diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 0df3b36..44c0edc 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -241,6 +241,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "futures-util",
  "libc",
  "nix 0.24.1",
+ "scopeguard",
  "sendfd",
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 783066d..b1b7e62 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ color-eyre = "0.6"
 futures-util = "0.3"
 libc = "0.2"
 nix = { version = "0.24", features = ["fs"], default-features = false }
+scopeguard = "1.1.0"
 sendfd = { version = "0.4", features = ["tokio"] }
 serde = { version = "1", features = ["derive"] }
 serde_json = "1"
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 6e87af9..f13cb1e 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -40,6 +40,12 @@ async fn main() -> Result<()> {
 	systemd::start_systemd_target()
 		.await
 		.wrap_err("failed to start systemd target")?;
+	// Always stop the target when the process exits or panics.
+	scopeguard::defer! {
+		if let Ok(manager) = systemd_client::manager::build_blocking_proxy() {
+			manager.stop_unit("cosmic-session.target", "replace").ok();
+		}
+	}
 	let env_vars = env_rx
 		.await
 		.expect("failed to receive environmental variables")