diff --git a/swaybar/ipc.c b/swaybar/ipc.c
index 68d8dd32d..c3929a35f 100644
--- a/swaybar/ipc.c
+++ b/swaybar/ipc.c
@@ -417,6 +417,28 @@ void ipc_execute_binding(struct swaybar *bar, struct swaybar_binding *bind) {
 }
 
 bool ipc_initialize(struct swaybar *bar) {
+	if (!bar->id) {
+		uint32_t len = 0;
+		char *res = ipc_single_command(bar->ipc_socketfd,
+				IPC_GET_BAR_CONFIG, "", &len);
+		json_object *bars = json_tokener_parse(res);
+		if (!json_object_is_type(bars, json_type_array)
+				|| json_object_array_length(bars) == 0) {
+			sway_log(SWAY_ERROR, "No bar configuration found, "
+					"please configure a bar block in your sway config file.");
+			json_object_put(bars);
+			free(res);
+			return false;
+		}
+		json_object *first = json_object_array_get_idx(bars, 0);
+		bar->id = strdup(json_object_get_string(first));
+		json_object_put(bars);
+		free(res);
+		sway_log(SWAY_INFO, "Using first bar config: %s. "
+				"Use --bar_id to manually select a different bar configuration.",
+				bar->id);
+	}
+
 	uint32_t len = strlen(bar->id);
 	char *res = ipc_single_command(bar->ipc_socketfd,
 			IPC_GET_BAR_CONFIG, bar->id, &len);
diff --git a/swaybar/main.c b/swaybar/main.c
index e1b0cecac..c2020ff09 100644
--- a/swaybar/main.c
+++ b/swaybar/main.c
@@ -72,12 +72,6 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
 		sway_log_init(SWAY_INFO, NULL);
 	}
 
-	if (!swaybar.id) {
-		sway_log(SWAY_ERROR, "No bar_id passed. "
-				"Provide --bar_id or let sway start swaybar");
-		return 1;
-	}
-
 	if (!socket_path) {
 		socket_path = get_socketpath();
 		if (!socket_path) {