diff --git a/src/libsysprof-profile/meson.build b/src/libsysprof-profile/meson.build
index b41e59c9..9d53033b 100644
--- a/src/libsysprof-profile/meson.build
+++ b/src/libsysprof-profile/meson.build
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@ libsysprof_profile_public_headers = [
 
 libsysprof_profile_deps = [
   dependency('gio-2.0', version: glib_req_version),
+  dependency('gio-unix-2.0',
+     version: glib_req_version,
+    required: host_machine.system() != 'windows'),
   dependency('libdex-1', version: dex_req_version),
   dependency('polkit-gobject-1', version: polkit_req_version),
 
diff --git a/src/libsysprof-profile/sysprof-controlfd-instrument.c b/src/libsysprof-profile/sysprof-controlfd-instrument.c
index e83f79b5..7ab166b2 100644
--- a/src/libsysprof-profile/sysprof-controlfd-instrument.c
+++ b/src/libsysprof-profile/sysprof-controlfd-instrument.c
@@ -20,38 +20,136 @@
 
 #include "config.h"
 
+#include <glib.h>
+
+#ifdef G_OS_UNIX
+# include <fcntl.h>
+# include <glib-unix.h>
+# include <glib/gstdio.h>
+# include <gio/gunixinputstream.h>
+# include <gio/gunixoutputstream.h>
+# include <gio/gunixconnection.h>
+# include <sys/socket.h>
+# include <sys/types.h>
+#endif
+
 #include "sysprof-controlfd-instrument-private.h"
+#include "sysprof-recording-private.h"
 
 struct _SysprofControlfdInstrument
 {
-  SysprofInstrument parent_instance;
+  SysprofInstrument  parent_instance;
+#ifdef G_OS_UNIX
+  GUnixConnection   *connection;
+  GArray            *source_ids;
+  char               read_buf[10];
+#endif
 };
 
 G_DEFINE_FINAL_TYPE (SysprofControlfdInstrument, sysprof_controlfd_instrument, SYSPROF_TYPE_INSTRUMENT)
 
+#ifdef G_OS_UNIX
+static DexFuture *
+sysprof_controlfd_instrument_prepare (SysprofInstrument *instrument,
+                                      SysprofRecording  *recording)
+{
+  SysprofControlfdInstrument *self = (SysprofControlfdInstrument *)instrument;
+  SysprofSpawnable *spawnable;
+  g_autofree char *child_no_str = NULL;
+  g_autoptr(GSocketConnection) stream = NULL;
+  g_autoptr(GSocket) sock = NULL;
+  int fds[2] = {-1, -1};
+  int child_no;
+
+  g_assert (SYSPROF_IS_CONTROLFD_INSTRUMENT (self));
+  g_assert (SYSPROF_IS_RECORDING (recording));
+
+  /* If the recording is not spawning a process, then there is
+   * nothing for us to do.
+   */
+  if (!(spawnable = _sysprof_recording_get_spawnable (recording)))
+    goto finish;
+
+  /* Create a socket pair to send control messages over */
+  if (socketpair (AF_LOCAL, SOCK_STREAM, 0, fds) != 0)
+    return dex_future_new_reject (G_IO_ERROR,
+                                  G_IO_ERROR_NOT_CONNECTED,
+                                  "Failed to create socketpair");
+
+  /* Set FDs non-blocking so that we can use them from main
+   * context iteration without blocking.
+   */
+  g_unix_set_fd_nonblocking (fds[0], TRUE, NULL);
+  g_unix_set_fd_nonblocking (fds[1], TRUE, NULL);
+
+  /* @child_no is assigned the FD the child will receive. We can
+   * use that to set the environment vaiable of the control FD.
+   */
+  child_no = sysprof_spawnable_take_fd (spawnable, fds[1], -1);
+  child_no_str = g_strdup_printf ("%d", child_no);
+  sysprof_spawnable_setenv (spawnable, "SYSPROF_CONTROL_FD", child_no_str);
+
+  if (!(sock = g_socket_new_from_fd (fds[0], NULL)))
+    {
+      close (fds[0]);
+      return dex_future_new_reject (G_IO_ERROR,
+                                    G_IO_ERROR_NOT_CONNECTED,
+                                    "Failed to create socket from FD");
+    }
+
+  self->connection = G_UNIX_CONNECTION (g_socket_connection_factory_create_connection (sock));
+
+finish:
+  return dex_future_new_for_boolean (TRUE);
+}
+
+static void
+remove_source_id (gpointer data)
+{
+  guint *id = data;
+  g_source_remove (*id);
+}
+
 static void
 sysprof_controlfd_instrument_finalize (GObject *object)
 {
   SysprofControlfdInstrument *self = (SysprofControlfdInstrument *)object;
 
+  g_clear_pointer (&self->source_ids, g_array_unref);
+  g_clear_object (&self->connection);
+
   G_OBJECT_CLASS (sysprof_controlfd_instrument_parent_class)->finalize (object);
 }
+#endif
 
 static void
 sysprof_controlfd_instrument_class_init (SysprofControlfdInstrumentClass *klass)
 {
+#ifdef G_OS_UNIX
   GObjectClass *object_class = G_OBJECT_CLASS (klass);
+  SysprofInstrumentClass *instrument_class = SYSPROF_INSTRUMENT_CLASS (klass);
 
   object_class->finalize = sysprof_controlfd_instrument_finalize;
+
+  instrument_class->prepare = sysprof_controlfd_instrument_prepare;
+#endif
 }
 
 static void
 sysprof_controlfd_instrument_init (SysprofControlfdInstrument *self)
 {
+#ifdef G_OS_UNIX
+  self->source_ids = g_array_new (FALSE, FALSE, sizeof (guint));
+  g_array_set_clear_func (self->source_ids, remove_source_id);
+#endif
 }
 
 SysprofInstrument *
 _sysprof_controlfd_instrument_new (void)
 {
+#ifndef G_OS_UNIX
+  g_warning_once ("SysprofControlfdInstrument not supported on this platform");
+#endif
+
   return g_object_new (SYSPROF_TYPE_CONTROLFD_INSTRUMENT, NULL);
 }