diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index cf5efeb4..18195b3b 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,3 +4,4 @@ node_modules
 # Go workspaces
 go.work
 go.work.sum
+.idea
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f5944a2a..e4b26f0c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -28,10 +28,10 @@ The Sliding Sync proxy requires some environment variables set to function. They
 
 Here is a short description of each, as of writing:
 ```
-SYNCV3_SERVER     Required. The destination homeserver to talk to (CS API HTTPS URL) e.g 'https://matrix-client.matrix.org'
+SYNCV3_SERVER     Required. The destination homeserver to talk to (CS API HTTPS URL) e.g 'https://matrix-client.matrix.org' (Supports unix socket: /path/to/socket)
 SYNCV3_DB         Required. The postgres connection string: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/libpq-connect.html#LIBPQ-CONNSTRING
 SYNCV3_SECRET     Required. A secret to use to encrypt access tokens. Must remain the same for the lifetime of the database.
-SYNCV3_BINDADDR   Default: 0.0.0.0:8008.  The interface and port to listen on.
+SYNCV3_BINDADDR   Default: 0.0.0.0:8008. The interface and port to listen on. (Supports unix socket: /path/to/socket)
 SYNCV3_TLS_CERT   Default: unset. Path to a certificate file to serve to HTTPS clients. Specifying this enables TLS on the bound address.
 SYNCV3_TLS_KEY    Default: unset. Path to a key file for the certificate. Must be provided along with the certificate file.
 SYNCV3_PPROF      Default: unset. The bind addr for pprof debugging e.g ':6060'. If not set, does not listen.
diff --git a/cmd/syncv3/main.go b/cmd/syncv3/main.go
index 9345c056..d4436ac0 100644
--- a/cmd/syncv3/main.go
+++ b/cmd/syncv3/main.go
@@ -60,10 +60,10 @@ const (
 
 var helpMsg = fmt.Sprintf(`
 Environment var
-%s     Required. The destination homeserver to talk to (CS API HTTPS URL) e.g 'https://matrix-client.matrix.org'
+%s     Required. The destination homeserver to talk to (CS API HTTPS URL) e.g 'https://matrix-client.matrix.org' (Supports unix socket: /path/to/socket)
 %s         Required. The postgres connection string: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/libpq-connect.html#LIBPQ-CONNSTRING
 %s     Required. A secret to use to encrypt access tokens. Must remain the same for the lifetime of the database.
-%s   Default: 0.0.0.0:8008.  The interface and port to listen on.
+%s   Default: 0.0.0.0:8008.  The interface and port to listen on. (Supports unix socket: /path/to/socket)
 %s   Default: unset. Path to a certificate file to serve to HTTPS clients. Specifying this enables TLS on the bound address.
 %s    Default: unset. Path to a key file for the certificate. Must be provided along with the certificate file.
 %s      Default: unset. The bind addr for pprof debugging e.g ':6060'. If not set, does not listen.
diff --git a/internal/util.go b/internal/util.go
index 51760a78..c0dffad5 100644
--- a/internal/util.go
+++ b/internal/util.go
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 package internal
 
+import (
+	"context"
+	"net"
+	"net/http"
+	"strings"
+)
+
 // Keys returns a slice containing copies of the keys of the given map, in no particular
 // order.
 func Keys[K comparable, V any](m map[K]V) []K {
@@ -12,3 +19,22 @@ func Keys[K comparable, V any](m map[K]V) []K {
 	}
 	return output
 }
+
+func IsUnixSocket(httpOrUnixStr string) bool {
+	return strings.HasPrefix(httpOrUnixStr, "/")
+}
+
+func UnixTransport(httpOrUnixStr string) *http.Transport {
+	return &http.Transport{
+		DialContext: func(_ context.Context, _, _ string) (net.Conn, error) {
+			return net.Dial("unix", httpOrUnixStr)
+		},
+	}
+}
+
+func GetBaseURL(httpOrUnixStr string) string {
+	if IsUnixSocket(httpOrUnixStr) {
+		return "http://unix"
+	}
+	return httpOrUnixStr
+}
diff --git a/internal/util_test.go b/internal/util_test.go
index 63c14237..33f88c05 100644
--- a/internal/util_test.go
+++ b/internal/util_test.go
@@ -28,3 +28,31 @@ func assertSlice(t *testing.T, got, want []string) {
 		t.Errorf("After sorting, got %v but expected %v", got, want)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestUnixSocket_True(t *testing.T) {
+	address := "/path/to/socket"
+	if !IsUnixSocket(address) {
+		t.Errorf("%s is socket", address)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestUnixSocket_False(t *testing.T) {
+	address := "localhost:8080"
