diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index c8666916..d4835758 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@ Notable changes to the `alacritty_terminal` crate are documented in its
 
 ## 0.16.0-dev
 
+### Changed
+
+- Error out when socket fails to create with `--daemon`
+
 ## 0.15.0
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/alacritty/src/ipc.rs b/alacritty/src/ipc.rs
index 3d14c4ce..919035a6 100644
--- a/alacritty/src/ipc.rs
+++ b/alacritty/src/ipc.rs
@@ -19,7 +19,10 @@ use crate::event::{Event, EventType};
 const ALACRITTY_SOCKET_ENV: &str = "ALACRITTY_SOCKET";
 
 /// Create an IPC socket.
-pub fn spawn_ipc_socket(options: &Options, event_proxy: EventLoopProxy<Event>) -> Option<PathBuf> {
+pub fn spawn_ipc_socket(
+    options: &Options,
+    event_proxy: EventLoopProxy<Event>,
+) -> IoResult<PathBuf> {
     // Create the IPC socket and export its path as env.
 
     let socket_path = options.socket.clone().unwrap_or_else(|| {
@@ -28,13 +31,7 @@ pub fn spawn_ipc_socket(options: &Options, event_proxy: EventLoopProxy<Event>) -
         path
     });
 
-    let listener = match UnixListener::bind(&socket_path) {
-        Ok(listener) => listener,
-        Err(err) => {
-            warn!("Unable to create socket: {:?}", err);
-            return None;
-        },
-    };
+    let listener = UnixListener::bind(&socket_path)?;
 
     env::set_var(ALACRITTY_SOCKET_ENV, socket_path.as_os_str());
     if options.daemon {
@@ -80,7 +77,7 @@ pub fn spawn_ipc_socket(options: &Options, event_proxy: EventLoopProxy<Event>) -
         }
     });
 
-    Some(socket_path)
+    Ok(socket_path)
 }
 
 /// Send a message to the active Alacritty socket.
diff --git a/alacritty/src/main.rs b/alacritty/src/main.rs
index 5382e475..9260bfa4 100644
--- a/alacritty/src/main.rs
+++ b/alacritty/src/main.rs
@@ -183,7 +183,14 @@ fn alacritty(mut options: Options) -> Result<(), Box<dyn Error>> {
     // Create the IPC socket listener.
     #[cfg(unix)]
     let socket_path = if config.ipc_socket() {
-        ipc::spawn_ipc_socket(&options, window_event_loop.create_proxy())
+        match ipc::spawn_ipc_socket(&options, window_event_loop.create_proxy()) {
+            Ok(path) => Some(path),
+            Err(err) if options.daemon => return Err(err.into()),
+            Err(err) => {
+                log::warn!("Unable to create socket: {:?}", err);
+                None
+            },
+        }
     } else {
         None
     };