ascii-chat can run under systemd on Linux. The packaged units use journald for stdout and stderr, disable terminal-only startup UI and update checks, and set /dev/null as the explicit application log sink. This discard sink does not open a file.

When systemd provides NOTIFY_SOCKET, the process sends READY=1 and startup STATUS= notifications. Support is optional at runtime, so the same binary works outside systemd. Install the packaged units with scripts/install-systemd-confs.sh; pass --user for user services and --uninstall to remove them. System-wide changes require root.

The API profile uses the existing server mode; there is no separate API mode.