diff --git a/cogl/cogl.h b/cogl/cogl.h
index 4ac29ac6d..ff03b2251 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl.h
+++ b/cogl/cogl.h
@@ -204,7 +204,9 @@ cogl_features_available (CoglFeatureFlags features);
  *     supported with CoglBufferAccess including write support.
  * @COGL_FEATURE_ID_MIRRORED_REPEAT: Whether
  *    %COGL_PIPELINE_WRAP_MODE_MIRRORED_REPEAT is supported.
- *
+ * @COGL_FEATURE_ID_SWAP_BUFFERS_EVENT:
+ *     Available if the window system supports reporting an event
+ *     for swap buffer completions.
  *
  * All the capabilities that can vary between different GPUs supported
  * by Cogl. Applications that depend on any of these features should explicitly
@@ -231,6 +233,7 @@ typedef enum _CoglFeatureID
   COGL_FEATURE_ID_MAP_BUFFER_FOR_READ,
   COGL_FEATURE_ID_MAP_BUFFER_FOR_WRITE,
   COGL_FEATURE_ID_MIRRORED_REPEAT,
+  COGL_FEATURE_ID_SWAP_BUFFERS_EVENT,
 
   /*< private > */
   _COGL_N_FEATURE_IDS
diff --git a/cogl/winsys/cogl-winsys-glx.c b/cogl/winsys/cogl-winsys-glx.c
index 113d4d965..ccc746af2 100644
--- a/cogl/winsys/cogl-winsys-glx.c
+++ b/cogl/winsys/cogl-winsys-glx.c
@@ -438,6 +438,11 @@ update_winsys_features (CoglContext *context, GError **error)
     COGL_FLAGS_SET (context->winsys_features,
                     COGL_WINSYS_FEATURE_SWAP_REGION_THROTTLE, TRUE);
 
+  if (_cogl_winsys_has_feature (COGL_WINSYS_FEATURE_SWAP_BUFFERS_EVENT))
+    COGL_FLAGS_SET (context->features,
+                    COGL_FEATURE_ID_SWAP_BUFFERS_EVENT,
+                    TRUE);
+
   return TRUE;
 }