diff --git a/qapi-schema.json b/qapi-schema.json
index 4bfaf20ebe..148097b7d8 100644
--- a/qapi-schema.json
+++ b/qapi-schema.json
@@ -2651,14 +2651,19 @@
 # @nodelay: #optional set TCP_NODELAY socket option (default: false)
 # @telnet: #optional enable telnet protocol on server
 #          sockets (default: false)
+# @reconnect: #optional For a client socket, if a socket is disconnected,
+#          then attempt a reconnect after the given number of seconds.
+#          Setting this to zero disables this function. (default: 0)
+#          (Since: 2.2)
 #
 # Since: 1.4
 ##
-{ 'type': 'ChardevSocket', 'data': { 'addr'     : 'SocketAddress',
-                                     '*server'  : 'bool',
-                                     '*wait'    : 'bool',
-                                     '*nodelay' : 'bool',
-                                     '*telnet'  : 'bool' } }
+{ 'type': 'ChardevSocket', 'data': { 'addr'       : 'SocketAddress',
+                                     '*server'    : 'bool',
+                                     '*wait'      : 'bool',
+                                     '*nodelay'   : 'bool',
+                                     '*telnet'    : 'bool',
+                                     '*reconnect' : 'int' } }
 
 ##
 # @ChardevUdp:
diff --git a/qemu-char.c b/qemu-char.c
index 549ebd84e9..aa15bd3da3 100644
--- a/qemu-char.c
+++ b/qemu-char.c
@@ -2501,8 +2501,21 @@ typedef struct {
     SocketAddress *addr;
     bool is_listen;
     bool is_telnet;
+
+    guint reconnect_timer;
+    int64_t reconnect_time;
 } TCPCharDriver;
 
+static gboolean socket_reconnect_timeout(gpointer opaque);
+
+static void qemu_chr_socket_restart_timer(CharDriverState *chr)
+{
+    TCPCharDriver *s = chr->opaque;
+    assert(s->connected == 0);
+    s->reconnect_timer = g_timeout_add_seconds(s->reconnect_time,
+                                               socket_reconnect_timeout, chr);
+}
+
 static gboolean tcp_chr_accept(GIOChannel *chan, GIOCondition cond, void *opaque);
 
 #ifndef _WIN32
@@ -2784,6 +2797,9 @@ static void tcp_chr_disconnect(CharDriverState *chr)
     SocketAddress_to_str(chr->filename, CHR_MAX_FILENAME_SIZE,
                          "disconnected:", s->addr, s->is_listen, s->is_telnet);
     qemu_chr_be_event(chr, CHR_EVENT_CLOSED);
+    if (s->reconnect_time) {
+        qemu_chr_socket_restart_timer(chr);
+    }
 }
 
 static gboolean tcp_chr_read(GIOChannel *chan, GIOCondition cond, void *opaque)
@@ -2964,6 +2980,10 @@ static void tcp_chr_close(CharDriverState *chr)
     TCPCharDriver *s = chr->opaque;
     int i;
 
+    if (s->reconnect_timer) {
+        g_source_remove(s->reconnect_timer);
+        s->reconnect_timer = 0;
+    }
     qapi_free_SocketAddress(s->addr);
     if (s->fd >= 0) {
         remove_fd_in_watch(chr);
@@ -3013,6 +3033,18 @@ static void qemu_chr_finish_socket_connection(CharDriverState *chr, int fd)
     }
 }
 
+static void qemu_chr_socket_connected(int fd, void *opaque)
+{
+    CharDriverState *chr = opaque;
+
+    if (fd < 0) {
+        qemu_chr_socket_restart_timer(chr);
+        return;
+    }
+
+    qemu_chr_finish_socket_connection(chr, fd);
+}
+
 static bool qemu_chr_open_socket_fd(CharDriverState *chr, Error **errp)
 {
     TCPCharDriver *s = chr->opaque;
@@ -3020,7 +3052,10 @@ static bool qemu_chr_open_socket_fd(CharDriverState *chr, Error **errp)
 
