diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 33264c74..21b1f65e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - `DEBUG_SHADED` cmake variable and its associated functionality.
 
 ### Added
+- Polybar can now read config files from stdin: `polybar -c /dev/stdin`.
 - `custom/script`: Implement `env-*` config option.
    ([2090](https://github.com/polybar/polybar/issues/2090))
 - `drawtypes/ramp`: Add support for ramp weights.
diff --git a/include/utils/file.hpp b/include/utils/file.hpp
index 213bf6cd..8a34c645 100644
--- a/include/utils/file.hpp
+++ b/include/utils/file.hpp
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ class fd_stream : public StreamType {
 namespace file_util {
   bool exists(const string& filename);
   bool is_file(const string& filename);
+  bool is_dir(const string& filename);
   string pick(const vector<string>& filenames);
   string contents(const string& filename);
   void write_contents(const string& filename, const string& contents);
diff --git a/src/components/config_parser.cpp b/src/components/config_parser.cpp
index 034a0f2a..d29a2319 100644
--- a/src/components/config_parser.cpp
+++ b/src/components/config_parser.cpp
@@ -126,8 +126,8 @@ void config_parser::parse_file(const string& file, file_list path) {
     throw application_error("Failed to open config file " + file + ": " + strerror(errno));
   }
 
-  if (!file_util::is_file(file)) {
-    throw application_error("Config file " + file + " is not a file");
+  if (file_util::is_dir(file)) {
+    throw application_error("Config file " + file + " is a directory");
   }
 
   m_log.trace("config_parser: Parsing %s", file);
diff --git a/src/utils/file.cpp b/src/utils/file.cpp
index bcf6ba26..9511ad61 100644
--- a/src/utils/file.cpp
+++ b/src/utils/file.cpp
@@ -165,6 +165,19 @@ namespace file_util {
     return S_ISREG(buffer.st_mode);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Checks if the given path exists and is a file
+   */
+  bool is_dir(const string& filename) {
+    struct stat buffer {};
+
+    if (stat(filename.c_str(), &buffer) != 0) {
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    return S_ISDIR(buffer.st_mode);
+  }
+
   /**
    * Picks the first existing file out of given entries
    */