diff --git a/container-runtime/container-runtime.service b/container-runtime/container-runtime.service
index f04150969..e94753327 100644
--- a/container-runtime/container-runtime.service
+++ b/container-runtime/container-runtime.service
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ OnFailure=container-runtime-failure.service
 [Service]
 Type=simple
 Environment=RUST_LOG=startos=debug
-ExecStart=/usr/bin/node --experimental-detect-module --trace-warnings /usr/lib/startos/init/index.js
+ExecStart=/usr/bin/start-container pipe-wrap /usr/bin/node --experimental-detect-module --trace-warnings /usr/lib/startos/init/index.js
 Restart=no
 
 [Install]
diff --git a/core/src/service/effects/mod.rs b/core/src/service/effects/mod.rs
index 73d06467f..867865046 100644
--- a/core/src/service/effects/mod.rs
+++ b/core/src/service/effects/mod.rs
@@ -125,6 +125,10 @@ pub fn handler<C: Context>() -> ParentHandler<C> {
                         .with_call_remote::<ContainerCliContext>(),
                 ),
         )
+        .subcommand(
+            "pipe-wrap",
+            from_fn_blocking(subcontainer::pipe_wrap).no_display(),
+        )
         // net
         .subcommand("bind", from_fn_async(net::bind::bind).no_cli())
         .subcommand(
diff --git a/core/src/service/effects/subcontainer/sync.rs b/core/src/service/effects/subcontainer/sync.rs
index e1205a1a1..e6004e71c 100644
--- a/core/src/service/effects/subcontainer/sync.rs
+++ b/core/src/service/effects/subcontainer/sync.rs
@@ -487,28 +487,14 @@ pub fn launch(
         }
         cmd.arg(&chroot);
         cmd.args(&command);
-        cmd.stdin(Stdio::piped());
-        cmd.stdout(Stdio::piped());
-        cmd.stderr(Stdio::piped());
         let mut child = cmd
             .spawn()
             .map_err(color_eyre::eyre::Report::msg)
             .with_ctx(|_| (ErrorKind::Filesystem, "spawning child process"))?;
         send_pid.send(child.id() as i32).unwrap_or_default();
-        stdin_send
-            .send(Box::new(child.stdin.take().unwrap()))
-            .unwrap_or_default();
-        stdout_send
-            .send(Box::new(child.stdout.take().unwrap()))
-            .unwrap_or_default();
-        stderr_send
-            .send(Box::new(child.stderr.take().unwrap()))
-            .unwrap_or_default();
         let exit = child
             .wait()
             .with_ctx(|_| (ErrorKind::Filesystem, "waiting on child process"))?;
-        stdout_thread.join().unwrap();
-        stderr_thread.map(|t| t.join().unwrap());
         if let Some(code) = exit.code() {
             nix::mount::umount(&chroot.join("proc"))
                 .with_ctx(|_| (ErrorKind::Filesystem, "umount procfs"))?;
@@ -767,3 +753,96 @@ pub fn exec(
 pub fn exec_command(_: ContainerCliContext, params: ExecParams) -> Result<(), Error> {
     params.exec()
 }
+
+/// Wrap a child process so that its stdout/stderr are always pipes, even when
+/// the wrapper's own FDs are sockets (e.g. systemd journal).  This lets
+/// descendants `open("/dev/stderr")` via `/proc/self/fd/2` without ENXIO.
+pub fn pipe_wrap(
+    _: ContainerCliContext,
+    PipeWrapParams { command }: PipeWrapParams,
+) -> Result<(), Error> {
+    use std::os::fd::AsRawFd;
+
+    let Some(([program], args)) = command.split_at_checked(1) else {
+        return Err(Error::new(
+            eyre!("pipe-wrap: command cannot be empty"),
+            ErrorKind::InvalidRequest,
+        ));
+    };
+
+    let mut cmd = StdCommand::new(program);
+    cmd.args(args);
+    cmd.stdout(Stdio::piped());
+    cmd.stderr(Stdio::piped());
+
+    let mut child = cmd
+        .spawn()
+        .with_ctx(|_| (ErrorKind::Filesystem, "pipe-wrap: spawning child process"))?;
+
+    let child_stdout = child.stdout.take().unwrap();
+    let child_stderr = child.stderr.take().unwrap();
+
+    let orig_stdout_fd = std::io::stdout().as_raw_fd();
+    let orig_stderr_fd = std::io::stderr().as_raw_fd();
+
+    // Relay child stdout → original stdout (which may be a socket)
+    std::thread::spawn(move || {
+        let mut reader = child_stdout;
+        let mut buf = [0u8; 8192];
+        loop {
+            match Read::read(&mut reader, &mut buf) {
+                Ok(0) | Err(_) => break,
+                Ok(n) => {
+                    let _ = nix::unistd::write(
+                        unsafe { std::os::fd::BorrowedFd::borrow_raw(orig_stdout_fd) },
+                        &buf[..n],
+                    );
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    });
+
+    // Relay child stderr → original stderr
+    std::thread::spawn(move || {
+        let mut reader = child_stderr;
+        let mut buf = [0u8; 8192];
+        loop {
+            match Read::read(&mut reader, &mut buf) {
+                Ok(0) | Err(_) => break,
+                Ok(n) => {
+                    let _ = nix::unistd::write(
+                        unsafe { std::os::fd::BorrowedFd::borrow_raw(orig_stderr_fd) },
+                        &buf[..n],
+                    );
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    });
+
+    // Forward signals to the child
+    let child_pid = child.id() as i32;
+    let mut sig = signal_hook::iterator::Signals::new(FWD_SIGNALS)?;
+    std::thread::spawn(move || {
+        for sig in sig.forever() {
+            match nix::sys::signal::kill(
+                Pid::from_raw(child_pid),
+                Some(nix::sys::signal::Signal::try_from(sig).unwrap()),
+            ) {
+                Err(Errno::ESRCH) => break,
+                _ => {}
+            }
+        }
+    });
+
+    let status = child
+        .wait()
+        .with_ctx(|_| (ErrorKind::Filesystem, "pipe-wrap: waiting on child"))?;
+    std::process::exit(status.code().unwrap_or(1))
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, Serialize, Deserialize, Parser)]
+#[group(skip)]
+pub struct PipeWrapParams {
+    #[arg(trailing_var_arg = true, help = "help.arg.command-to-execute")]
+    command: Vec<OsString>,
+}