diff --git a/piker/_daemon.py b/piker/_daemon.py
index 72e390f2..80175ae4 100644
--- a/piker/_daemon.py
+++ b/piker/_daemon.py
@@ -134,6 +134,8 @@ async def spawn_brokerd(
     **tractor_kwargs
 ) -> tractor._portal.Portal:
 
+    from .data import _setup_persistent_brokerd
+
     log.info(f'Spawning {brokername} broker daemon')
 
     brokermod = get_brokermod(brokername)
@@ -152,6 +154,21 @@ async def spawn_brokerd(
         **tractor_kwargs
     )
 
+    # TODO: so i think this is the perfect use case for supporting
+    # a cross-actor async context manager api instead of this
+    # shoort-and-forget task spawned in the root nursery, we'd have an
+    # async exit stack that we'd register the `portal.open_context()`
+    # call with and then have the ability to unwind the call whenevs.
+
+    # non-blocking setup of brokerd service nursery
+    _services.service_n.start_soon(
+        partial(
+            portal.run,
+            _setup_persistent_brokerd,
+            brokername=brokername,
+        )
+    )
+
     return dname