+	if IsUnixSocket(address) {
+		t.Errorf("%s is not socket", address)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestGetBaseUrl_UnixSocket(t *testing.T) {
+	address := "/path/to/socket"
+	if GetBaseURL(address) != "http://unix" {
+		t.Errorf("%s is unix socket", address)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestGetBaseUrl_Http(t *testing.T) {
+	address := "localhost:8080"
+	if GetBaseURL(address) != "localhost:8080" {
+		t.Errorf("%s is not a unix socket", address)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/sync2/client.go b/sync2/client.go
index e072e5b5..7d47f611 100644
--- a/sync2/client.go
+++ b/sync2/client.go
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
+	"github.com/matrix-org/sliding-sync/internal"
+	"io"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
 	"time"
@@ -40,15 +41,20 @@ type HTTPClient struct {
 
 func NewHTTPClient(shortTimeout, longTimeout time.Duration, destHomeServer string) *HTTPClient {
 	return &HTTPClient{
-		LongTimeoutClient: &http.Client{
-			Timeout:   longTimeout,
-			Transport: otelhttp.NewTransport(http.DefaultTransport),
-		},
-		Client: &http.Client{
-			Timeout:   shortTimeout,
-			Transport: otelhttp.NewTransport(http.DefaultTransport),
-		},
-		DestinationServer: destHomeServer,
+		LongTimeoutClient: newClient(longTimeout, destHomeServer),
+		Client:            newClient(shortTimeout, destHomeServer),
+		DestinationServer: internal.GetBaseURL(destHomeServer),
+	}
+}
+
+func newClient(timeout time.Duration, destHomeServer string) *http.Client {
+	transport := http.DefaultTransport
+	if internal.IsUnixSocket(destHomeServer) {
+		transport = internal.UnixTransport(destHomeServer)
+	}
+	return &http.Client{
+		Timeout:   timeout,
+		Transport: otelhttp.NewTransport(transport),
 	}
 }
 
@@ -66,7 +72,7 @@ func (v *HTTPClient) Versions(ctx context.Context) ([]string, error) {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("/versions returned HTTP %d", res.StatusCode)
 	}
 	defer res.Body.Close()
-	body, err := ioutil.ReadAll(res.Body)
+	body, err := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -99,7 +105,7 @@ func (v *HTTPClient) WhoAmI(ctx context.Context, accessToken string) (string, st
 		return "", "", fmt.Errorf("/whoami returned HTTP %d", res.StatusCode)
 	}
 	defer res.Body.Close()
-	body, err := ioutil.ReadAll(res.Body)
+	body, err := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", "", err
 	}
diff --git a/v3.go b/v3.go
index 8040fc6b..6333b81f 100644
--- a/v3.go
+++ b/v3.go
@@ -4,7 +4,10 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"embed"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"io/fs"
+	"net"
 	"net/http"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
@@ -216,12 +219,18 @@ func RunSyncV3Server(h http.Handler, bindAddr, destV2Server, tlsCert, tlsKey str
 
 	// Block forever
 	var err error
-	if tlsCert != "" && tlsKey != "" {
-		logger.Info().Msgf("listening TLS on %s", bindAddr)
-		err = http.ListenAndServeTLS(bindAddr, tlsCert, tlsKey, srv)
+	if internal.IsUnixSocket(bindAddr) {
+		logger.Info().Msgf("listening on unix socket %s", bindAddr)
+		listener := unixSocketListener(bindAddr)
+		err = http.Serve(listener, srv)
 	} else {
-		logger.Info().Msgf("listening on %s", bindAddr)
-		err = http.ListenAndServe(bindAddr, srv)
+		if tlsCert != "" && tlsKey != "" {
+			logger.Info().Msgf("listening TLS on %s", bindAddr)
+			err = http.ListenAndServeTLS(bindAddr, tlsCert, tlsKey, srv)
+		} else {
+			logger.Info().Msgf("listening on %s", bindAddr)
+			err = http.ListenAndServe(bindAddr, srv)
+		}
 	}
 	if err != nil {
 		sentry.CaptureException(err)
@@ -230,6 +239,23 @@ func RunSyncV3Server(h http.Handler, bindAddr, destV2Server, tlsCert, tlsKey str
 	}
 }
 
+func unixSocketListener(bindAddr string) net.Listener {
+	err := os.Remove(bindAddr)
+	if err != nil && !errors.Is(err, fs.ErrNotExist) {
+		logger.Fatal().Err(err).Msg("failed to remove existing unix socket")
+	}
+	listener, err := net.Listen("unix", bindAddr)
+	if err != nil {
+		logger.Fatal().Err(err).Msg("failed to serve unix socket")
+	}
+	// TODO: safe default for now (rwxr-xr-x), could be extracted as env variable if needed
+	err = os.Chmod(bindAddr, 0755)
+	if err != nil {
+		logger.Fatal().Err(err).Msg("failed to set unix socket permissions")
+	}
+	return listener
+}
+
 type HandlerError struct {
 	StatusCode int
 	Err        error