diff --git a/openerp-server b/openerp-server
index a5c81d6593e..3adf5e6f574 100755
--- a/openerp-server
+++ b/openerp-server
@@ -150,6 +150,8 @@ if config["translate_in"]:
 if config["stop_after_init"]:
     sys.exit(0)
 
+openerp.netsvc.start_agent()
+
 #----------------------------------------------------------
 # Launch Servers
 #----------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/openerp/netsvc.py b/openerp/netsvc.py
index 9d3e338a9e1..0cc1870edb7 100644
--- a/openerp/netsvc.py
+++ b/openerp/netsvc.py
@@ -277,12 +277,13 @@ class Agent(object):
                 time.sleep(1)
             time.sleep(60)
 
-agent_runner = threading.Thread(target=Agent.runner, name="netsvc.Agent.runner")
-# the agent runner is a typical daemon thread, that will never quit and must be
-# terminated when the main process exits - with no consequence (the processing
-# threads it spawns are not marked daemon)
-agent_runner.setDaemon(True)
-agent_runner.start()
+def start_agent():
+    agent_runner = threading.Thread(target=Agent.runner, name="netsvc.Agent.runner")
+    # the agent runner is a typical daemon thread, that will never quit and must be
+    # terminated when the main process exits - with no consequence (the processing
+    # threads it spawns are not marked daemon)
+    agent_runner.setDaemon(True)
+    agent_runner.start()
 
 import traceback