diff --git a/narwhal.local.conf b/narwhal.local.conf
index 9fe4e691b..482c677c4 100644
--- a/narwhal.local.conf
+++ b/narwhal.local.conf
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
 if [ -z "$NARWHAL_ENGINE" ] && [ -d "$NARWHAL_HOME/packages/narwhal-jsc" ]; then
 	export NARWHAL_ENGINE=jsc
 fi
+
+if [ "$NARWHAL_ENGINE" == jsc ] && [ `ulimit -n` -lt 1024 ]; then
+    # JSC and Narwhal together open a lot of files. We want to increase the
+    # ulimit to a certain minimum here, but only the soft limit. We avoid
+    # changing the hard limit because someone might want to change the limit
+    # again later.
+    ulimit -Sn 1024
+fi