diff --git a/nomad/__init__.py b/nomad/__init__.py
index 43437c5..55f0d0b 100644
--- a/nomad/__init__.py
+++ b/nomad/__init__.py
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 from typing import Optional, Union
 
 import requests
+from urllib.parse import quote
+from requests_unixsocket import Session
 
 from nomad import api
 
@@ -67,6 +69,8 @@ def __init__(  # pylint: disable=too-many-arguments
         self.secure = secure
         self.port = port
         self.address = address or os.getenv("NOMAD_ADDR", None)
+        if self.address and self.address.startswith("unix://"):
+            self.address = "http+unix://" + quote(self.address[7:], safe = "")
         self.user_agent = user_agent
         self.region = region or os.getenv("NOMAD_REGION", None)
         self.timeout = timeout
@@ -75,6 +79,8 @@ def __init__(  # pylint: disable=too-many-arguments
         self.verify = verify
         self.cert = cert if all(cert) else ()
         self.session = session
+        if not self.session and self.address and self.address.startswith("http+unix://"):
+            self.session = Session()
         self.__namespace = namespace or os.getenv("NOMAD_NAMESPACE", None)
 
         self.requester_settings = {
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 6e42168..c5c6223 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 requests==2.32.2
+requests-unixsocket==0.4.1
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index c44d07b..d94f5d0 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 setuptools.setup(
     name='python-nomad',
     version='2.1.0',
-    install_requires=['requests'],
+    install_requires=['requests', 'requests-unixsocket'],
     packages=['nomad', 'nomad.api'],
     url='http://github.com/jrxfive/python-nomad',
     license='MIT',