diff --git a/src/commands.c b/src/commands.c
index dec4d7a3..15a47d94 100644
--- a/src/commands.c
+++ b/src/commands.c
@@ -1582,7 +1582,7 @@ void cmd_layout_toggle(I3_CMD, const char *toggle_mode) {
  */
 void cmd_exit(I3_CMD) {
     LOG("Exiting due to user command.\n");
-    exit(0);
+    exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
 
     /* unreached */
 }
diff --git a/src/commands_parser.c b/src/commands_parser.c
index d4ae430b..f734a7aa 100644
--- a/src/commands_parser.c
+++ b/src/commands_parser.c
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ static void push_string(const char *identifier, char *str) {
     fprintf(stderr, "BUG: commands_parser stack full. This means either a bug "
                     "in the code, or a new command which contains more than "
                     "10 identified tokens.\n");
-    exit(1);
+    exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
 }
 
 // TODO move to a common util
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ static void push_long(const char *identifier, long num) {
     fprintf(stderr, "BUG: commands_parser stack full. This means either a bug "
                     "in the code, or a new command which contains more than "
                     "10 identified tokens.\n");
-    exit(1);
+    exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
 }
 
 // TODO move to a common util
diff --git a/src/config_parser.c b/src/config_parser.c
index c238f1b9..bbeca576 100644
--- a/src/config_parser.c
+++ b/src/config_parser.c
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ static void push_string(const char *identifier, const char *str) {
     fprintf(stderr, "BUG: config_parser stack full. This means either a bug "
                     "in the code, or a new command which contains more than "
                     "10 identified tokens.\n");
-    exit(1);
+    exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
 }
 
 static void push_long(const char *identifier, long num) {
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ static void push_long(const char *identifier, long num) {
     fprintf(stderr, "BUG: config_parser stack full. This means either a bug "
                     "in the code, or a new command which contains more than "
                     "10 identified tokens.\n");
-    exit(1);
+    exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
 }
 
 static const char *get_string(const char *identifier) {
diff --git a/src/fake_outputs.c b/src/fake_outputs.c
index 5f3622d4..e69acc8a 100644
--- a/src/fake_outputs.c
+++ b/src/fake_outputs.c
@@ -82,6 +82,6 @@ void fake_outputs_init(const char *output_spec) {
 
     if (num_screens == 0) {
         ELOG("No screens found. Please fix your setup. i3 will exit now.\n");
-        exit(0);
+        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/handlers.c b/src/handlers.c
index 1d73ccff..24919b28 100644
--- a/src/handlers.c
+++ b/src/handlers.c
@@ -441,7 +441,7 @@ static void handle_screen_change(xcb_generic_event_t *e) {
     xcb_get_geometry_reply_t *reply = xcb_get_geometry_reply(conn, cookie, NULL);
     if (reply == NULL) {
         ELOG("Could not get geometry of the root window, exiting\n");
-        exit(1);
+        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
     }
     DLOG("root geometry reply: (%d, %d) %d x %d\n", reply->x, reply->y, reply->width, reply->height);
 
diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
index aa1074a8..42d15735 100644
--- a/src/main.c
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -434,7 +434,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
     }
 
     if (only_check_config) {
-        exit(load_configuration(override_configpath, C_VALIDATE) ? 0 : 1);
+        exit(load_configuration(override_configpath, C_VALIDATE) ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE);
     }
 
     /* If the user passes more arguments, we act like i3-msg would: Just send
diff --git a/src/sighandler.c b/src/sighandler.c
index e49c30ba..9f40e7d1 100644
--- a/src/sighandler.c
+++ b/src/sighandler.c
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ static int sighandler_backtrace(void) {
             NULL};
         execvp(args[0], args);
         DLOG("Failed to exec GDB\n");
-        exit(1);
+        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
     }
     int status = 0;
 
diff --git a/src/startup.c b/src/startup.c
index 45d4673e..0646d7af 100644
--- a/src/startup.c
+++ b/src/startup.c
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ void start_application(const char *command, bool no_startup_id) {
             execl(_PATH_BSHELL, _PATH_BSHELL, "-c", command, NULL);
             /* not reached */
         }
-        _exit(0);
+        _exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
     }
     wait(0);
 
diff --git a/src/util.c b/src/util.c
index f0e053be..e9df9575 100644
--- a/src/util.c
+++ b/src/util.c
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ void exec_i3_utility(char *name, char *argv[]) {
     char buffer[BUFSIZ];
     if (readlink("/proc/self/exe", buffer, BUFSIZ) == -1) {
         warn("could not read /proc/self/exe");
-        _exit(1);
+        _exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
     }
     dir = dirname(buffer);
     sasprintf(&migratepath, "%s/%s", dir, name);
diff --git a/src/xinerama.c b/src/xinerama.c
index 4acfd3cb..efae10dc 100644
--- a/src/xinerama.c
+++ b/src/xinerama.c
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ static void query_screens(xcb_connection_t *conn) {
 
     if (num_screens == 0) {
         ELOG("No screens found. Please fix your setup. i3 will exit now.\n");
-        exit(0);
+        exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
     }
 }