diff --git a/wayfire/ipc.py b/wayfire/ipc.py
index fa90335..2cc474c 100644
--- a/wayfire/ipc.py
+++ b/wayfire/ipc.py
@@ -9,21 +9,22 @@
 class WayfireSocket:
     def __init__(self, socket_name: str | None=None, allow_manual_search=False):
         if socket_name is None:
-            socket_name = os.getenv("WAYFIRE_SOCKET")
+            env_socket = os.getenv("WAYFIRE_SOCKET")
+            socket_name = env_socket.strip() if env_socket else None
 
         self.socket_name = None
         self.pending_events = []
         self.timeout = 3
 
-        if socket_name is None and allow_manual_search:
-            # the last item is the most recent socket file
-            socket_list = sorted(
-                [
-                    os.path.join("/tmp", i)
-                    for i in os.listdir("/tmp")
-                    if "wayfire-wayland" in i
-                ]
-            )
+        if socket_name is not None:
+            try:
+                self.connect_client(socket_name)
+                self.socket_name = socket_name
+            except Exception:
+                socket_name = None 
+
+        if self.socket_name is None and allow_manual_search:
+            socket_list = self._find_candidate_sockets()
 
             for candidate in socket_list:
                 try:
@@ -33,12 +34,38 @@ def __init__(self, socket_name: str | None=None, allow_manual_search=False):
                 except Exception:
                     pass
 
-        elif socket_name is not None:
-            self.connect_client(socket_name)
-            self.socket_name = socket_name
-
         if self.socket_name is None:
-            raise Exception("Failed to find a suitable Wayfire socket!")
+            if not allow_manual_search:
+                raise Exception(
+                    "Failed to find a suitable Wayfire socket! "
+                    "Try allow_manual_search=True to look in standard locations."
+                )
+            else:
+                raise Exception(
+                    "Failed to find a suitable Wayfire socket! "
+                    "Manual search was performed but found no working socket. "
+                )
+
+    def _find_candidate_sockets(self) -> List[str]:
+        socket_list = []
+
+        runtime_dir = os.getenv("XDG_RUNTIME_DIR")
+        if runtime_dir is not None and os.path.isdir(runtime_dir):
+            for item in os.listdir(runtime_dir):
+                if item.startswith("wayfire-wayland-") and item.endswith(".socket"):
+                    socket_list.append(os.path.join(runtime_dir, item))
+            socket_list.sort()
+
+        tmp_sockets = sorted(
+            [
+                os.path.join("/tmp", i)
+                for i in os.listdir("/tmp")
+                if i.startswith("wayfire-wayland-") and i.endswith(".socket")
+            ]
+        )
+        socket_list.extend(tmp_sockets)
+
+        return socket_list
 
     def connect_client(self, socket_name):
         self.client = socket.socket(socket.AF_UNIX, socket.SOCK_STREAM)