diff --git a/app/index.js b/app/index.js
index 2aa54bb5..bee1cff7 100644
--- a/app/index.js
+++ b/app/index.js
@@ -2,8 +2,15 @@ import { render } from 'react-dom';
 import HyperTerm from './hyperterm';
 import React from 'react';
 import Config from './config';
+import Plugins from './plugins';
 
 require('./css/hyperterm.css');
 require('./css/tabs.css');
 
-render(<Config><HyperTerm /></Config>, document.getElementById('mount'));
+const app = <Config>
+  <Plugins>
+    <HyperTerm />
+  </Plugins>
+</Config>;
+
+render(app, document.getElementById('mount'));
diff --git a/app/plugins.js b/app/plugins.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..91955736
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/plugins.js
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+import React from 'react';
+
+export default class Plugins extends React.Component {
+
+  componentDidMount () {
+
+  }
+
+  render () {
+    const child = React.Children.only(this.props.children);
+    return React.cloneElement(child, this.props);
+  }
+
+  componentWillUnmount () {
+
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 092f5f0c..ca380bf4 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -143,16 +143,30 @@ app.on('ready', () => {
       }
     });
 
-    // the window can be closed by the browser process itself
-    win.on('close', () => {
-      rpc.destroy();
-      deleteSessions();
-      winCount--;
-      cfgUnsubscribe();
-    });
-
+    // expose internals to extension authors
     win.rpc = rpc;
     win.sessions = sessions;
+
+    const load = () => {
+      plugins.onWindow(win);
+    };
+
+    // load plugins
+    load();
+
+    const pluginsUnsubscribe = plugins.subscribe(() => {
+      load();
+      win.webContents.send('plugins change');
+    });
+
+    // the window can be closed by the browser process itself
+    win.on('close', () => {
+      winCount--;
+      rpc.destroy();
+      deleteSessions();
+      cfgUnsubscribe();
+      pluginsUnsubscribe();
+    });
   }
 
   // when opening create a new window
@@ -167,9 +181,21 @@ app.on('ready', () => {
     }
   });
 
-  // set menu
-  const tpl = createMenu({ createWindow });
-  Menu.setApplicationMenu(Menu.buildFromTemplate(tpl));
+  const setupMenu = () => {
+    const tpl = plugins.decorateMenu(createMenu({
+      createWindow,
+      updatePlugins: plugins.updatePlugins
+    }));
+    Menu.setApplicationMenu(Menu.buildFromTemplate(tpl));
+  };
+
+  const load = () => {
+    plugins.onApp(app);
+    setupMenu();
+  };
+
+  load();
+  plugins.subscribe(load);
 });
 
