diff --git a/RELEASE_NOTES.rst b/RELEASE_NOTES.rst
index 5524ac840..a752b418f 100644
--- a/RELEASE_NOTES.rst
+++ b/RELEASE_NOTES.rst
@@ -3,6 +3,12 @@
 Release notes
 =============
 
+3.0 (unreleased)
+----------------
+
+* The --embed option of applets is replaced with the environment variable
+  ARTIQ_APPLET_EMBED.
+
 2.0rc1
 ------
 
diff --git a/artiq/applets/simple.py b/artiq/applets/simple.py
index 47d3d43b4..c05d86384 100644
--- a/artiq/applets/simple.py
+++ b/artiq/applets/simple.py
@@ -94,10 +94,6 @@ class SimpleApplet:
             "--port", default=3250, type=int,
             help="TCP port to connect to")
 
-        self.argparser.add_argument(
-            "--embed", default=None, help="embed into GUI",
-            metavar="IPC_ADDRESS")
-
         self._arggroup_datasets = self.argparser.add_argument_group("datasets")
 
         self.dataset_args = set()
@@ -114,6 +110,7 @@ class SimpleApplet:
 
     def args_init(self):
         self.args = self.argparser.parse_args()
+        self.embed = os.getenv("ARTIQ_APPLET_EMBED")
         self.datasets = {getattr(self.args, arg.replace("-", "_"))
                          for arg in self.dataset_args}
 
@@ -123,17 +120,17 @@ class SimpleApplet:
         asyncio.set_event_loop(self.loop)
 
     def ipc_init(self):
-        if self.args.embed is not None:
-            self.ipc = AppletIPCClient(self.args.embed)
+        if self.embed is not None:
+            self.ipc = AppletIPCClient(self.embed)
             self.loop.run_until_complete(self.ipc.connect())
 
     def ipc_close(self):
-        if self.args.embed is not None:
+        if self.embed is not None:
             self.ipc.close()
 
     def create_main_widget(self):
         self.main_widget = self.main_widget_class(self.args)
-        if self.args.embed is not None:
+        if self.embed is not None:
             self.ipc.set_close_cb(self.main_widget.close)
             if os.name == "nt":
                 # HACK: if the window has a frame, there will be garbage
@@ -166,7 +163,7 @@ class SimpleApplet:
         return data
 
     def filter_mod(self, mod):
-        if self.args.embed is not None:
+        if self.embed is not None:
             # the parent already filters for us
             return True
 
@@ -201,7 +198,7 @@ class SimpleApplet:
             self.emit_data_changed(self.data, [mod])
 
     def subscribe(self):
-        if self.args.embed is None:
+        if self.embed is None:
             self.subscriber = Subscriber("datasets",
                                          self.sub_init, self.sub_mod)
             self.loop.run_until_complete(self.subscriber.connect(
@@ -210,7 +207,7 @@ class SimpleApplet:
             self.ipc.subscribe(self.datasets, self.sub_init, self.sub_mod)
 
     def unsubscribe(self):
-        if self.args.embed is None:
+        if self.embed is None:
             self.loop.run_until_complete(self.subscriber.close())
 
     def run(self):
diff --git a/artiq/gui/applets.py b/artiq/gui/applets.py
index 4805fca2f..6874cdcfc 100644
--- a/artiq/gui/applets.py
+++ b/artiq/gui/applets.py
@@ -118,17 +118,16 @@ class _AppletDock(QDockWidgetCloseDetect):
         self.starting_stopping = True
         try:
             self.ipc = AppletIPCServer(self.datasets_sub)
-            if "$ipc_address" not in self.command:
-                logger.warning("IPC address missing from command for %s",
-                               self.applet_name)
             command_tpl = string.Template(self.command)
+            python = sys.executable.replace("\\", "\\\\")
             command = command_tpl.safe_substitute(
-                python=sys.executable.replace("\\", "\\\\"),
-                ipc_address=self.ipc.get_address().replace("\\", "\\\\")
+                python=python,
+                artiq_applet=python + " -m artiq.applets."
             )
             logger.debug("starting command %s for %s", command, self.applet_name)
             env = os.environ.copy()
             env["PYTHONUNBUFFERED"] = "1"
+            env["ARTIQ_APPLET_EMBED"] = self.ipc.get_address()
             try:
                 await self.ipc.create_subprocess(
                     *shlex.split(command),
@@ -194,20 +193,19 @@ class _AppletDock(QDockWidgetCloseDetect):
 
 
 _templates = [
-    ("Big number", "$python -m artiq.applets.big_number "
-                   "--embed $ipc_address NUMBER_DATASET"),
-    ("Histogram", "$python -m artiq.applets.plot_hist "
-                  "--embed $ipc_address COUNTS_DATASET "
+    ("Big number", "${artiq_applet}big_number "
+                   "NUMBER_DATASET"),
+    ("Histogram", "${artiq_applet}plot_hist "
+                  "COUNTS_DATASET "
                   "--x BIN_BOUNDARIES_DATASET"),
-    ("XY", "$python -m artiq.applets.plot_xy "
-           "--embed $ipc_address Y_DATASET --x X_DATASET "
+    ("XY", "${artiq_applet}plot_xy "
+           "Y_DATASET --x X_DATASET "
            "--error ERROR_DATASET --fit FIT_DATASET"),
-    ("XY + Histogram", "$python -m artiq.applets.plot_xy_hist "
-                       "--embed $ipc_address X_DATASET "
+    ("XY + Histogram", "${artiq_applet}plot_xy_hist "
+                       "X_DATASET "
                        "HIST_BIN_BOUNDARIES_DATASET "
                        "HISTS_COUNTS_DATASET"),
-    ("Image", "$python -m artiq.applets.image "
-                  "--embed $ipc_address IMG_DATASET"),
+    ("Image", "${artiq_applet}image IMG_DATASET"),
 ]