diff --git a/metadata/xdg-activation.xml b/metadata/xdg-activation.xml
index 27193249e..6eb8c5514 100644
--- a/metadata/xdg-activation.xml
+++ b/metadata/xdg-activation.xml
@@ -2,7 +2,23 @@
 <wayfire>
 	<plugin name="xdg-activation">
 		<_short>XDG Activation Protocol</_short>
-		<_long>An implementation of the xdg-activation-v1 protocol.</_long>
+		<_long>An implementation of the xdg-activation-v1 protocol. This allows the active app to pass the focus to a different view in the same or a different app.</_long>
 		<category>Utility</category>
+		<option name="check_surface" type="bool">
+			<_short>Restrict to valid view</_short>
+			<_long>Whether to reject creating activation requests if no source view exists. Without this option, any view can grab to focus at any time.</_long>
+			<default>false</default>
+		</option>
+		<option name="only_last_request" type="bool">
+			<_short>Restrict to the most recent activation request</_short>
+			<_long>Whether to reject activation requests if a newer request has arrived since their creation.</_long>
+			<default>false</default>
+		</option>
+		<option name="timeout" type="int">
+			<_short>Timeout for activation (in seconds)</_short>
+			<_long>Focus requests will be ignored if at least this amount of time has elapsed between creating and using it.</_long>
+			<default>30</default>
+			<min>0</min>
+		</option>
 	</plugin>
 </wayfire>
diff --git a/plugins/protocols/xdg-activation.cpp b/plugins/protocols/xdg-activation.cpp
index 8f41770a3..0b6149cd9 100644
--- a/plugins/protocols/xdg-activation.cpp
+++ b/plugins/protocols/xdg-activation.cpp
@@ -12,16 +12,29 @@
 class wayfire_xdg_activation_protocol_impl : public wf::plugin_interface_t
 {
   public:
+    wayfire_xdg_activation_protocol_impl()
+    {
+        set_callbacks();
+    }
+
     void init() override
     {
         xdg_activation = wlr_xdg_activation_v1_create(wf::get_core().display);
-        xdg_activation_request_activate.notify = xdg_activation_handle_request_activate;
+        if (timeout >= 0)
+        {
+            xdg_activation->token_timeout_msec = 1000 * timeout;
+        }
 
-        wl_signal_add(&xdg_activation->events.request_activate, &xdg_activation_request_activate);
+        xdg_activation_request_activate.connect(&xdg_activation->events.request_activate);
+        xdg_activation_new_token.connect(&xdg_activation->events.new_token);
     }
 
     void fini() override
-    {}
+    {
+        xdg_activation_request_activate.disconnect();
+        xdg_activation_new_token.disconnect();
+        last_token = nullptr;
+    }
 
     bool is_unloadable() override
     {
@@ -29,36 +42,105 @@ class wayfire_xdg_activation_protocol_impl : public wf::plugin_interface_t
     }
 
   private:
-    static void xdg_activation_handle_request_activate(struct wl_listener *listener, void *data)
+    void set_callbacks()
     {
-        auto event = static_cast<const struct wlr_xdg_activation_v1_request_activate_event*>(data);
-
-        wayfire_view view = wf::wl_surface_to_wayfire_view(event->surface->resource);
-        if (!view)
+        xdg_activation_request_activate.set_callback([this] (void *data)
         {
-            LOGE("Could not get view");
-            return;
-        }
+            auto event = static_cast<const struct wlr_xdg_activation_v1_request_activate_event*>(data);
 
-        auto toplevel = wf::toplevel_cast(view);
-        if (!toplevel)
-        {
-            LOGE("Could not get toplevel view");
-            return;
-        }
+            if (!event->token->seat)
+            {
+                LOGI("Denying focus request, token was rejected at creation");
+                return;
+            }
+
+            if (only_last_token && (event->token != last_token))
+            {
+                LOGI("Denying focus request, token is expired");
+                return;
+            }
+
+            last_token = nullptr; // avoid reusing the same token
 
-        if (!event->token->seat)
+            wayfire_view view = wf::wl_surface_to_wayfire_view(event->surface->resource);
+            if (!view)
+            {
+                LOGE("Could not get view");
+                return;
+            }
+
+            auto toplevel = wf::toplevel_cast(view);
+            if (!toplevel)
+            {
+                LOGE("Could not get toplevel view");
+                return;
+            }
+
+            LOGI("Activating view");
+            wf::get_core().default_wm->focus_request(toplevel);
+        });
+
+        xdg_activation_new_token.set_callback([this] (void *data)
         {
-            LOGI("Denying focus request, seat wasn't supplied");
-            return;
-        }
+            auto token = static_cast<struct wlr_xdg_activation_token_v1*>(data);
+            bool reject_token = false;
+            if (!token->seat)
+            {
+                // note: for a valid seat, wlroots already checks that the serial is valid
+                LOGI("Not registering activation token, seat was not supplied");
+                reject_token = true;
+            }
+
+            if (check_surface && !token->surface)
+            {
+                // note: for a valid surface, wlroots already checks that this is the active surface
+                LOGI("Not registering activation token, surface was not supplied");
+                token->seat  = nullptr; // this will ensure that this token will be rejected later
+                reject_token = true;
+            }
+
+            if (reject_token)
+            {
+                if (token == last_token)
+                {
+                    /* corner case: (1) we created a valid token, storing it in last_token (2) it was freed by
+                     * wlroots without using it (3) a new token is created that is allocated the same memory.
+                     * In this case, we explicitly mark it as invalid. In other cases, we do not touch
+                     * last_token, since it can be a valid one and we don't want to cancel it because of a
+                     * rejected request.
+                     */
+                    last_token = nullptr;
+                }
+
+                // we will reject this token also in the activate callback
+                return;
+            }
 
-        LOGI("Activating view");
-        wf::get_core().default_wm->focus_request(toplevel);
+            last_token = token; // update our token
+        });
+
+        timeout.set_callback(timeout_changed);
     }
 
+    wf::config::option_base_t::updated_callback_t timeout_changed =
+        [this] ()
+    {
+        if (xdg_activation && (timeout >= 0))
+        {
+            xdg_activation->token_timeout_msec = 1000 * timeout;
+        }
+    };
+
     struct wlr_xdg_activation_v1 *xdg_activation;
-    struct wl_listener xdg_activation_request_activate;
+    wf::wl_listener_wrapper xdg_activation_request_activate;
+    wf::wl_listener_wrapper xdg_activation_new_token;
+    /* last valid token generated -- might be stale if it was destroyed by wlroots, should not be
+     * dereferenced, only compared to other tokens */
+    struct wlr_xdg_activation_token_v1 *last_token = nullptr;
+
+    wf::option_wrapper_t<bool> check_surface{"xdg-activation/check_surface"};
+    wf::option_wrapper_t<bool> only_last_token{"xdg-activation/only_last_request"};
+    wf::option_wrapper_t<int> timeout{"xdg-activation/timeout"};
 };
 
 DECLARE_WAYFIRE_PLUGIN(wayfire_xdg_activation_protocol_impl);