diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1418427a..e56ceacd 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
-## 1.6.5
+## Next release
 
 * Auto-restart server when server and client versions do not match
+* Add `spring server` command to explicitly start a Spring server
+  process in the foreground, which logging to stdout. This will be
+  useful to those who want to run spring more explicitly, but the real
+  impetus was to enable running a spring server inside a Docker
+  container.
 
 ## 1.6.4
 
diff --git a/lib/spring/application.rb b/lib/spring/application.rb
index ddcc2d4e..b461d831 100644
--- a/lib/spring/application.rb
+++ b/lib/spring/application.rb
@@ -6,10 +6,10 @@ module Spring
   class Application
     attr_reader :manager, :watcher, :spring_env, :original_env
 
-    def initialize(manager, original_env)
+    def initialize(manager, original_env, spring_env = Env.new)
       @manager      = manager
       @original_env = original_env
-      @spring_env   = Env.new
+      @spring_env   = spring_env
       @mutex        = Mutex.new
       @waiting      = Set.new
       @preloaded    = false
diff --git a/lib/spring/application/boot.rb b/lib/spring/application/boot.rb
index 6804b646..8510b886 100644
--- a/lib/spring/application/boot.rb
+++ b/lib/spring/application/boot.rb
@@ -5,7 +5,8 @@
 
 app = Spring::Application.new(
   UNIXSocket.for_fd(3),
-  Spring::JSON.load(ENV.delete("SPRING_ORIGINAL_ENV").dup)
+  Spring::JSON.load(ENV.delete("SPRING_ORIGINAL_ENV").dup),
+  Spring::Env.new(log_file: IO.for_fd(4))
 )
 
 Signal.trap("TERM") { app.terminate }
diff --git a/lib/spring/application_manager.rb b/lib/spring/application_manager.rb
index a05aef4a..bb5bdfad 100644
--- a/lib/spring/application_manager.rb
+++ b/lib/spring/application_manager.rb
@@ -2,9 +2,9 @@ module Spring
   class ApplicationManager
     attr_reader :pid, :child, :app_env, :spring_env, :status
 
-    def initialize(app_env)
+    def initialize(app_env, spring_env)
       @app_env    = app_env
-      @spring_env = Env.new
+      @spring_env = spring_env
       @mutex      = Mutex.new
       @state      = :running
     end
@@ -104,7 +104,8 @@ def start_child(preload = false)
           "-I", File.expand_path("../..", $LOADED_FEATURES.grep(/bundler\/setup\.rb$/).first),
           "-I", File.expand_path("../..", __FILE__),
           "-e", "require 'spring/application/boot'",
-          3 => child_socket
+          3 => child_socket,
+          4 => spring_env.log_file,
         )
       end
 
diff --git a/lib/spring/client.rb b/lib/spring/client.rb
index 69bb8f5b..065a1aa9 100644
--- a/lib/spring/client.rb
+++ b/lib/spring/client.rb
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 require "spring/client/status"
 require "spring/client/rails"
 require "spring/client/version"
+require "spring/client/server"
 
 module Spring
   module Client
@@ -22,6 +23,7 @@ module Client
       "rails"     => Client::Rails,
       "-v"        => Client::Version,
       "--version" => Client::Version,
+      "server"    => Client::Server,
     }
 
     def self.run(args)
diff --git a/lib/spring/client/server.rb b/lib/spring/client/server.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e096d005
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/spring/client/server.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+module Spring
+  module Client
+    class Server < Command
+      def call
+        require "spring/server"
+        Spring::Server.boot(foreground: true)
+      end
+
+      def self.description
+        "Explicitly start a Spring server in the foreground"
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/spring/env.rb b/lib/spring/env.rb
index 38ae65b3..7f9136f0 100644
--- a/lib/spring/env.rb
+++ b/lib/spring/env.rb
@@ -14,10 +14,10 @@ module Spring
   class Env
     attr_reader :log_file
 
