diff --git a/bot.conf.example b/bot.conf.example
index 5914d822..3595c67e 100644
--- a/bot.conf.example
+++ b/bot.conf.example
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ tls-key                  =
 tls-certificate          =
 tls-api-key              =
 tls-api-certificate      =
+# unix domain socket location for ControlSocket
+control-socket           =
 # https://openweathermap.org/api
 openweathermap-api-key   =
 # https://products.wolframalpha.com/api/
diff --git a/src/IRCBot.py b/src/IRCBot.py
index 47fc22eb..d9f14c74 100644
--- a/src/IRCBot.py
+++ b/src/IRCBot.py
@@ -23,12 +23,13 @@ class Bot(object):
 
         self.servers = {}
         self.other_sockets = {}
-        self.control_socket = ControlSocket.ControlSocket(self)
-        self.add_socket(self.control_socket)
 
-        self._control_sclient = socket.socket(
-            socket.AF_UNIX, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
-        self._control_client.connect(self.config["control-socket"])
+        if "contorl-socket" in self.config:
+            self.control_socket = ControlSocket.ControlSocket(self)
+            self.add_socket(self.control_socket)
+            self._control_sclient = socket.socket(
+                socket.AF_UNIX, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
+            self._control_client.connect(self.config["control-socket"])
 
     def trigger(self):
         self._control_client.send(b"TRIGGER")