diff --git a/Network/Socket/Activation.hs b/Network/Socket/Activation.hs
index ca5d629..5697d0a 100644
--- a/Network/Socket/Activation.hs
+++ b/Network/Socket/Activation.hs
@@ -2,7 +2,17 @@
 -- | This is a module for systemd socket activation.  See
 -- <http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/socket-activation.html> and
 -- <http://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemd.socket.html>
-module Network.Socket.Activation (getActivatedSockets) where
+module Network.Socket.Activation
+    (
+    -- * Getting all activated sockets
+      getActivatedSockets
+
+    -- * Getting a fixed numbers of sockets
+    -- $fixed
+    , getActivatedSockets1
+    , getActivatedSockets2
+
+    ) where
 
 import Control.Applicative
 import Control.Monad
@@ -22,8 +32,31 @@ fdStart = 3
 -- | Return a list of activated sockets, if the program was started with
 -- socket activation.  The sockets are in the same order as in
 -- the associated @.socket@ file.  The sockets will have their family, type,
--- and status set appropriately.  Returns @Nothing@ in systems without socket activation (or
--- when the program was not socket activated).
+-- and status set appropriately.  Returns @Nothing@ in systems without
+-- socket activation (or when the program was not socket activated).
+--
+-- If your program requires being started with some small fixed number of
+-- sockets, you may want to use 'getActivatedSockets1' or
+-- 'getActivatedSockets2'.
+--
+-- === Example
+--
+-- This program prints whether it was started with socket activation
+-- and, if it was, how many activated sockets it has been given.
+--
+-- > import Network.Socket.Activation (getActivatedSockets)
+-- >
+-- > main :: IO ()
+-- > main = do
+-- >
+-- >     socketsMaybe <- getActivatedSockets
+-- >
+-- >     case socketsMaybe of
+-- >         Nothing ->
+-- >             putStrLn "This program is not socket activated."
+-- >         Just sockets ->
+-- >             putStrLn ("This program was activated with " ++
+-- >                       show (length sockets) ++ " socket(s).")
 getActivatedSockets :: IO (Maybe [Socket])
 getActivatedSockets = runMaybeT $ do
     listenPid <- read <$> MaybeT (getEnv "LISTEN_PID")
@@ -38,6 +71,87 @@ getActivatedSockets = runMaybeT $ do
           stat <- socketStatus fd
           lift $ mkSocket fd fam typ defaultProtocol stat
 
+-- $fixed
+-- Often a program using socket activation will require being activated
+-- some fixed number of sockets.  Here we provide some actions to make it
+-- convenient to get the number of activated sockets your program expects
+-- or otherwise fail with an informative error message.
+
+-- | Return an activated socket, if the program was started with exactly
+-- one activated socket.  The socket will have its family, type, and
+-- status set appropriately.  Returns @Left@ containing an error message
+-- if the program was not started with exactly one activated socket.
+--
+-- The more general version of this for any number of sockets is
+-- 'getActivatedSockets'.  If you need two sockets instead of one, use
+-- 'getActivatedSockets2'.
+--
+-- === Example
+--
+-- This example illustrates a common case where we have a program that
+-- requires being started with one activated socket. In the first line
+-- of @main@, we attempt to obtain the socket. In the case where the
+-- program was not started with exactly one activated socket, we use
+-- the @die@ function to print an error message and quit the program.
+--
+-- > import Network.Socket.Activation (getActivatedSockets1)
+-- > import System.Exit (die)
+-- >
+-- > main :: IO ()
+-- > main = do
+-- >     socket <- getActivatedSockets1 >>= either die pure
+-- >     ...
+getActivatedSockets1 :: IO (Either String Socket)
+getActivatedSockets1 = do
+    socketsMaybe <- getActivatedSockets
+    return $ case socketsMaybe of
+        Nothing -> Left "This program is not socket activated."
+        Just xs -> case xs of
+            []  -> Left "This program is socket activated, but \
+                        \there are no sockets. Exactly one is required."
+            [x] -> Right x
+            _   -> Left $ "There are too many activated sockets; \
+                          \expected 1, got " ++ show (length xs)
+
+-- | Return two activated sockets, if the program was started with exactly
+-- two activated sockets.  The sockets are in the same order as in
+-- the associated @.socket@ file.  The sockets will have their family, type,
+-- and status set appropriately.  Returns @Left@ containing an error message
+-- if the program was not started with exactly two activated sockets.
+--
+-- The more general version of this for any number of sockets is
+-- 'getActivatedSockets'.  If you need one socket instead of two, use
+-- 'getActivatedSockets1'.
+--
+-- === Example
+--
+-- This example illustrates a common case where we have a program that
+-- requires being started with two activated sockets. In the first line
+-- of @main@, we attempt to obtain the sockets. In the case where the
+-- program was not started with exactly two activated sockets, we use
+-- the @die@ function to print an error message and quit the program.
+--
+-- > import Network.Socket.Activation (getActivatedSockets2)
+-- > import System.Exit (die)
+-- >
+-- > main :: IO ()
+-- > main = do
+-- >     (socket1, socket2) <- getActivatedSockets2 >>= either die pure
+-- >     ...
+getActivatedSockets2 :: IO (Either String (Socket, Socket))
+getActivatedSockets2 = do
+    socketsMaybe <- getActivatedSockets
+    return $ case socketsMaybe of
+        Nothing -> Left "This program is not socket activated."
+        Just xs -> case xs of
+            []     -> Left "This program is socket activated, but \
+                           \there are no sockets. Exactly two are required."
+            [_]    -> Left "This program was started with only one activated \
+                           \socket. Exactly two are required."
+            [x, y] -> Right (x, y)
+            _      -> Left $ "There are too many activated sockets; \
+                             \expected 2, got " ++ show (length xs)
+
 socketFamily :: CInt -> MaybeT IO Family
 socketFamily fd = do
     familyInt <- lift $ c_socket_family fd