diff --git a/artiq/applets/simple.py b/artiq/applets/simple.py
index 50c851cbe..94ba27c00 100644
--- a/artiq/applets/simple.py
+++ b/artiq/applets/simple.py
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 import argparse
 import asyncio
 
-from quamash import QEventLoop, QtWidgets, QtCore
+from quamash import QEventLoop, QtWidgets, QtGui, QtCore
 
 from artiq.protocols.sync_struct import Subscriber
+from artiq.protocols.pc_rpc import Client
 
 
 class SimpleApplet:
@@ -13,11 +14,20 @@ class SimpleApplet:
         self.argparser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=cmd_description)
         group = self.argparser.add_argument_group("data server")
         group.add_argument(
-            "--server", default="::1",
-            help="hostname or IP to connect to")
+            "--server-notify", default="::1",
+            help="hostname or IP to connect to for dataset notifications")
         group.add_argument(
-            "--port", default=3250, type=int,
-            help="TCP port to connect to")
+            "--port-notify", default=3250, type=int,
+            help="TCP port to connect to for dataset notifications")
+        group = self.argparser.add_argument_group("GUI server")
+        group.add_argument(
+            "--server-gui", default="::1",
+            help="hostname or IP to connect to for GUI control")
+        group.add_argument(
+            "--port-gui", default=6501, type=int,
+            help="TCP port to connect to for GUI control")
+        group.add_argument("--embed", default=None, type=int,
+            help="embed main widget into existing window")
         self._arggroup_datasets = self.argparser.add_argument_group("datasets")
 
     def add_dataset(self, name, help=None):
@@ -36,6 +46,22 @@ class SimpleApplet:
 
     def create_main_widget(self):
         self.main_widget = self.main_widget_class(self.args)
+        # Qt window embedding is ridiculously buggy, and empirical testing
+        # has shown that the following procedure must be followed exactly:
+        # 1. applet creates widget
+        # 2. applet creates native window without showing it, and get its ID
+        # 3. applet sends the ID to host, host embeds the widget
+        # 4. applet shows the widget
+        # Doing embedding the other way around (using QWindow.setParent in the
+        # applet) breaks resizing; furthermore the host needs to know our
+        # window ID to request graceful termination by closing the window.
+        if self.args.embed is not None:
+            win_id = int(self.main_widget.winId())
+            remote = Client(self.args.server_gui, self.args.port_gui, "applets")
+            try:
+                remote.embed(self.args.embed, win_id)
+            finally:
+                remote.close_rpc()
         self.main_widget.show()
 
     def sub_init(self, data):
@@ -49,7 +75,7 @@ class SimpleApplet:
         self.subscriber = Subscriber("datasets",
                                      self.sub_init, self.sub_mod)
         self.loop.run_until_complete(self.subscriber.connect(
-            self.args.server, self.args.port))
+            self.args.server_notify, self.args.port_notify))
 
     def run(self):
         self.args_init()