diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 71bd6d73..af60b732 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -389,8 +389,9 @@ if(USE_LOADER)
   target_link_libraries(dd_profiling-shared PRIVATE libddprofiling_embedded_object
                                                     ddprof_exe_object)
   target_compile_definitions(
-    dd_profiling-shared PRIVATE DDPROF_EMBEDDED_LIB_DATA DDPROF_EMBEDDED_EXE_DATA
-                                DDPROF_PROFILING_LIBRARY)
+    dd_profiling-shared
+    PRIVATE DDPROF_EMBEDDED_LIB_DATA DDPROF_EMBEDDED_EXE_DATA DDPROF_PROFILING_LIBRARY
+            DDPROF_LOADER_SONAME="lib$<TARGET_PROPERTY:dd_profiling-shared,OUTPUT_NAME>.so")
 else()
   # Without loader, libdd_profiling.so is basically the same as libdd_profiling-embedded.so plus an
   # embedded ddprof executable.
diff --git a/docs/Troubleshooting.md b/docs/Troubleshooting.md
index 15eeac7d..d3e56acc 100644
--- a/docs/Troubleshooting.md
+++ b/docs/Troubleshooting.md
@@ -83,6 +83,24 @@ example:
 MALLOC_CONF=stats_print:true ./ddprof -S test-service service_cmd
 ```
 
+### Loading libdd_profiling.so via dlopen
+
+The recommended way to use `libdd_profiling.so` is to link against it directly
+or use `LD_PRELOAD`. If `dlopen` is required (e.g. conditional profiling based
+on a config flag):
+
+```c
+dlopen("libdd_profiling.so", RTLD_NOW);
+```
+
+The loader internally promotes its own symbols to global scope so that the
+embedded library it loads can resolve them.
+
+**musl limitation:** loading `libdd_profiling.so` with `dlopen` is not supported
+on musl-based systems (e.g. Alpine Linux). musl rejects initial-exec TLS
+cross-library relocations for `dlopen`'d libraries, which causes the embedded
+library to fail to load. Use `LD_PRELOAD` instead on musl systems.
+
 ### Library issues (LD_PRELOAD or allocation profiling)
 
 You will want to instrument the loader function (loader.c) to figure out what is going on.
diff --git a/src/lib/loader.c b/src/lib/loader.c
index ee47b197..3368b0aa 100644
--- a/src/lib/loader.c
+++ b/src/lib/loader.c
@@ -145,6 +145,35 @@ static void ensure_librt_is_loaded() {
   }
 }
 
+// When the loader is dlopen'd with RTLD_GLOBAL, glibc does not promote its
+// symbols to global scope until dlopen returns. The embedded .so references
+// ddprof_lib_state (defined here in the loader) as an undefined symbol, so
+// loading it with RTLD_NOW during our constructor fails with
+// "undefined symbol: ddprof_lib_state".
+//
+// Fix: re-open ourselves with RTLD_NOLOAD | RTLD_GLOBAL to promote our
+// symbols before loading the embedded .so. When loaded via LD_PRELOAD,
+// symbols are already in global scope so this is a harmless no-op.
+//
+// Note: on musl, dlopen with RTLD_GLOBAL is not supported for this library
+// because musl rejects initial-exec TLS cross-library relocations for
+// dlopen'd libraries entirely.
+static void ensure_loader_symbols_promoted() {
+#ifdef DDPROF_LOADER_SONAME
+  void *self =
+      my_dlopen(DDPROF_LOADER_SONAME, RTLD_GLOBAL | RTLD_NOLOAD | RTLD_NOW);
+  if (!self) {
+    // RTLD_NOLOAD should always find the loader (we are running inside it).
+    // NULL means the soname has changed or something is seriously wrong;
+    // the embedded .so will likely fail to load next.
+    fprintf(stderr,
+            "ddprof loader: failed to promote symbols to global scope "
+            "(RTLD_NOLOAD on " DDPROF_LOADER_SONAME
+            " returned NULL) -- embedded library may fail to load\n");
+  }
+#endif
+}
+
 static const char *temp_directory_path() {
   const char *tmpdir = NULL;
   const char *env[] = {"TMPDIR", "TMP", "TEMP", "TEMPDIR", NULL};
@@ -279,6 +308,7 @@ static void __attribute__((constructor)) loader() {
   ensure_libm_is_loaded();
   ensure_libpthread_is_loaded();
   ensure_librt_is_loaded();
+  ensure_loader_symbols_promoted();
 
   s_profiling_lib_handle = my_dlopen(lib_profiling_path, RTLD_LOCAL | RTLD_NOW);
   free(lib_profiling_path);
diff --git a/test/CMakeLists.txt b/test/CMakeLists.txt
index b5c02dee..eca30a43 100644
--- a/test/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/test/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -534,6 +534,7 @@ if(NOT CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL "SanitizedDebug")
              COMMAND ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/tools/check_for_unsafe_libc_functions.py
                      $<TARGET_FILE:dd_profiling-embedded>)
   endif()
+
 endif()
 
 if(NOT CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL "SanitizedDebug")