diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index baed32852d..a08b02fb66 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 - [#6686](https://github.com/influxdata/influxdb/pull/6686): Optimize timestamp run-length decoding
 - [#6713](https://github.com/influxdata/influxdb/pull/6713): Reduce allocations during query parsing.
 - [#3733](https://github.com/influxdata/influxdb/issues/3733): Modify the default retention policy name and make it configurable.
+- [#5655](https://github.com/influxdata/influxdb/issues/5655): Support specifying a retention policy for the graphite service.
 
 ### Bugfixes
 
diff --git a/services/graphite/config.go b/services/graphite/config.go
index c4dc17c0d2..9261c3edca 100644
--- a/services/graphite/config.go
+++ b/services/graphite/config.go
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	Enabled          bool          `toml:"enabled"`
 	BindAddress      string        `toml:"bind-address"`
 	Database         string        `toml:"database"`
+	RetentionPolicy  string        `toml:"retention-policy"`
 	Protocol         string        `toml:"protocol"`
 	BatchSize        int           `toml:"batch-size"`
 	BatchPending     int           `toml:"batch-pending"`
diff --git a/services/graphite/config_test.go b/services/graphite/config_test.go
index 9c1700f344..4c47979461 100644
--- a/services/graphite/config_test.go
+++ b/services/graphite/config_test.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ func TestConfig_Parse(t *testing.T) {
 	if _, err := toml.Decode(`
 bind-address = ":8080"
 database = "mydb"
+retention-policy = "myrp"
 enabled = true
 protocol = "tcp"
 batch-size=100
@@ -31,6 +32,8 @@ tags=["region=us-east"]
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected bind address: %s", c.BindAddress)
 	} else if c.Database != "mydb" {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected database selected: %s", c.Database)
+	} else if c.RetentionPolicy != "myrp" {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected retention policy selected: %s", c.RetentionPolicy)
 	} else if c.Enabled != true {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected graphite enabled: %v", c.Enabled)
 	} else if c.Protocol != "tcp" {
diff --git a/services/graphite/service.go b/services/graphite/service.go
index 6628c74568..bdc06c7ec6 100644
--- a/services/graphite/service.go
+++ b/services/graphite/service.go
@@ -52,13 +52,14 @@ func (c *tcpConnection) Close() {
 type Service struct {
 	mu sync.Mutex
 
-	bindAddress   string
-	database      string
-	protocol      string
-	batchSize     int
-	batchPending  int
-	batchTimeout  time.Duration
-	udpReadBuffer int
+	bindAddress     string
+	database        string
+	retentionPolicy string
+	protocol        string
+	batchSize       int
+	batchPending    int
+	batchTimeout    time.Duration
+	udpReadBuffer   int
 
 	batcher *tsdb.PointBatcher
 	parser  *Parser
@@ -85,6 +86,10 @@ type Service struct {
 	}
 	MetaClient interface {
 		CreateDatabase(name string) (*meta.DatabaseInfo, error)
+		CreateDatabaseWithRetentionPolicy(name string, rpi *meta.RetentionPolicyInfo) (*meta.DatabaseInfo, error)
+		CreateRetentionPolicy(database string, rpi *meta.RetentionPolicyInfo) (*meta.RetentionPolicyInfo, error)
+		Database(name string) *meta.DatabaseInfo
+		RetentionPolicy(database, name string) (*meta.RetentionPolicyInfo, error)
 	}
 }
 
