diff --git a/lib/httparrot.ex b/lib/httparrot.ex
index 6816597..72092dc 100644
--- a/lib/httparrot.ex
+++ b/lib/httparrot.ex
@@ -58,6 +58,16 @@ defmodule HTTParrot do
          certfile: priv_dir ++ '/ssl/server.crt', keyfile: priv_dir ++ '/ssl/server.key'],
         [env: [dispatch: dispatch], onresponse: &prettify_json/4])
     end
+
+    if unix_socket_supported? && Application.get_env(:httparrot, :unix_socket, false) do
+      {:ok, socket_path} = Application.fetch_env(:httparrot, :socket_path)
+      if File.exists?(socket_path), do: File.rm(socket_path)
+      IO.puts "Starting HTTParrot on unix socket #{socket_path}"
+      {:ok, _} = :cowboy.start_http(:http_unix, 100,
+        [port: 0, ip: {:local, socket_path}],
+        [env: [dispatch: dispatch], onresponse: &prettify_json/4])
+    end
+
     Supervisor.start_link([
         worker(ConCache, [[
             ttl_check: :timer.minutes(5),
@@ -78,4 +88,11 @@ defmodule HTTParrot do
       req
     end
   end
+
+  def unix_socket_supported? do
+    case {:os.type, Integer.parse("#{:erlang.system_info(:otp_release)}")} do
+      {{:unix, _}, {n, _}} when n >= 19 -> true
+      _ -> false
+    end
+  end
 end
diff --git a/lib/httparrot/general_request_info.ex b/lib/httparrot/general_request_info.ex
index c38e614..5e99f3f 100644
--- a/lib/httparrot/general_request_info.ex
+++ b/lib/httparrot/general_request_info.ex
@@ -3,9 +3,13 @@ defmodule HTTParrot.GeneralRequestInfo do
     {args, req} = :cowboy_req.qs_vals(req)
     {headers, req} = :cowboy_req.headers(req)
     {url, req} = :cowboy_req.url(req)
-    {{ip, _port}, req} = :cowboy_req.peer(req)
+    {{ip, port}, req} = :cowboy_req.peer(req)
+
+    ip = case {ip, port} do
+      {:local, _} -> ""
+      _ -> :inet_parse.ntoa(ip) |> to_string
+    end
 
-    ip = :inet_parse.ntoa(ip) |> to_string
     args = group_by_keys(args)
 
     {[args: args, headers: headers, url: url, origin: ip], req}
diff --git a/lib/httparrot/ip_handler.ex b/lib/httparrot/ip_handler.ex
index 262f616..a78ebc1 100644
--- a/lib/httparrot/ip_handler.ex
+++ b/lib/httparrot/ip_handler.ex
@@ -10,9 +10,14 @@ defmodule HTTParrot.IPHandler do
 
   def get_json(req, state) do
     {{ip, _port}, req} = :cowboy_req.peer(req)
+
     {response(ip), req, state}
   end
 
+  defp response(:local) do
+    [origin: ""] |> JSX.encode!
+  end
+
   defp response(ip) do
     ip = :inet_parse.ntoa(ip) |> to_string
     [origin: ip] |> JSX.encode!
diff --git a/mix.exs b/mix.exs
index 399b527..284d59c 100644
--- a/mix.exs
+++ b/mix.exs
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@ defmodule Httparrot.Mixfile do
                       :exjsx,
                       :con_cache ],
       mod: { HTTParrot, [] },
-      env: [ http_port: 8080, ssl: true, https_port: 8433 ] ]
+      env: [ http_port: 8080, ssl: true, https_port: 8433,
+        unix_socket: true, socket_path: "httparrot.sock"] ]
   end
 
   defp deps do
diff --git a/test/general_request_info_test.exs b/test/general_request_info_test.exs
index b33be01..d604f5d 100644
--- a/test/general_request_info_test.exs
+++ b/test/general_request_info_test.exs
@@ -55,4 +55,18 @@ defmodule HTTParrot.GeneralRequestInfoTest do
 
     assert validate :cowboy_req
   end
+
+  test "returns empty origin when using unix sockets" do
+    qs_vals = [{"a", "b"}]
+    headers = [header1: "value 1", header2: "value 2"]
+    url = "http://localhost/get?a=b"
+    expect(:cowboy_req, :qs_vals, 1, {qs_vals, :req2})
+    expect(:cowboy_req, :headers, 1, {headers, :req3})
+    expect(:cowboy_req, :url, 1, {url, :req4})
+    expect(:cowboy_req, :peer, 1, {{:local, ""}, :req5})
+
+    assert retrieve(:req1) == {[args: %{"a" => "b"}, headers: headers, url: url, origin: ""], :req5}
+
+    assert validate :cowboy_req
+  end
 end
diff --git a/test/ip_handler_test.exs b/test/ip_handler_test.exs
index 6486676..5963bb7 100644
--- a/test/ip_handler_test.exs
+++ b/test/ip_handler_test.exs
@@ -20,4 +20,14 @@ defmodule HTTParrot.IPHandlerTest do
     assert validate :cowboy_req
     assert validate JSX
   end
+
+  test "returns empty when running over unix sockets" do
+    expect(:cowboy_req, :peer, 1, {{:local, ""}, :req2})
+    expect(JSX, :encode!, [{[[origin: ""]], :json}])
+
+    assert get_json(:req1, :state) == {:json, :req2, :state}
+
+    assert validate :cowboy_req
+    assert validate JSX
+  end
 end