     if (s->is_listen) {
         fd = socket_listen(s->addr, errp);
-    } else  {
+    } else if (s->reconnect_time) {
+        fd = socket_connect(s->addr, errp, qemu_chr_socket_connected, chr);
+        return fd >= 0;
+    } else {
         fd = socket_connect(s->addr, errp, NULL, NULL);
     }
     if (fd < 0) {
@@ -3448,6 +3483,7 @@ static void qemu_chr_parse_socket(QemuOpts *opts, ChardevBackend *backend,
     bool is_waitconnect = is_listen && qemu_opt_get_bool(opts, "wait", true);
     bool is_telnet      = qemu_opt_get_bool(opts, "telnet", false);
     bool do_nodelay     = !qemu_opt_get_bool(opts, "delay", true);
+    int64_t reconnect   = qemu_opt_get_number(opts, "reconnect", 0);
     const char *path = qemu_opt_get(opts, "path");
     const char *host = qemu_opt_get(opts, "host");
     const char *port = qemu_opt_get(opts, "port");
@@ -3474,6 +3510,8 @@ static void qemu_chr_parse_socket(QemuOpts *opts, ChardevBackend *backend,
     backend->socket->telnet = is_telnet;
     backend->socket->has_wait = true;
     backend->socket->wait = is_waitconnect;
+    backend->socket->has_reconnect = true;
+    backend->socket->reconnect = reconnect;
 
     addr = g_new0(SocketAddress, 1);
     if (path) {
@@ -3872,6 +3910,9 @@ QemuOptsList qemu_chardev_opts = {
         },{
             .name = "delay",
             .type = QEMU_OPT_BOOL,
+        },{
+            .name = "reconnect",
+            .type = QEMU_OPT_NUMBER,
         },{
             .name = "telnet",
             .type = QEMU_OPT_BOOL,
@@ -4016,6 +4057,26 @@ static CharDriverState *qmp_chardev_open_parallel(ChardevHostdev *parallel,
 
 #endif /* WIN32 */
 
+static gboolean socket_reconnect_timeout(gpointer opaque)
+{
+    CharDriverState *chr = opaque;
+    TCPCharDriver *s = chr->opaque;
+    Error *err;
+
+    s->reconnect_timer = 0;
+
+    if (chr->be_open) {
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    if (!qemu_chr_open_socket_fd(chr, &err)) {
+        error_report("Unable to connect to char device %s\n", chr->label);
+        qemu_chr_socket_restart_timer(chr);
+    }
+
+    return false;
+}
+
 static CharDriverState *qmp_chardev_open_socket(ChardevSocket *sock,
                                                 Error **errp)
 {
@@ -4026,6 +4087,7 @@ static CharDriverState *qmp_chardev_open_socket(ChardevSocket *sock,
     bool is_listen      = sock->has_server  ? sock->server  : true;
     bool is_telnet      = sock->has_telnet  ? sock->telnet  : false;
     bool is_waitconnect = sock->has_wait    ? sock->wait    : false;
+    int64_t reconnect   = sock->has_reconnect ? sock->reconnect : 0;
 
     chr = qemu_chr_alloc();
     s = g_malloc0(sizeof(TCPCharDriver));
@@ -4058,13 +4120,19 @@ static CharDriverState *qmp_chardev_open_socket(ChardevSocket *sock,
         if (is_telnet) {
             s->do_telnetopt = 1;
         }
+    } else if (reconnect > 0) {
+        s->reconnect_time = reconnect;
     }
 
     if (!qemu_chr_open_socket_fd(chr, errp)) {
-        g_free(s);
-        g_free(chr->filename);
-        g_free(chr);
-        return NULL;
+        if (s->reconnect_time) {
+            qemu_chr_socket_restart_timer(chr);
+        } else {
+            g_free(s);
+            g_free(chr->filename);
+            g_free(chr);
+            return NULL;
+        }
     }
 
     if (is_listen && is_waitconnect) {
diff --git a/qemu-options.hx b/qemu-options.hx
index 365b56c424..22cf3b94ce 100644
--- a/qemu-options.hx
+++ b/qemu-options.hx
@@ -1930,9 +1930,9 @@ ETEXI
 
