diff --git a/src/apprt/gtk/Surface.zig b/src/apprt/gtk/Surface.zig
index 3d16e9fbb..e51109015 100644
--- a/src/apprt/gtk/Surface.zig
+++ b/src/apprt/gtk/Surface.zig
@@ -746,7 +746,21 @@ pub fn deinit(self: *Surface) void {
     self.core_surface.deinit();
     self.core_surface = undefined;
 
-    if (self.cgroup_path) |path| self.app.core_app.alloc.free(path);
+    // Remove the cgroup if we have one. We do this after deiniting the core
+    // surface to ensure all processes have exited.
+    if (self.cgroup_path) |path| {
+        internal_os.cgroup.remove(path) catch |err| {
+            // We don't want this to be fatal in any way so we just log
+            // and continue. A dangling empty cgroup is not a big deal
+            // and this should be rare.
+            log.warn(
+                "failed to remove cgroup for surface path={s} err={}",
+                .{ path, err },
+            );
+        };
+
+        self.app.core_app.alloc.free(path);
+    }
 
     // Free all our GTK stuff
     //
diff --git a/src/os/cgroup.zig b/src/os/cgroup.zig
index 5645e337a..4f13921c5 100644
--- a/src/os/cgroup.zig
+++ b/src/os/cgroup.zig
@@ -56,6 +56,25 @@ pub fn create(
     }
 }
 
+/// Remove a cgroup. This will only succeed if the cgroup is empty
+/// (has no processes). The cgroup path should be relative to the
+/// cgroup root (e.g. "/user.slice/surfaces/abc123.scope").
+pub fn remove(cgroup: []const u8) !void {
+    assert(cgroup.len > 0);
+    assert(cgroup[0] == '/');
+
+    var buf: [std.fs.max_path_bytes]u8 = undefined;
+    const path = try std.fmt.bufPrint(&buf, "/sys/fs/cgroup{s}", .{cgroup});
+    std.fs.cwd().deleteDir(path) catch |err| switch (err) {
+        // If it doesn't exist, that's fine - maybe it was already cleaned up
+        error.FileNotFound => {},
+
+        // Any other error we failed to delete it so we want to notify
+        // the user.
+        else => return err,
+    };
+}
+
 /// Move the given PID into the given cgroup.
 pub fn moveInto(
     cgroup: []const u8,