diff --git a/include/villas/io.h b/include/villas/io.h
index c22976bbf..6e3ac98e3 100644
--- a/include/villas/io.h
+++ b/include/villas/io.h
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ struct sample;
 struct io_format;
 
 enum io_flags {
-	IO_FLUSH		= (1 << 8) /**< Flush the output stream after each chunk of samples. */
+	IO_FLUSH		= (1 << 8),	/**< Flush the output stream after each chunk of samples. */
+	IO_NONBLOCK		= (1 << 9)	/**< Dont block io_read() while waiting for new samples. */
 };
 
 struct io {
diff --git a/lib/io.c b/lib/io.c
index 28fbb0adb..0a4409a6b 100644
--- a/lib/io.c
+++ b/lib/io.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <string.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
 
 #include "io.h"
 #include "io_format.h"
@@ -91,6 +92,26 @@ stdio:		io->mode = IO_MODE_STDIO;
 		io->stdio.output = stdout;
 	}
 
+	/* Make stream non-blocking if desired */
+	if (io->flags & IO_NONBLOCK) {
+		int ret, fd, flags;
+
+		fd = io_fd(io);
+		if (fd < 0)
+			return fd;
+
+		flags = fcntl(fd, F_GETFL);
+		if (flags < 0)
+			return flags;
+
+		flags |= O_NONBLOCK;
+
+		ret = fcntl(fd, F_SETFL, flags);
+		if (ret)
+			return ret;
+	}
+
+	/* Enable line buffering on stdio */
 	if (io->mode == IO_MODE_STDIO) {
 		ret = setvbuf(io->stdio.input, NULL, _IOLBF, BUFSIZ);
 		if (ret)