diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index d048cbd..208d1d1 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -238,6 +238,7 @@ install-common:
 	install -m 0644 qubes-rpc/qubes.SetDateTime $(DESTDIR)/etc/qubes-rpc
 	install -m 0755 qubes-rpc/qubes.InstallUpdatesGUI $(DESTDIR)/etc/qubes-rpc
 	install -m 0755 qubes-rpc/qubes.ResizeDisk $(DESTDIR)/etc/qubes-rpc
+	install -m 0755 qubes-rpc/qubes.StartApp $(DESTDIR)/etc/qubes-rpc
 
 	install -d $(DESTDIR)/etc/qubes/suspend-pre.d
 	install -m 0644 qubes-rpc/suspend-pre.README $(DESTDIR)/etc/qubes/suspend-pre.d/README
diff --git a/qubes-rpc/qubes.StartApp b/qubes-rpc/qubes.StartApp
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..ca3c48b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/qubes-rpc/qubes.StartApp
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+if [ -z "$1" ]; then
+    echo "This service require an argument" >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# make sure it have .desktop suffix, and only one of it
+app_basename="${1%.desktop}.desktop"
+
+# Based on XDG Base Directory Specification, Version 0.7
+[ -n "$XDG_DATA_HOME" ] || XDG_DATA_HOME="$HOME/.local/share"
+[ -n "$XDG_DATA_DIRS" ] || XDG_DATA_DIRS="/usr/local/share:/usr/share"
+
+for dir in $(echo "$XDG_DATA_HOME:$XDG_DATA_DIRS" | tr : ' '); do
+    if ! [ -d "$dir/applications" ]; then
+        continue
+    fi
+    if [ -f "$dir/applications/$app_basename" ]; then
+        exec qubes-desktop-run "$dir/applications/$app_basename"
+    fi
+done
+echo "applications/$app_basename not found in $XDG_DATA_HOME:$XDG_DATA_DIRS" >&2
+exit 1
diff --git a/rpm_spec/core-vm.spec b/rpm_spec/core-vm.spec
index 7b54562..d1afe00 100644
--- a/rpm_spec/core-vm.spec
+++ b/rpm_spec/core-vm.spec
@@ -353,6 +353,7 @@ rm -f %{name}-%{version}
 %config(noreplace) /etc/qubes-rpc/qubes.SetDateTime
 %config(noreplace) /etc/qubes-rpc/qubes.InstallUpdatesGUI
 %config(noreplace) /etc/qubes-rpc/qubes.ResizeDisk
+%config(noreplace) /etc/qubes-rpc/qubes.StartApp
 %dir /etc/qubes/autostart
 /etc/qubes/autostart/README.txt
 %config /etc/qubes/autostart/*.desktop.d/30_qubes.conf