONITORS | wc -w) in
             [ $MONITOR != $PRIMARY ] || continue
             MONITOR=$MONITOR polybar --reload secondary &
         done
+        systemd-notify --status="$NMONITORS polybar instances running"
         ;;
 esac
+
+systemd-notify --ready
+trap "systemd-notify WATCHDOG=trigger" CHLD
+wait
diff --git a/dotfiles/systemd/polybar.service b/dotfiles/systemd/polybar.service
index 51f6c79..dc030e6 100644
--- a/dotfiles/systemd/polybar.service
+++ b/dotfiles/systemd/polybar.service
@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@ Description=Status bar for i3
 PartOf=graphical-session.target
 
 [Service]
-Type=forking
+Type=notify
+NotifyAccess=all
+WatchdogSignal=SIGTERM
 ExecStart=%h/.config/i3/bin/polybar
 ExecStop=%h/.local/bin/polybar-msg cmd quit
 Restart=on-failure