diff --git a/scripts/daemon/exec/exec_daemon.php b/scripts/daemon/exec/exec_daemon.php
--- a/scripts/daemon/exec/exec_daemon.php
+++ b/scripts/daemon/exec/exec_daemon.php
@@ -28,41 +28,48 @@
       'help' => 'Enable debug memory tracing.',
     ),
     array(
-      'name'  => 'log',
-      'param' => 'file',
-      'help'  => 'Send output to __file__.',
-    ),
-    array(
-      'name'    => 'load-phutil-library',
-      'param'   => 'library',
-      'repeat'  => true,
-      'help' => 'Load __library__.',
-    ),
-    array(
       'name' => 'verbose',
       'help'  => 'Enable verbose activity logging.',
     ),
     array(
-      'name'     => 'argv',
+      'name' => 'label',
+      'short' => 'l',
+      'param' => 'label',
+      'help' => pht(
+        'Optional process label. Makes "ps" nicer, no behavioral effects.'),
+    ),
+    array(
+      'name'     => 'daemon',
       'wildcard' => true,
     ),
   ));
 
 $trace_memory = $args->getArg('trace-memory');
-$trace_mode   = $args->getArg('trace') || $trace_memory;
-$verbose      = $args->getArg('verbose');
+$trace_mode = $args->getArg('trace') || $trace_memory;
+$verbose = $args->getArg('verbose');
+
+if (function_exists('posix_isatty') && posix_isatty(STDIN)) {
+  fprintf(STDERR, pht('Reading daemon configuration from stdin...')."\n");
+}
+$config = @file_get_contents('php://stdin');
+$config = id(new PhutilJSONParser())->parse($config);
+
+PhutilTypeSpec::checkMap(
+  $config,
+  array(
+    'log' => 'optional string|null',
+    'argv' => 'optional list<wild>',
+    'load' => 'optional list<string>',
+  ));
+
+$log = idx($config, 'log');
 
-$log = $args->getArg('log');
 if ($log) {
   ini_set('error_log', $log);
-  $echo_to_stderr = true;
-} else {
-  $echo_to_stderr = false;
+  PhutilErrorHandler::setErrorListener(array('PhutilDaemon', 'errorListener'));
 }
 
-$load = $args->getArg('load-phutil-library');
-$argv = $args->getArg('argv');
-
+$load = idx($config, 'load', array());
 foreach ($load as $library) {
   $library = Filesystem::resolvePath($library);
   phutil_load_library($library);
@@ -70,40 +77,35 @@
 
 PhutilErrorHandler::initialize();
 
-function phutil_daemon_error_listener($event, $value, array $metadata) {
-  $console = PhutilConsole::getConsole();
-  $message = idx($metadata, 'default_message');
-
-  if ($message) {
-    $console->writeErr("%s\n", $message);
-  }
-  if (idx($metadata, 'trace')) {
-    $trace = PhutilErrorHandler::formatStacktrace($metadata['trace']);
-    $console->writeErr("%s\n", $trace);
-  }
-}
-
-if ($echo_to_stderr) {
-  // If the caller has used `--log` to redirect the error log to a file, PHP
-  // won't output it to stderr so the overseer can't capture it and won't be
-  // able to send it to the web console. Install a listener which just echoes
-  // errors to stderr, so we always get all the messages in the log and over
-  // stdio, so they'll show up in the web console.
-  PhutilErrorHandler::setErrorListener('phutil_daemon_error_listener');
-}
-
-$daemon = array_shift($argv);
+$daemon = $args->getArg('daemon');
 if (!$daemon) {
-  $args->printHelpAndExit();
+  throw new PhutilArgumentUsageException(
+    pht('Specify which class of daemon to start.'));
+} else if (count($daemon) > 1) {
+  throw new PhutilArgumentUsageException(
+    pht('Specify exactly one daemon to start.'));
+} else {
+  $daemon = head($daemon);
+  if (!class_exists($daemon)) {
+    throw new PhutilArgumentUsageException(
+      pht('No class "%s" exists in any known library.', $daemon));
+  } else if (!is_subclass_of($daemon, 'PhutilDaemon')) {
+    throw new PhutilArgumentUsageException(
+      pht('Class "%s" is not a subclass of "%s".', $daemon, 'PhutilDaemon'));
+  }
 }
 
+$argv = idx($config, 'argv', array());
 $daemon = newv($daemon, array($argv));
+
 if ($trace_mode) {
   $daemon->setTraceMode();
 }
+
 if ($trace_memory) {
   $daemon->setTraceMemory();
 }
+
 if ($verbose) {
   $daemon->setVerbose(true);
 }
diff --git a/src/daemon/PhutilDaemon.php b/src/daemon/PhutilDaemon.php
--- a/src/daemon/PhutilDaemon.php
+++ b/src/daemon/PhutilDaemon.php
@@ -187,5 +187,22 @@
     $this->beginStdoutCapture();
   }
 
