diff --git a/config/systemd/user/claude-sessions-save.service b/config/systemd/user/claude-sessions-save.service
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..929790f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/systemd/user/claude-sessions-save.service
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+[Unit]
+Description=Gracefully exit Claude Code sessions before shutdown
+Documentation=https://github.com/oreillyit/claude-foundations
+# Run before the system begins tearing down the session
+Before=shutdown.target halt.target reboot.target poweroff.target
+
+[Service]
+Type=oneshot
+RemainAfterExit=yes
+# ExecStart is a no-op — the service exists purely for its ExecStop
+ExecStart=/bin/true
+# On stop (triggered at shutdown): gracefully exit all Claude tmux sessions
+ExecStop=%h/dev/claude/projects/claude-foundations/scripts/claude-sessions-shutdown
+# Allow up to 120s for Claude sessions to save and exit cleanly
+TimeoutStopSec=120
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=default.target
diff --git a/scripts/install-systemd.sh b/scripts/install-systemd.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..f4a4ec9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/install-systemd.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# install-systemd.sh — Install claude-sessions systemd user service.
+#
+# Copies the service file from this repo into ~/.config/systemd/user/,
+# reloads the daemon, and enables + starts the service.
+#
+# Safe to re-run (idempotent).
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+REPO_DIR="$(dirname "$SCRIPT_DIR")"
+SRC="$REPO_DIR/config/systemd/user/claude-sessions-save.service"
+DST_DIR="$HOME/.config/systemd/user"
+DST="$DST_DIR/claude-sessions-save.service"
+
+GREEN='\033[0;32m'; YELLOW='\033[1;33m'; NC='\033[0m'
+ok()   { echo -e "${GREEN}OK${NC}    $*"; }
+skip() { echo -e "${YELLOW}SKIP${NC}  $*"; }
+
+[[ -f "$SRC" ]] || { echo "ERROR: source not found: $SRC" >&2; exit 1; }
+
+mkdir -p "$DST_DIR"
+
+if [[ -f "$DST" ]] && diff -q "$SRC" "$DST" &>/dev/null; then
+    skip "service file already up to date"
+else
+    cp "$SRC" "$DST"
+    ok "installed $DST"
+fi
+
+systemctl --user daemon-reload
+ok "daemon reloaded"
+
+if systemctl --user is-enabled --quiet claude-sessions-save.service 2>/dev/null; then
+    skip "already enabled"
+else
+    systemctl --user enable claude-sessions-save.service
+    ok "enabled claude-sessions-save.service"
+fi
+
+if systemctl --user is-active --quiet claude-sessions-save.service 2>/dev/null; then
+    skip "already active"
+else
+    systemctl --user start claude-sessions-save.service
+    ok "started claude-sessions-save.service"
+fi
+
+echo ""
+echo "claude-sessions-save.service is enabled and active."
+echo "It will gracefully exit Claude tmux sessions at shutdown."