diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index cf84011a2..bb50f08b7 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "libc",
  "log",
  "nix",
+ "notify",
  "once_cell",
  "parking_lot",
  "regex",
@@ -605,6 +606,18 @@ dependencies = [
  "libc",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "filetime"
+version = "0.2.21"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "5cbc844cecaee9d4443931972e1289c8ff485cb4cc2767cb03ca139ed6885153"
+dependencies = [
+ "cfg-if",
+ "libc",
+ "redox_syscall",
+ "windows-sys 0.48.0",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "fnv"
 version = "1.0.7"
@@ -620,6 +633,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "percent-encoding",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "fsevent-sys"
+version = "4.1.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "76ee7a02da4d231650c7cea31349b889be2f45ddb3ef3032d2ec8185f6313fd2"
+dependencies = [
+ "libc",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "futf"
 version = "0.1.5"
@@ -990,6 +1012,26 @@ dependencies = [
  "hashbrown",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "inotify"
+version = "0.9.6"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "f8069d3ec154eb856955c1c0fbffefbf5f3c40a104ec912d4797314c1801abff"
+dependencies = [
+ "bitflags",
+ "inotify-sys",
+ "libc",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "inotify-sys"
+version = "0.1.5"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "e05c02b5e89bff3b946cedeca278abc628fe811e604f027c45a8aa3cf793d0eb"
+dependencies = [
+ "libc",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "io-lifetimes"
 version = "1.0.10"
@@ -1056,6 +1098,26 @@ dependencies = [
  "rayon",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "kqueue"
+version = "1.0.7"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "2c8fc60ba15bf51257aa9807a48a61013db043fcf3a78cb0d916e8e396dcad98"
+dependencies = [
+ "kqueue-sys",
+ "libc",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "kqueue-sys"
+version = "1.0.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "8367585489f01bc55dd27404dcf56b95e6da061a256a666ab23be9ba96a2e587"
+dependencies = [
+ "bitflags",
+ "libc",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "lazy_static"
 version = "1.4.0"
@@ -1248,6 +1310,24 @@ dependencies = [
  "minimal-lexical",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "notify"
+version = "6.0.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "4d9ba6c734de18ca27c8cef5cd7058aa4ac9f63596131e4c7e41e579319032a2"
+dependencies = [
+ "bitflags",
+ "crossbeam-channel",
+ "filetime",
+ "fsevent-sys",
+ "inotify",
+ "kqueue",
+ "libc",
+ "mio",
+ "walkdir",
+ "windows-sys 0.45.0",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "num-integer"
 version = "0.1.45"
diff --git a/crates/ark/Cargo.toml b/crates/ark/Cargo.toml
index c53c2bafa..609b223e8 100644
--- a/crates/ark/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/ark/Cargo.toml
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ libR-sys = "0.5.0"
 libc = "0.2"
 log = "0.4.17"
 nix = { version = "0.26.2", features = ["signal"] }
+notify = "6.0.0"
 once_cell = "1.17.1"
 parking_lot = "0.12.1"
 regex = "1.7.1"
diff --git a/crates/ark/src/main.rs b/crates/ark/src/main.rs
index 42039a8c9..f3a288243 100644
--- a/crates/ark/src/main.rs
+++ b/crates/ark/src/main.rs
@@ -22,8 +22,10 @@ use ark::shell::Shell;
 use ark::version::detect_r;
 use bus::Bus;
 use crossbeam::channel::bounded;
+use crossbeam::channel::unbounded;
 use log::*;
 use nix::sys::signal::*;
+use notify::Watcher;
 use stdext::unwrap;
 
 fn start_kernel(connection_file: ConnectionFile, capture_streams: bool) {
@@ -203,6 +205,8 @@ fn main() {
 
     let mut connection_file: Option<String> = None;
     let mut log_file: Option<String> = None;
+    let mut startup_notifier_file: Option<String> = None;
+    let mut startup_delay: Option<std::time::Duration> = None;
     let mut has_action = false;
     let mut capture_streams = true;
 
@@ -241,6 +245,31 @@ fn main() {
                     break;
                 }
             },
+            "--startup-notifier-file" => {
+                if let Some(file) = argv.next() {
+                    startup_notifier_file = Some(file);
+                } else {
+                    eprintln!(
+                        "A notification file must be specified with the --startup-notifier-file argument."
+                    );
+                    break;
+                }
+            },
+            "--startup-delay" => {
+                if let Some(delay_arg) = argv.next() {
+                    if let Ok(delay) = delay_arg.parse::<u64>() {
+                        startup_delay = Some(std::time::Duration::from_millis(delay));
+                    } else {
+                        eprintln!("Can't parse delay in milliseconds");
+                        break;
+                    }
+                } else {
+                    eprintln!(
+                        "A delay in milliseconds must be specified with the --startup-delay argument."
+                    );
+                    break;
+                }
+            },
             other => {
                 eprintln!("Argument '{}' unknown", other);
                 break;
@@ -248,6 +277,47 @@ fn main() {
         }
     }
 
+    // Initialize the logger.
+    logger::initialize(log_file.as_deref());
+
+    if let Some(file) = startup_notifier_file {
+        let path = std::path::Path::new(&file);
+        let (tx, rx) = unbounded();
+
+        if let Err(err) = (|| -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+            let config = notify::Config::default()
+                .with_poll_interval(std::time::Duration::from_millis(2))
+                .with_compare_contents(false);
+
+            let mut watcher = notify::RecommendedWatcher::new(tx, config).unwrap();
+            watcher.watch(path, notify::RecursiveMode::NonRecursive)?;
+
+            loop {
+                let ev = rx.recv()?;
+                match ev.unwrap().kind {
+                    notify::event::EventKind::Modify(_) => {
+                        break;
+                    },
+                    notify::event::EventKind::Remove(_) => {
+                        break;
+                    },
+                    _ => {
+                        continue;
+                    },
+                }
+            }
+
+            watcher.unwatch(path)?;
+            Ok(())
+        })() {
+            eprintln!("Problem with the delay file: {:?}", err);
+        }
+    }
+
+    if let Some(delay) = startup_delay {
+        std::thread::sleep(delay);
+    }
+
     // If the user didn't specify an action, print the usage instructions and
     // exit
     if !has_action {
@@ -255,9 +325,6 @@ fn main() {
         return;
     }
 
-    // Initialize the logger.
-    logger::initialize(log_file.as_deref());
-
     // Register segfault handler to get a backtrace. Should be after
     // initialising `log!`. Note that R will not override this handler
     // because we set `R_SignalHandlers` to 0 before startup.