diff --git a/.env.test b/.env.test
index 73b88c7..a303ed6 100644
--- a/.env.test
+++ b/.env.test
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 EMAIL_SENDER=test@test.com
+PIDFILE=/var/run/sesamo.pid
 WEB_PORT=3000
diff --git a/sesamo.sh b/sesamo.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..cc3f591
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sesamo.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+cd "$(dirname "$0")" || exit 1
+
+OP="$1"
+
+ENV=".env"
+set -a
+. $ENV
+set +a
+
+if [ -z "$PIDFILE" ]; then
+  echo "pidfile must be specified"
+  exit 255
+fi
+
+if [ -z "$HOME" ]; then
+  export HOME=/root
+fi
+
+CARGO=$(which cargo)
+if [ -z "$CARGO" ]; then
+  export CARGO_DIR="/$HOME/.cargo"
+  [ -s "$CARGO_DIR/env" ] && \. "$CARGO_DIR/env"  # This loads nvm
+fi
+
+start() {
+  screen -S sesamo -d -m cargo make -p production run
+
+  return $?
+}
+
+stop() {
+  PID=$(cat $PIDFILE)
+
+  kill "$PID"
+
+  return $?
+}
+
+case "$1" in
+
+  "start")
+    start
+    ;;
+  
+  "stop")
+    stop
+    ;;
+  
+  *)
+    "unknown operation $OP"
+    exit 1
+    ;;
+
+esac
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/config.rs b/src/config.rs
index 83441a3..be52e0a 100644
--- a/src/config.rs
+++ b/src/config.rs
@@ -2,10 +2,14 @@
 //!
 //! App configuration
 
+use std::path::PathBuf;
+
 /// App configuration read from environment
 #[derive(Debug, Deserialize, Serialize)]
 pub struct Config {
     pub email_sender: String,
+    #[cfg(target_family = "unix")]
+    pub pidfile: Option<PathBuf>,
     pub web_port: u16,
 }
 
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index de3d43e..dc25163 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ mod config;
 mod test;
 mod web;
 
+use std::io::Write;
+use std::path::Path;
+
 const APP_NAME: &str = env!("CARGO_PKG_NAME");
 const APP_AUTHORS: &str = env!("CARGO_PKG_AUTHORS");
 const APP_VERSION: &str = env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION");
@@ -27,8 +30,26 @@ async fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     info!("initializing web service...");
     let web_service =
         web::WebServer::init(config.web_port, aws_config, &config.email_sender).await?;
+
+    #[cfg(target_family = "unix")]
+    if let Some(pidfile) = config.pidfile.as_deref() {
+        debug!("writing pidfile to {}", pidfile.display());
+        write_pidfile(pidfile)?;
+        info!("pidfile written");
+    }
+
     info!("web service OK; running web server...");
     web_service.run().await?;
 
     Ok(())
 }
+
+#[cfg(target_family = "unix")]
+fn write_pidfile(pidfile: &Path) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+    let pid = std::process::id();
+
+    let mut f = std::fs::File::create(pidfile)?;
+    writeln!(&mut f, "{pid}")?;
+
+    Ok(())
+}