diff --git a/scripts/daemon/phabricator_daemon_launcher.php b/scripts/daemon/phabricator_daemon_launcher.php
index ef2806d5ba..671be82fef 100755
--- a/scripts/daemon/phabricator_daemon_launcher.php
+++ b/scripts/daemon/phabricator_daemon_launcher.php
@@ -24,9 +24,6 @@ require_once $root.'/scripts/__init_env__.php';
 phutil_require_module('phabricator', 'infrastructure/daemon/control');
 $control = new PhabricatorDaemonControl();
 
-$phd_dir = PhabricatorEnv::getEnvConfig('phd.pid-directory');
-$pid_dir = $phd_dir.'/pid';
-
 switch (isset($argv[1]) ? $argv[1] : 'help') {
   case 'list':
     $err = $control->executeListCommand();
@@ -202,6 +199,3 @@ function phd_load_tracked_repositories() {
 
   return $repositories;
 }
-
-
-
diff --git a/src/infrastructure/daemon/control/PhabricatorDaemonControl.php b/src/infrastructure/daemon/control/PhabricatorDaemonControl.php
index 48abaa785b..cff0abf72b 100644
--- a/src/infrastructure/daemon/control/PhabricatorDaemonControl.php
+++ b/src/infrastructure/daemon/control/PhabricatorDaemonControl.php
@@ -216,7 +216,18 @@ EOHELP
   }
 
   protected function getControlDirectory($dir) {
-    return PhabricatorEnv::getEnvConfig('phd.pid-directory').'/'.$dir;
+    $path = PhabricatorEnv::getEnvConfig('phd.pid-directory').'/'.$dir;
+    if (!Filesystem::pathExists($path)) {
+      list($err) = exec_manual('mkdir -p %s', $path);
+      if ($err) {
+        throw new Exception(
+          "phd requires the directory '{$path}' to exist, but it does not ".
+          "exist and could not be created. Create this directory or update ".
+          "'phd.pid-directory' in your configuration to point to an existing ".
+          "directory.");
+      }
+    }
+    return $path;
   }
 
   protected function loadAvailableDaemonClasses() {