diff --git a/builtin/fsmonitor--daemon.c b/builtin/fsmonitor--daemon.c
index 0c54cf13715765..97421d73a200d2 100644
--- a/builtin/fsmonitor--daemon.c
+++ b/builtin/fsmonitor--daemon.c
@@ -1215,8 +1215,6 @@ static int fsmonitor_run_daemon_1(struct fsmonitor_daemon_state *state)
 			_("could not start IPC thread pool on '%s'"),
 			state->path_ipc.buf);
 
-	ipc_server_start_async(&state->ipc_server_data);
-
 	/*
 	 * Start the fsmonitor listener thread to collect filesystem
 	 * events.
diff --git a/compat/fsmonitor/fsm-listen-darwin.c b/compat/fsmonitor/fsm-listen-darwin.c
index 2fc67442eb5e87..dfa551459d2d1b 100644
--- a/compat/fsmonitor/fsm-listen-darwin.c
+++ b/compat/fsmonitor/fsm-listen-darwin.c
@@ -516,6 +516,12 @@ void fsm_listen__loop(struct fsmonitor_daemon_state *state)
 	}
 	data->stream_started = 1;
 
+	/*
+	 * Our fs event listener is now running, so it's safe to start
+	 * serving client requests.
+	 */
+	ipc_server_start_async(state->ipc_server_data);
+
 	pthread_mutex_lock(&data->dq_lock);
 	pthread_cond_wait(&data->dq_finished, &data->dq_lock);
 	pthread_mutex_unlock(&data->dq_lock);
diff --git a/compat/fsmonitor/fsm-listen-win32.c b/compat/fsmonitor/fsm-listen-win32.c
index 5a21dade7b8659..80e092b511c973 100644
--- a/compat/fsmonitor/fsm-listen-win32.c
+++ b/compat/fsmonitor/fsm-listen-win32.c
@@ -741,6 +741,12 @@ void fsm_listen__loop(struct fsmonitor_daemon_state *state)
 	    start_rdcw_watch(data->watch_gitdir) == -1)
 		goto force_error_stop;
 
+	/*
+	 * Now that we've established the rdcw watches, we can start
+	 * serving clients.
+	 */
+	ipc_server_start_async(state->ipc_server_data);
+
 	for (;;) {
 		dwWait = WaitForMultipleObjects(data->nr_listener_handles,
 						data->hListener,