diff --git a/packages/base/all/vendor-config-onl/src/python/onl/install/BaseInstall.py b/packages/base/all/vendor-config-onl/src/python/onl/install/BaseInstall.py
index 77df42fa..f0a4ae6b 100644
--- a/packages/base/all/vendor-config-onl/src/python/onl/install/BaseInstall.py
+++ b/packages/base/all/vendor-config-onl/src/python/onl/install/BaseInstall.py
@@ -438,10 +438,12 @@ class Base:
 
     def loadPlugins(self):
 
+        # scrape any plugins from the installer working directory
         pat = os.path.join(self.im.installerConf.installer_dir, "plugins", "*.py")
         for src in glob.glob(pat):
             self.loadPluginsFromFile(src)
 
+        # scrape any plugins from the installer archive
         pat = "plugins/*.py"
         for basename in self.zf.namelist():
             if not fnmatch.fnmatch(basename, pat): continue
@@ -457,6 +459,18 @@ class Base:
                 if src and os.path.exists(src):
                     os.unlink(src)
 
+        # scrape plugins from the loader runtime
+        # (any plugins dropped into $pydir/onl/install/plugins/*.py)
+        try:
+            import onl.install.plugins
+            plugindir = os.path.dirname(onl.install.plugins.__file__)
+        except ImportError:
+            plugindir = None
+        if plugindir:
+            pat = os.path.join(plugindir, "*.py")
+            for src in glob.glob(pat):
+                self.loadPluginsFromFile(src)
+
         return 0
 
     def runPlugins(self, mode):
diff --git a/packages/base/all/vendor-config-onl/src/python/onl/install/plugins/__init__.py b/packages/base/all/vendor-config-onl/src/python/onl/install/plugins/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c8f033e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/base/all/vendor-config-onl/src/python/onl/install/plugins/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+"""__init__.py
+
+Module init for installer plugins.
+
+DO NOT auto-load modules from here.
+Rather, drop files here so they will be processed by the installer.
+"""