diff --git a/ksql-rest-app/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/rest/server/KsqlServerMain.java b/ksql-rest-app/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/rest/server/KsqlServerMain.java
index 082aac37bfb2..cf005983f65c 100644
--- a/ksql-rest-app/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/rest/server/KsqlServerMain.java
+++ b/ksql-rest-app/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/rest/server/KsqlServerMain.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap.Builder;
 import io.confluent.ksql.properties.PropertiesUtil;
+import io.confluent.ksql.rest.util.KsqlUncaughtExceptionHandler;
 import io.confluent.ksql.util.KsqlConfig;
 import io.confluent.ksql.util.KsqlServerException;
 import io.confluent.ksql.version.metrics.KsqlVersionCheckerAgent;
@@ -50,6 +51,7 @@ public static void main(final String[] args) {
           System.getProperties()
       );
 
+      Thread.setDefaultUncaughtExceptionHandler(new KsqlUncaughtExceptionHandler());
       final String installDir = properties.getOrDefault("ksql.server.install.dir", "");
       final KsqlConfig ksqlConfig = new KsqlConfig(properties);
       final String streamsStateDirPath = ksqlConfig.getKsqlStreamConfigProps().getOrDefault(
diff --git a/ksql-rest-app/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/rest/util/KsqlUncaughtExceptionHandler.java b/ksql-rest-app/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/rest/util/KsqlUncaughtExceptionHandler.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4d11ea5b36da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ksql-rest-app/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/rest/util/KsqlUncaughtExceptionHandler.java
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2019 Confluent Inc.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Confluent Community License (the "License"); you may not use
+ * this file except in compliance with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the
+ * License at
+ *
+ * http://www.confluent.io/confluent-community-license
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+ * WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package io.confluent.ksql.rest.util;
+
+import edu.umd.cs.findbugs.annotations.SuppressFBWarnings;
+import io.confluent.ksql.rest.server.KsqlServerMain;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
+
+public class KsqlUncaughtExceptionHandler implements Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler {
+
+  private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(KsqlServerMain.class);
+
+  @SuppressFBWarnings
+  public void uncaughtException(final Thread t, final Throwable e) {
+    log.error("Unhandled exception caught in thread {}, error: {}", t.getName(), e.getStackTrace());
+    System.exit(-1);
+  }
+}