 function initSession (opts, fn) {
diff --git a/plugins.js b/plugins.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f9a1b367
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins.js
@@ -0,0 +1,259 @@
+const { dialog } = require('electron');
+const { homedir } = require('os');
+const { resolve, basename } = require('path');
+const { writeFileSync } = require('fs');
+const config = require('./config');
+const { sync: mkdirpSync } = require('mkdirp');
+const { exec } = require('child_process');
+const Config = require('electron-config');
+const ms = require('ms');
+const notify = require('./notify');
+
+// local storage
+const cache = new Config();
+
+// modules path
+const path = resolve(homedir(), '.hyperterm_modules');
+const localPath = resolve(homedir(), '.hyperterm_local_modules');
+
+// init plugin directories if not present
+mkdirpSync(path);
+mkdirpSync(localPath);
+
+// caches
+let plugins = config.getPlugins();
+let paths = getPaths(plugins);
+let id = getId(plugins);
+let modules = requirePlugins();
+
+function getId (plugins_) {
+  return JSON.stringify(plugins_);
+}
+
+const watchers = [];
+
+// we listen on configuration updates to trigger
+// plugin installation
+config.subscribe(() => {
+  const plugins_ = config.getPlugins();
+  if (plugins !== plugins_) {
+    const id_ = getId(plugins_);
+    if (id !== id_) {
+      id = id_;
+      plugins = plugins_;
+      updatePlugins();
+    }
+  }
+});
+
+let updating = false;
+
+function updatePlugins () {
+  if (updating) return notify('Plugin update in progress');
+  updating = true;
+  syncPackageJSON();
+  const id_ = id;
+  install((err) => {
+    updating = false;
+
+    if (err) {
+      notify(
+        'Error updating plugins.',
+        'Check `~/.hyperterm_modules/npm-debug.log` for more information.'
+      );
+    } else {
+      // flag successful plugin update
+      cache.set('plugins', id_);
+
+      // cache paths
+      paths = getPaths(plugins);
+
+      // clear require cache
+      paths.plugins.forEach(clearCache);
+      paths.localPlugins.forEach(clearCache);
+
+      // cache modules
+      modules = requirePlugins();
+
+      // notify watchers
+      watchers.forEach((fn) => fn(err));
+
+      // we consider it a success if we loaded *all* modules
+      if ((paths.plugins.length + paths.localPlugins.length) === modules.length) {
+        notify('HyperTerm plugins updated!');
+      }
+    }
+  });
+}
+
+function clearCache (mod) {
+  for (const entry in require.cache) {
+    if (0 === entry.indexOf(mod + '/')) {
+      delete require.cache[entry];
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+exports.updatePlugins = updatePlugins;
+
+// we schedule the initial plugins update
+// a bit after the user launches the terminal
+// to prevent slowness
+if (cache.get('plugins') !== id) {
+  // install immediately if the user changed plugins
+  console.log('plugins have changed / not init, scheduling plugins installation');
+  setTimeout(() => {
+    updatePlugins();
+  }, 5000);
+}
+
+// otherwise update plugins every 5 hours
+setInterval(updatePlugins, ms('5h'));
+
+function syncPackageJSON () {
+  const dependencies = toDependencies(plugins);
+  const pkg = {
+    name: 'hyperterm-plugins',
+    private: true,
+    version: '0.0.1',
+    homepage: 'https://hyperterm.org',
+    dependencies
+  };
+
+  const file = resolve(path, 'package.json');
+  try {
+    writeFileSync(file, JSON.stringify(pkg, null, 2));
+  } catch (err) {
+    alert(`An error occurred writing to ${file}`);
+  }
+}
+
+function alert (message) {
+  dialog.showMessageBox({
+    message,
+    buttons: ['Ok']
+  });
+}
+
+function toDependencies (plugins) {
+  const obj = {};
+  plugins.plugins.forEach((plugin) => {
+    const pieces = plugin.split('#');
+    obj[pieces[0]] = null == pieces[1] ? 'latest' : pieces[1];
+  });
+  return obj;
+}
+
+function install (fn) {
+  exec('npm prune && npm install --production', {
+    cwd: path
+  }, (err, stdout, stderr) => {
+    if (err) {
+      if (/(command not found|not recognized as an)/.test(err.message)) {
+        if (plugins.plugins.length) {
+          alert('We found `plugins` in `.hyperterm.js`, but `npm` is ' +
+            'not installed or not in $PATH!\nPlease head to ' +
+            'https://nodejs.org and install the Node.js runtime.');
+        } else {
+          console.log('npm not found, but no plugins defined');
+        }
+      }
+      return fn(err);
+    }
+    fn(null);
+  });
+}
+
+exports.subscribe = function (fn) {
+  watchers.push(fn);
+  return () => {
+    watchers.splice(watchers.indexOf(fn), 1);
+  };
+};
+
+function getPaths () {
+  return {
+    plugins: plugins.plugins.map((name) => {
+      return resolve(path, 'node_modules', name);
+    }),
+    localPlugins: plugins.localPlugins.map((name) => {
+      return resolve(localPath, name);
+    })
+  };
+}
+
+exports.getPaths = getPaths;
+
+function requirePlugins () {
+  const { plugins, localPlugins } = paths;
+
+  const load = (path) => {
+    let mod;
+    try {
+      mod = require(path);
+
+      if (!mod || (!mod.onApp && !mod.onWindow && !mod.onUnload &&
+        !mod.decorateConfig && !mod.decorateMenu &&
+        !mod.decorateTerm && !mod.decorateHyperTerm &&
+        !mod.decorateTabs && !mod.decorateConfig)) {
+        notify('Plugin error!', `Plugin "${basename(path)}" does not expose any ` +
+          'HyperTerm extension API methods');
+        return;
+      }
+      return mod;
+    } catch (err) {
+      notify('Plugin error!', `Plugin "${basename(path)}" failed to load (${err.message})`);
+    }
+  };
+
+  return plugins.map(load)
+    .concat(localPlugins.map(load))
+    .filter(v => !!v);
+}
+
+exports.onApp = function (app) {
+  modules.forEach((plugin) => {
+    if (plugin.onApp) {
+      plugin.onApp(app);
+    }
+  });
+};
+
+exports.onWindow = function (win, app) {
+  modules.forEach((plugin) => {
+    if (plugin.onWindow) {
+      plugin.onWindow(app);
+    }
+  });
+};
+
+exports.decorateTerm = function (Term) {
+  return Term;
+};
+
+exports.decorateTabs = function (Tabs) {
+  return Tabs;
+};
+
+exports.decorateHyperTerm = function (HyperTerm) {
+  return HyperTerm;
+};
+
+exports.decorateMenu = function (tpl) {
+  return tpl;
+};
+
+exports.decorateConfig = function (config) {
+  let decorated = config;
+  modules.forEach((plugin) => {
+    if (plugin.decorateConfig) {
+      const res = plugin.decorateConfig(decorated);
+      if (res) {
+        decorated = res;
+      } else {
+        console.error('incompatible response type for `decorateConfig`');
+      }
+    }
+  });
+  return decorated;
+};