diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b5da8c0..51e851f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ Unified desktop integration for SciJava applications.
 
 ## Features
 
-The scijava-desktop component provides three kinds of desktop integration:
+The scijava-desktop component provides four kinds of desktop integration:
 
 1. **URI Link Scheme Registration & Handling**
    - Register custom URI schemes (e.g., `myapp://`) with the operating system
@@ -22,6 +22,17 @@ The scijava-desktop component provides three kinds of desktop integration:
    - Associate file types with your application
    - Platform-specific MIME type handling
 
+4. **Single-Instance Enforcement**
+   - Prevents multiple application instances when the OS re-launches the binary
+   - Uses a TCP socket listener via the `SingleInstance` feature of the
+     [SciJava App Launcher](https://github.com/scijava/app-launcher) to let a
+     secondary transient instance hand off its arguments to the already-running
+     primary instance and exit immediately -- before the splash screen appears
+   - Enabled via the `scijava.app.single-instance` system property
+   - Useful in conjunction with file type associations and URI scheme
+     registration, both of which trigger the OS to launch another copy of the
+     application binary when a registered file type or link is clicked
+
 ## Platform Support
 
 - **Linux**: Full support for URI schemes and desktop icons via `.desktop` files
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 6446688..7912073 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -104,10 +104,16 @@
 		<scijava.jvm.version>11</scijava.jvm.version>
 		<license.licenseName>bsd_2</license.licenseName>
 		<license.copyrightOwners>SciJava developers.</license.copyrightOwners>
+		<app-launcher.version>2.4.0-SNAPSHOT</app-launcher.version> <!-- TEMP -->
+		<enforcer.skip>true</enforcer.skip> <!-- TEMP -->
 	</properties>
 
 	<dependencies>
 		<!-- SciJava dependencies -->
+		<dependency>
+			<groupId>org.scijava</groupId>
+			<artifactId>app-launcher</artifactId>
+		</dependency>
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>org.scijava</groupId>
 			<artifactId>scijava-common</artifactId>
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/scijava/desktop/DefaultDesktopService.java b/src/main/java/org/scijava/desktop/DefaultDesktopService.java
index 35f9ba1..cd2b221 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/scijava/desktop/DefaultDesktopService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/scijava/desktop/DefaultDesktopService.java
@@ -28,9 +28,12 @@
  */
 package org.scijava.desktop;
 
+import org.scijava.console.ConsoleService;
 import org.scijava.event.ContextCreatedEvent;
 import org.scijava.event.EventHandler;
+import org.scijava.launcher.SingleInstance;
 import org.scijava.log.LogService;
+import org.scijava.main.MainService;
 import org.scijava.object.LazyObjects;
 import org.scijava.object.ObjectService;
 import org.scijava.platform.PlatformService;
@@ -39,6 +42,7 @@
 import org.scijava.prefs.PrefService;
 import org.scijava.service.AbstractService;
 import org.scijava.service.Service;
+import org.scijava.startup.StartupService;
 import org.scijava.thread.ThreadService;
 
 import java.io.BufferedReader;
@@ -68,6 +72,15 @@ public class DefaultDesktopService extends AbstractService implements DesktopSer
 	@Parameter
 	private ThreadService threadService;
 
+	@Parameter
+	private ConsoleService consoleService;
+
+	@Parameter
+	private MainService mainService;
+
+	@Parameter
+	private StartupService startupService;
+
 	@Parameter(required = false)
 	private PrefService prefs;
 
@@ -165,6 +178,15 @@ public String getDescription(final String extension) {
 		return descriptions.get(extension);
 	}
 
+	// -- Service methods --
+
+	@Override
+	public void initialize() {
+		if (isSingleInstanceEnabled()) {
+			startupService.addOperation(() -> SingleInstance.listen(0, this::receiveArgs));
+		}
+	}
+
 	// -- Event handlers --
 
 	@EventHandler
@@ -279,6 +301,16 @@ private Stream<DesktopIntegrationProvider> desktopPlatforms() {
 			.map(p -> (DesktopIntegrationProvider) p);
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Receives arguments from a secondary transient application instance
+	 * and handles them via standard SciJava Common service methods.
+	 */
+	private void receiveArgs(String[] args) {
+		consoleService.processArgs(args);
+		mainService.execMains();
+		startupService.executeOperations();
+	}
+
 	private void maybeAutoInstallDesktopIntegrations() {
 		// Auto-install desktop integrations on first run.
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/scijava/desktop/DesktopService.java b/src/main/java/org/scijava/desktop/DesktopService.java
index 879328f..5608711 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/scijava/desktop/DesktopService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/scijava/desktop/DesktopService.java
@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@
  */
 public interface DesktopService extends SciJavaService {
 
+	default boolean isSingleInstanceEnabled() {
+		return Boolean.getBoolean("scijava.app.single-instance");
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Applies desktop integration settings.
 	 * <p>