 DEF("chardev", HAS_ARG, QEMU_OPTION_chardev,
     "-chardev null,id=id[,mux=on|off]\n"
-    "-chardev socket,id=id[,host=host],port=port[,to=to][,ipv4][,ipv6][,nodelay]\n"
-    "         [,server][,nowait][,telnet][,mux=on|off] (tcp)\n"
-    "-chardev socket,id=id,path=path[,server][,nowait][,telnet],[mux=on|off] (unix)\n"
+    "-chardev socket,id=id[,host=host],port=port[,to=to][,ipv4][,ipv6][,nodelay][,reconnect=seconds]\n"
+    "         [,server][,nowait][,telnet][,reconnect=seconds][,mux=on|off] (tcp)\n"
+    "-chardev socket,id=id,path=path[,server][,nowait][,telnet][,reconnect=seconds][,mux=on|off] (unix)\n"
     "-chardev udp,id=id[,host=host],port=port[,localaddr=localaddr]\n"
     "         [,localport=localport][,ipv4][,ipv6][,mux=on|off]\n"
     "-chardev msmouse,id=id[,mux=on|off]\n"
@@ -2004,7 +2004,7 @@ Options to each backend are described below.
 A void device. This device will not emit any data, and will drop any data it
 receives. The null backend does not take any options.
 
-@item -chardev socket ,id=@var{id} [@var{TCP options} or @var{unix options}] [,server] [,nowait] [,telnet]
+@item -chardev socket ,id=@var{id} [@var{TCP options} or @var{unix options}] [,server] [,nowait] [,telnet] [,reconnect=@var{seconds}]
 
 Create a two-way stream socket, which can be either a TCP or a unix socket. A
 unix socket will be created if @option{path} is specified. Behaviour is
@@ -2018,6 +2018,10 @@ connect to a listening socket.
 @option{telnet} specifies that traffic on the socket should interpret telnet
 escape sequences.
 
+@option{reconnect} sets the timeout for reconnecting on non-server sockets when
+the remote end goes away.  qemu will delay this many seconds and then attempt
+to reconnect.  Zero disables reconnecting, and is the default.
+
 TCP and unix socket options are given below:
 
 @table @option
@@ -2687,14 +2691,16 @@ telnet on port 5555 to access the QEMU port.
 localhost 5555
 @end table
 
-@item tcp:[@var{host}]:@var{port}[,@var{server}][,nowait][,nodelay]
+@item tcp:[@var{host}]:@var{port}[,@var{server}][,nowait][,nodelay][,reconnect=@var{seconds}]
 The TCP Net Console has two modes of operation.  It can send the serial
 I/O to a location or wait for a connection from a location.  By default
 the TCP Net Console is sent to @var{host} at the @var{port}.  If you use
 the @var{server} option QEMU will wait for a client socket application
 to connect to the port before continuing, unless the @code{nowait}
 option was specified.  The @code{nodelay} option disables the Nagle buffering
-algorithm.  If @var{host} is omitted, 0.0.0.0 is assumed. Only
+algorithm.  The @code{reconnect} option only applies if @var{noserver} is
+set, if the connection goes down it will attempt to reconnect at the
+given interval.  If @var{host} is omitted, 0.0.0.0 is assumed. Only
 one TCP connection at a time is accepted. You can use @code{telnet} to
 connect to the corresponding character device.
 @table @code
@@ -2715,7 +2721,7 @@ MAGIC_SYSRQ sequence if you use a telnet that supports sending the break
 sequence.  Typically in unix telnet you do it with Control-] and then
 type "send break" followed by pressing the enter key.
 
-@item unix:@var{path}[,server][,nowait]
+@item unix:@var{path}[,server][,nowait][,reconnect=@var{seconds}]
 A unix domain socket is used instead of a tcp socket.  The option works the
 same as if you had specified @code{-serial tcp} except the unix domain socket
 @var{path} is used for connections.