@@ -94,17 +99,18 @@ func NewService(c Config) (*Service, error) {
 	d := c.WithDefaults()
 
 	s := Service{
-		bindAddress:    d.BindAddress,
-		database:       d.Database,
-		protocol:       d.Protocol,
-		batchSize:      d.BatchSize,
-		batchPending:   d.BatchPending,
-		udpReadBuffer:  d.UDPReadBuffer,
-		batchTimeout:   time.Duration(d.BatchTimeout),
-		logger:         log.New(os.Stderr, "[graphite] ", log.LstdFlags),
-		tcpConnections: make(map[string]*tcpConnection),
-		done:           make(chan struct{}),
-		diagsKey:       strings.Join([]string{"graphite", d.Protocol, d.BindAddress}, ":"),
+		bindAddress:     d.BindAddress,
+		database:        d.Database,
+		retentionPolicy: d.RetentionPolicy,
+		protocol:        d.Protocol,
+		batchSize:       d.BatchSize,
+		batchPending:    d.BatchPending,
+		udpReadBuffer:   d.UDPReadBuffer,
+		batchTimeout:    time.Duration(d.BatchTimeout),
+		logger:          log.New(os.Stderr, "[graphite] ", log.LstdFlags),
+		tcpConnections:  make(map[string]*tcpConnection),
+		done:            make(chan struct{}),
+		diagsKey:        strings.Join([]string{"graphite", d.Protocol, d.BindAddress}, ":"),
 	}
 
 	parser, err := NewParserWithOptions(Options{
@@ -137,9 +143,19 @@ func (s *Service) Open() error {
 		s.Monitor.RegisterDiagnosticsClient(s.diagsKey, s)
 	}
 
-	if _, err := s.MetaClient.CreateDatabase(s.database); err != nil {
-		s.logger.Printf("Failed to ensure target database %s exists: %s", s.database, err.Error())
-		return err
+	if db := s.MetaClient.Database(s.database); db != nil {
+		if rp, _ := s.MetaClient.RetentionPolicy(s.database, s.retentionPolicy); rp == nil {
+			rpi := meta.NewRetentionPolicyInfo(s.retentionPolicy)
+			if _, err := s.MetaClient.CreateRetentionPolicy(s.database, rpi); err != nil {
+				s.logger.Printf("Failed to ensure target retention policy %s exists: %s", s.database, err.Error())
+			}
+		}
+	} else {
+		rpi := meta.NewRetentionPolicyInfo(s.retentionPolicy)
+		if _, err := s.MetaClient.CreateDatabaseWithRetentionPolicy(s.database, rpi); err != nil {
+			s.logger.Printf("Failed to ensure target database %s exists: %s", s.database, err.Error())
+			return err
+		}
 	}
 
 	s.batcher = tsdb.NewPointBatcher(s.batchSize, s.batchPending, s.batchTimeout)
@@ -355,7 +371,7 @@ func (s *Service) processBatches(batcher *tsdb.PointBatcher) {
 	for {
 		select {
 		case batch := <-batcher.Out():
-			if err := s.PointsWriter.WritePoints(s.database, "", models.ConsistencyLevelAny, batch); err == nil {
+			if err := s.PointsWriter.WritePoints(s.database, s.retentionPolicy, models.ConsistencyLevelAny, batch); err == nil {
 				s.statMap.Add(statBatchesTransmitted, 1)
 				s.statMap.Add(statPointsTransmitted, int64(len(batch)))
 			} else {
diff --git a/services/graphite/service_test.go b/services/graphite/service_test.go
index 9cc59fa493..dbc2f8519c 100644
--- a/services/graphite/service_test.go
+++ b/services/graphite/service_test.go
@@ -176,6 +176,23 @@ func (d *DatabaseCreator) CreateDatabase(name string) (*meta.DatabaseInfo, error
 	return nil, nil
 }
 
+func (d *DatabaseCreator) CreateRetentionPolicy(database string, rpi *meta.RetentionPolicyInfo) (*meta.RetentionPolicyInfo, error) {
+	return nil, nil
+}
+
+func (d *DatabaseCreator) CreateDatabaseWithRetentionPolicy(name string, rpi *meta.RetentionPolicyInfo) (*meta.DatabaseInfo, error) {
+	d.Created = true
+	return nil, nil
+}
+
+func (d *DatabaseCreator) Database(name string) *meta.DatabaseInfo {
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (d *DatabaseCreator) RetentionPolicy(database, name string) (*meta.RetentionPolicyInfo, error) {
+	return nil, nil
+}
+
 // Test Helpers
 func errstr(err error) string {
 	if err != nil {