diff --git a/config.def.h b/config.def.h
index 6367793..70f32ab 100644
--- a/config.def.h
+++ b/config.def.h
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ static const char *const autostart[] = {
         "foot", NULL,
         "todoodoo", NULL,
         "firefox", NULL,
+        "somebar", NULL,
+        "someblocks", NULL,
         NULL /* terminate */
 };
 
diff --git a/dwl.c b/dwl.c
index 047df5e..3cf7ef5 100644
--- a/dwl.c
+++ b/dwl.c
@@ -319,6 +319,7 @@ static void xytonode(double x, double y, struct wlr_surface **psurface,
 static void zoom(const Arg *arg);
 
 /* variables */
+static char const* autostart_runtime[256] = {NULL};
 static const char broken[] = "broken";
 static pid_t child_pid = -1;
 static int locked;
@@ -405,10 +406,22 @@ autostartexec(void) {
 	/* count entries */
 	for (p = autostart; *p; autostart_len++, p++)
 		while (*++p);
+	/* count runtime entries */
+	for (p = autostart_runtime; *p; autostart_len++, p++)
+		while (*++p);
 
 	autostart_pids = calloc(autostart_len, sizeof(pid_t));
 	for (p = autostart; *p; i++, p++) {
-	        if ((autostart_pids[i] = fork()) == 0) {
+    if ((autostart_pids[i] = fork()) == 0) {
+			setsid();
+			execvp(*p, (char *const *)p);
+			die("dwl: execvp %s:", *p);
+		}
+		/* skip arguments */
+		while (*++p);
+	}
+	for (p = autostart_runtime; *p; i++, p++) {
+		if ((autostart_pids[i] = fork()) == 0) {
 			setsid();
 			execvp(*p, (char *const *)p);
 			die("dwl: execvp %s:", *p);
@@ -2794,10 +2807,22 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
 	char *startup_cmd = NULL;
 	int c;
+	char *path = calloc(8192, sizeof(char));
 
-	while ((c = getopt(argc, argv, "s:hdv")) != -1) {
+	int autostart_runtime_idx = 0;
+
+	strcat(path, getenv("PATH"));
+	while ((c = getopt(argc, argv, "e:p:s:hdv")) != -1) {
 		if (c == 's')
 			startup_cmd = optarg;
+		else if (c == 'p') {
+			strcat(path, ":");
+			strcat(path, optarg);
+		}
+		else if (c == 'e') {
+			autostart_runtime[autostart_runtime_idx] = optarg;
+			autostart_runtime_idx++;
+		}
 		else if (c == 'd')
 			log_level = WLR_DEBUG;
 		else if (c == 'v')
@@ -2811,11 +2836,14 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	/* Wayland requires XDG_RUNTIME_DIR for creating its communications socket */
 	if (!getenv("XDG_RUNTIME_DIR"))
 		die("XDG_RUNTIME_DIR must be set");
+	if (setenv("PATH", path, 1))
+		die("Failed to set PATH");
+	free(path);
 	setup();
 	run(startup_cmd);
 	cleanup();
 	return EXIT_SUCCESS;
 
 usage:
-	die("Usage: %s [-v] [-d] [-s startup command]", argv[0]);
+	die("Usage: %s [-v] [-d] [-s startup command] [[-p path directory] ...] [[-e autostart file] ...]", argv[0]);
 }