-    def initialize(root = nil)
-      @root         = root
-      @project_root = root
-      @log_file     = File.open(ENV["SPRING_LOG"] || File::NULL, "a")
+    def initialize(options = {})
+      @root         = options[:root]
+      @project_root = options[:root]
+      @log_file     = options[:log_file] || File.open(ENV["SPRING_LOG"] || File::NULL, "a")
     end
 
     def root
diff --git a/lib/spring/server.rb b/lib/spring/server.rb
index b922199f..be908532 100644
--- a/lib/spring/server.rb
+++ b/lib/spring/server.rb
@@ -10,19 +10,24 @@ module Spring
 
 module Spring
   class Server
-    def self.boot
-      new.boot
+    def self.boot(options = {})
+      new(options).boot
     end
 
     attr_reader :env
 
-    def initialize(env = Env.new)
-      @env          = env
-      @applications = Hash.new { |h, k| h[k] = ApplicationManager.new(k) }
+    def initialize(options = {})
+      @foreground   = options.fetch(:foreground, false)
+      @env          = options[:env] || default_env
+      @applications = Hash.new { |h, k| h[k] = ApplicationManager.new(k, env) }
       @pidfile      = env.pidfile_path.open('a')
       @mutex        = Mutex.new
     end
 
+    def foreground?
+      @foreground
+    end
+
     def log(message)
       env.log "[server] #{message}"
     end
@@ -31,8 +36,8 @@ def boot
       Spring.verify_environment
 
       write_pidfile
-      set_pgid
-      ignore_signals
+      set_pgid unless foreground?
+      ignore_signals unless foreground?
       set_exit_hook
       set_process_title
       start_server
@@ -42,6 +47,7 @@ def start_server
       server = UNIXServer.open(env.socket_name)
       log "started on #{env.socket_name}"
       loop { serve server.accept }
+    rescue Interrupt
     end
 
     def serve(client)
@@ -126,5 +132,19 @@ def set_process_title
         "spring server | #{env.app_name} | started #{distance} ago"
       }
     end
+
+    private
+
+    def default_env
+      Env.new(log_file: default_log_file)
+    end
+
+    def default_log_file
+      if foreground? && !ENV["SPRING_LOG"]
+        $stdout
+      else
+        nil
+      end
+    end
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/spring/test/acceptance_test.rb b/lib/spring/test/acceptance_test.rb
index fe10435a..1672a05c 100644
--- a/lib/spring/test/acceptance_test.rb
+++ b/lib/spring/test/acceptance_test.rb
@@ -28,6 +28,10 @@ def app
         @app ||= Spring::Test::Application.new("#{Spring::Test.root}/apps/tmp")
       end
 
+      def spring_env
+        app.spring_env
+      end
+
       def assert_output(artifacts, expected)
         expected.each do |stream, output|
           assert artifacts[stream].include?(output),
@@ -92,14 +96,14 @@ def without_gem(name)
 
       test "help message when called without arguments" do
         assert_success "bin/spring", stdout: 'Usage: spring COMMAND [ARGS]'
-        assert app.spring_env.server_running?
+        assert spring_env.server_running?
       end
 
       test "shows help" do
         assert_success "bin/spring help", stdout: 'Usage: spring COMMAND [ARGS]'
         assert_success "bin/spring -h", stdout: 'Usage: spring COMMAND [ARGS]'
         assert_success "bin/spring --help", stdout: 'Usage: spring COMMAND [ARGS]'
-        refute app.spring_env.server_running?
+        refute spring_env.server_running?
       end
 
       test "tells the user that spring is being used when used automatically via binstubs" do
@@ -184,10 +188,10 @@ def self.omg
 
       test "stop command kills server" do
         app.run app.spring_test_command
-        assert app.spring_env.server_running?, "The server should be running but it isn't"
+        assert spring_env.server_running?, "The server should be running but it isn't"
 
         assert_success "bin/spring stop"
-        assert !app.spring_env.server_running?, "The server should not be running but it is"
+        assert !spring_env.server_running?, "The server should not be running but it is"
       end
 
       test "custom commands" do
@@ -508,6 +512,19 @@ def exec_name
           2.times { assert_success "bundle exec rails runner ''" }
         end
       end
+
+      test "booting a foreground server" do
+        FileUtils.cd(app.root) do
+          assert !spring_env.server_running?
+          app.run "spring server &"
+
+          Timeout.timeout(1) do
+            sleep 0.1 until spring_env.server_running?
+          end
+
+          assert_success app.spring_test_command
+        end
+      end
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/spring/test/application.rb b/lib/spring/test/application.rb
index f6fe74b0..2da25e1e 100644
--- a/lib/spring/test/application.rb
+++ b/lib/spring/test/application.rb
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ class Application
 
       def initialize(root)
         @root       = Pathname.new(root)
-        @spring_env = Spring::Env.new(root)
+        @spring_env = Spring::Env.new(root: root)
       end
 
       def exists?