+  public static function errorListener($event, $value, array $metadata) {
+    // If the caller has redirected the error log to a file, PHP won't output
+    // messages to stderr, so the overseer can't capture them. Install a
+    // listener which just  echoes errors to stderr, so the overseer is always
+    // aware of errors.
+
+    $console = PhutilConsole::getConsole();
+    $message = idx($metadata, 'default_message');
+
+    if ($message) {
+      $console->writeErr("%s\n", $message);
+    }
+    if (idx($metadata, 'trace')) {
+      $trace = PhutilErrorHandler::formatStacktrace($metadata['trace']);
+      $console->writeErr("%s\n", $trace);
+    }
+  }
 
 }
diff --git a/src/daemon/PhutilDaemonHandle.php b/src/daemon/PhutilDaemonHandle.php
--- a/src/daemon/PhutilDaemonHandle.php
+++ b/src/daemon/PhutilDaemonHandle.php
@@ -26,12 +26,12 @@
     PhutilDaemonOverseer $overseer,
     $daemon_class,
     array $argv,
-    array $more) {
+    array $config) {
 
     $this->overseer = $overseer;
     $this->daemonClass = $daemon_class;
     $this->argv = $argv;
-    $this->more = $more;
+    $this->config = $config;
     $this->restartAt = time();
 
     $this->daemonID = $this->generateDaemonID();
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
       self::EVENT_DID_LAUNCH,
       array(
         'argv' => $this->argv,
-        'explicitArgv' => $this->more,
+        'explicitArgv' => idx($this->config, 'argv'),
       ));
   }
 
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@
 
   private function newExecFuture() {
     $class = $this->daemonClass;
-    $argv = array_merge($this->argv, array('--'), $this->more);
+    $argv = $this->argv;
     $buffer_size = $this->getCaptureBufferSize();
 
     // NOTE: PHP implements proc_open() by running 'sh -c'. On most systems this
@@ -204,7 +204,8 @@
     return id(new ExecFuture('exec ./exec_daemon.php %s %Ls', $class, $argv))
       ->setCWD($this->getDaemonCWD())
       ->setStdoutSizeLimit($buffer_size)
-      ->setStderrSizeLimit($buffer_size);
+      ->setStderrSizeLimit($buffer_size)
+      ->write(json_encode($this->config));
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/src/daemon/PhutilDaemonOverseer.php b/src/daemon/PhutilDaemonOverseer.php
--- a/src/daemon/PhutilDaemonOverseer.php
+++ b/src/daemon/PhutilDaemonOverseer.php
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
   private $traceMemory;
   private $daemonize;
   private $phddir;
+  private $log;
+  private $libraries = array();
   private $verbose;
   private $err = 0;
 
@@ -57,6 +59,13 @@
           'help'  => 'Enable verbose activity logging.',
         ),
         array(
+          'name' => 'label',
+          'short' => 'l',
+          'param' => 'label',
+          'help' => pht(
+            'Optional process label. Makes "ps" nicer, no behavioral effects.'),
+        ),
+        array(
           'name' => 'load-phutil-library',
           'param' => 'library',
           'repeat' => true,
@@ -85,13 +94,13 @@
 
     if ($args->getArg('load-phutil-library')) {
       foreach ($args->getArg('load-phutil-library') as $library) {
-        $argv[] = '--load-phutil-library='.$library;
+        $this->libraries[] = $library;
       }
     }
 
     $log = $args->getArg('log');
     if ($log) {
-      $argv[] = '--log='.$log;
+      $this->log = $log;
     }
 
     $verbose = $args->getArg('verbose');
@@ -100,10 +109,16 @@
       $argv[] = '--verbose';
     }
 
-    $this->daemonize  = $args->getArg('daemonize');
-    $this->phddir     = $args->getArg('phd');
-    $this->argv       = $argv;
-    $this->moreArgs   = coalesce($more, array());
+    $label = $args->getArg('label');
+    if ($label) {
+      $argv[] = '-l';
+      $argv[] = $label;
+    }
+
+    $this->daemonize = $args->getArg('daemonize');
+    $this->phddir = $args->getArg('phd');
+    $this->argv = $argv;
+    $this->moreArgs = coalesce($more, array());
 
     if (self::$instance) {
       throw new Exception(
@@ -174,7 +189,11 @@
       $this,
       $this->daemon,
       $this->argv,
-      $this->moreArgs);
+      array(
+        'log' => $this->log,
+        'argv' => $this->moreArgs,
+        'load' => $this->libraries,
+      ));
 
     $daemon->setSilent((!$this->traceMode && !$this->verbose));
     $daemon->setTraceMemory($this->traceMemory);