diff --git a/src/StatusNotifier/Item/Notifications/Util.hs b/src/StatusNotifier/Item/Notifications/Util.hs
index 87f73aa..bb5513e 100644
--- a/src/StatusNotifier/Item/Notifications/Util.hs
+++ b/src/StatusNotifier/Item/Notifications/Util.hs
@@ -45,9 +45,37 @@
 passGetMain name = do
   Right (value, _) <- passGet name
   return value
 
+runDetached :: [String] -> IO (Either String String)
+runDetached args = do
+  logM "System.Taffybar.Util" INFO $
+       printf "Starting detached command with args %s" (show args)
+  (_, _, _, _) <-
+    P.createProcess
+      (P.proc "/usr/bin/env" args)
+        { P.std_in = P.NoStream
+        , P.std_out = P.NoStream
+        , P.std_err = P.NoStream
+        , P.close_fds = True
+        }
+  return $ Right ""
+
 xdgOpen :: MonadIO m => [String] -> m (Either String String)
-xdgOpen args = runCommandFromPath ("xdg-open":args)
+xdgOpen args = liftIO $ do
+  -- Route URL handlers through systemd so browsers are not parented to the
+  -- long-running tray icon service. Otherwise xdg-open can pull Chrome/Electron
+  -- into this service's cgroup and make restarts kill unrelated GUI apps.
+  result <- runCommandFromPath
+    ( [ "systemd-run"
+      , "--user"
+      , "--collect"
+      , "--quiet"
+      , "/usr/bin/env"
+      , "xdg-open"
+      ]
+      ++ args
+    )
+  either (const $ runDetached ("xdg-open":args)) (const $ return result) result
 
 openURL :: MonadIO m => String -> m (Either String String)
 openURL = xdgOpen . return