diff --git a/rel/server/overlays/bin/server b/rel/server/overlays/bin/server
index ddb3f659c..4d272ac07 100755
--- a/rel/server/overlays/bin/server
+++ b/rel/server/overlays/bin/server
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 set -e
 cd -P -- "$(dirname -- "$0")"
 
+# Livebook does not start EPMD automatically, but we want to start it
+# here, becasue we need it for clustering
+epmd -daemon
+
 if [ -n "${FLAME_PARENT}" ]; then
   exec elixir ./start_flame.exs
 elif [ -n "${LIVEBOOK_RUNTIME}" ]; then