diff --git a/main/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/server/NetworkChannel.scala b/main/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/server/NetworkChannel.scala
index 26b489347..d385965f4 100644
--- a/main/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/server/NetworkChannel.scala
+++ b/main/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/server/NetworkChannel.scala
@@ -166,8 +166,8 @@ final class NetworkChannel(val name: String,
 
     def handleBody(chunk: Vector[Byte]): Unit = {
       if (isLanguageServerProtocol) {
-        Serialization.deserializeJsonRequest(chunk) match {
-          case Right(req) =>
+        Serialization.deserializeJsonMessage(chunk) match {
+          case Right(Right(req)) =>
             try {
               onRequestMessage(req)
             } catch {
@@ -175,6 +175,14 @@ final class NetworkChannel(val name: String,
                 log.debug(s"sending error: $code: $message")
                 langError(Option(req.id), code, message)
             }
+          case Right(Left(ntf)) =>
+            try {
+              onNotification(ntf)
+            } catch {
+              case LangServerError(code, message) =>
+                log.debug(s"sending error: $code: $message")
+                langError(None, code, message) // new id?
+            }
           case Left(errorDesc) =>
             val msg = s"Got invalid chunk from client (${new String(chunk.toArray, "UTF-8")}): " + errorDesc
             langError(None, ErrorCodes.ParseError, msg)
diff --git a/protocol/src/main/scala/sbt/protocol/Serialization.scala b/protocol/src/main/scala/sbt/protocol/Serialization.scala
index 2a6e174b4..c193dec81 100644
--- a/protocol/src/main/scala/sbt/protocol/Serialization.scala
+++ b/protocol/src/main/scala/sbt/protocol/Serialization.scala
@@ -143,15 +143,21 @@ object Serialization {
     }
   }
 
-  private[sbt] def deserializeJsonRequest(
-      bytes: Seq[Byte]): Either[String, JsonRpcRequestMessage] = {
+  private[sbt] def deserializeJsonMessage(bytes: Seq[Byte])
+    : Either[String, Either[JsonRpcNotificationMessage, JsonRpcRequestMessage]] = {
     val buffer = ByteBuffer.wrap(bytes.toArray)
     Parser.parseFromByteBuffer(buffer) match {
       case Success(json) =>
         import sbt.internal.protocol.codec.JsonRPCProtocol._
         Converter.fromJson[JsonRpcRequestMessage](json) match {
-          case Success(msg) => Right(msg)
-          case Failure(e)   => throw e
+          case Success(request) if (request.id.nonEmpty) => Right(Right(request))
+          case Failure(e)                                => throw e
+          case _ => {
+            Converter.fromJson[JsonRpcNotificationMessage](json) match {
+              case Success(notification) => Right(Left(notification))
+              case Failure(e)            => throw e
+            }
+          }
         }
       case Failure(e) =>
         Left(s"Parse error: ${e.getMessage}")