diff --git a/kittens/panel/main.py b/kittens/panel/main.py
index 9549f64c1..741773d46 100644
--- a/kittens/panel/main.py
+++ b/kittens/panel/main.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 # License: GPL v3 Copyright: 2018, Kovid Goyal <kovid at kovidgoyal.net>
 
+import os
 import sys
 from collections.abc import Callable
 from contextlib import suppress
@@ -189,6 +190,10 @@ Detach from the controlling terminal, if any, running in an independent child pr
 the parent process exits immediately.
 
 
+--detached-log
+Path to a log file to store STDOUT/STDERR when using :option:`--detach`
+
+
 --debug-rendering
 type=bool-set
 For internal debugging use.
@@ -346,7 +351,7 @@ def main(sys_args: list[str]) -> None:
     args, items = parse_panel_args(sys_args[1:])
     if args.detach:
         from kitty.utils import detach
-        detach()
+        detach(log_file=args.detached_log or os.devnull)
     sys.argv = ['kitty']
     if args.debug_rendering:
         sys.argv.append('--debug-rendering')
diff --git a/kitty/data-types.c b/kitty/data-types.c
index bff95c9ad..5922b98d4 100644
--- a/kitty/data-types.c
+++ b/kitty/data-types.c
@@ -67,12 +67,13 @@ process_group_map(PyObject *self UNUSED, PyObject *args UNUSED) {
 #endif
 
 static PyObject*
-redirect_std_streams(PyObject UNUSED *self, PyObject *args) {
-    char *devnull = NULL;
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "s", &devnull)) return NULL;
-    if (freopen(devnull, "r", stdin) == NULL) return PyErr_SetFromErrno(PyExc_OSError);
-    if (freopen(devnull, "w", stdout) == NULL) return PyErr_SetFromErrno(PyExc_OSError);
-    if (freopen(devnull, "w", stderr) == NULL)  return PyErr_SetFromErrno(PyExc_OSError);
+redirect_std_streams(PyObject UNUSED *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kw) {
+    char *in = "", *out = "", *err = "";
+    static const char* kwlist[] = {"stdin", "stdout", "stderr", NULL};
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kw, "|sss", (char**)kwlist, &in, &out, &err)) return NULL;
+    if (in[0] && freopen(in, "r", stdin) == NULL) return PyErr_SetFromErrno(PyExc_OSError);
+    if (out[0] && freopen(out, "a", stdout) == NULL) return PyErr_SetFromErrno(PyExc_OSError);
+    if (out[0] && freopen(err, "a", stderr) == NULL)  return PyErr_SetFromErrno(PyExc_OSError);
     Py_RETURN_NONE;
 }
 
@@ -663,7 +664,7 @@ static PyMethodDef module_methods[] = {
     {"char_props_for", py_char_props_for, METH_O, ""},
     {"split_into_graphemes", (PyCFunction)split_into_graphemes, METH_O, ""},
     {"thread_write", (PyCFunction)cm_thread_write, METH_VARARGS, ""},
-    {"redirect_std_streams", (PyCFunction)redirect_std_streams, METH_VARARGS, ""},
+    {"redirect_std_streams", (PyCFunction)(void (*) (void))(redirect_std_streams), METH_VARARGS | METH_KEYWORDS, NULL},
     {"locale_is_valid", (PyCFunction)locale_is_valid, METH_VARARGS, ""},
     {"shm_open", (PyCFunction)py_shm_open, METH_VARARGS, ""},
     {"shm_unlink", (PyCFunction)py_shm_unlink, METH_VARARGS, ""},
diff --git a/kitty/fast_data_types.pyi b/kitty/fast_data_types.pyi
index 518c1f910..6797bba6c 100644
--- a/kitty/fast_data_types.pyi
+++ b/kitty/fast_data_types.pyi
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ def log_error_string(s: str) -> None:
     pass
 
 
-def redirect_std_streams(devnull: str) -> None:
+def redirect_std_streams(stdin: str = '', stdout: str = '', stderr: str = '') -> None:
     pass
 
 
diff --git a/kitty/utils.py b/kitty/utils.py
index 634d999e4..b1882c089 100644
--- a/kitty/utils.py
+++ b/kitty/utils.py
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ def open_url(url: str, program: str | list[str] = 'default', cwd: str | None = N
     return open_cmd(command_for_open(program), url, cwd=cwd, extra_env=extra_env)
 
 
-def detach(fork: bool = True, setsid: bool = True, redirect: bool = True) -> None:
+def detach(fork: bool = True, setsid: bool = True, redirect: bool = True, log_file: str = os.devnull) -> None:
     if fork:
         # Detach from the controlling process.
         if os.fork() != 0:
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ def detach(fork: bool = True, setsid: bool = True, redirect: bool = True) -> Non
         os.setsid()
     if redirect:
         from .fast_data_types import redirect_std_streams
-        redirect_std_streams(os.devnull)
+        redirect_std_streams(stdin=os.devnull, stdout=log_file, stderr=log_file)
 
 
 def init_startup_notification_x11(window_handle: int, startup_id: str | None = None) -> Optional['StartupCtx']: