diff --git a/modules/consul-service-registry/default.nix b/modules/consul-service-registry/default.nix
index 35b725c..3103da6 100644
--- a/modules/consul-service-registry/default.nix
+++ b/modules/consul-service-registry/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ config, lib, ... }:
+{ config, lib, pkgs, ... }:
 
 with lib;
 
@@ -7,28 +7,51 @@ let
 
   consul = "${config.services.consul.package}/bin/consul";
 
-  consulServiceDefinition = submodule ({ name, ... }: {
-    unit = mkOption {
-      description = "Which systemd service to attach to.";
-      default = name;
-      type = types.str;
-    };
-    definition = mkOption {
-      description = "Consul service definition.";
-      type = types.attrs;
+  consulServiceDefinition = types.submodule ({ name, ... }: {
+    options = {
+      unit = mkOption {
+        description = "Which systemd service to attach to.";
+        default = name;
+        type = types.str;
+      };
+      mode = mkOption {
+        description = "How to attach command executions to the service.";
+        type = types.enum [ "direct" "external" ];
+        default = "direct";
+      };
+      definition = mkOption {
+        description = "Consul service definition.";
+        type = types.attrs;
+      };
     };
   });
 
   attachToService = name: conf: let
     serviceJson = pkgs.writeText "consul-service-${name}.json" (builtins.toJSON conf.definition);
   in {
-    name = conf.unit;
+    name = {
+      direct = conf.unit;
+      external = "register-consul-svc-${conf.unit}";
+    }.${conf.mode};
     value = {
-      serviceConfig = {
-        ExecStartPost = "${consul} services register ${serviceJson}";
-        ExecStopPre = "${consul} services deregister ${serviceJson}";
+      direct = {
+        serviceConfig = {
+          ExecStartPost = "${consul} services register ${serviceJson}";
+          ExecStopPre = "${consul} services deregister ${serviceJson}";
+        };
       };
-    };
+      external = {
+        after = [ "${conf.unit}.service" ];
+        wantedBy = [ "${conf.unit}.service" ];
+        unitConfig.BindsTo = "${conf.unit}.service";
+        serviceConfig = {
+          Type = "oneshot";
+          RemainAfterExit = true;
+          ExecStart = "${consul} services register ${serviceJson}";
+          ExecStop = "${consul} services deregister ${serviceJson}";
+        };
+      };
+    }.${conf.mode};
   };
 in