diff --git a/node/pluginfw/plugins.js b/node/pluginfw/plugins.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..39cdffa65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/node/pluginfw/plugins.js
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+var npm = require("npm/lib/npm.js");
+var readInstalled = require("npm/lib/utils/read-installed.js");
+var relativize = require("npm/lib/utils/relativize.js");
+var readJson = require("npm/lib/utils/read-json.js");
+var path = require("path");
+var async = require("async");
+var fs = require("fs");
+var tsort = require("./tsort");
+
+var PLUGIN_PREFIX = 'pluginomatic_';
+
+exports.getPlugins = function (cb, prefix) {
+  prefix = prefix || PLUGIN_PREFIX;
+
+  // Load list of installed NPM packages, flatten it to a list, and filter out only packages with names that
+  // ../.. and not just .. because current dir is like ETHERPAD_ROOT/node/node_modules (!!!!)
+  var dir = path.resolve(npm.dir, "../..")
+  readInstalled(dir, function (er, data) {
+    var plugins = {};
+    var parts = {};
+    function flatten(deps) {
+      Object.keys(deps).forEach(function (name) {
+        if (name.indexOf(prefix) == 0) {
+          plugins[name] = deps[name];
+	}
+	if (deps[name].dependencies !== undefined)
+	  flatten(deps[name].dependencies);
+      });
+    }
+    flatten([data]);
+
+    // Load plugin metadata pluginomatic.json
+    async.forEach(
+      Object.keys(plugins),
+      function (plugin_name, cb) {
+	fs.readFile(
+	  path.resolve(plugins[plugin_name].path, "pluginomatic.json"),
+          function (er, data) {
+	    plugin = JSON.parse(data);
+	    plugin.package = plugins[plugin_name];
+	    plugins[plugin_name] = plugin;
+	    plugin.parts.forEach(function (part) {
+	      part.plugin = plugin;
+              part.full_name = plugin_name + "." + part.name;
+	      parts[part.full_name] = part;
+            });
+	    cb();
+	  }
+        );
+      },
+      function (err) {
+        cb(err, plugins, exports.sortParts(parts));
+      }
+    );
+  });
+}
+
+exports.partsToParentChildList = function (parts) {
+  var res = [];
+  Object.keys(parts).forEach(function (name) {
+    (parts[name].post || []).forEach(function (child_name)  {
+      res.push([name, child_name]);
+    });
+    (parts[name].pre || []).forEach(function (parent_name)  {
+      res.push([parent_name, name]);
+    });
+    if (!parts[name].pre && !parts[name].post) {
+      res.push([name, ":" + name]); // Include apps with no dependency info
+    }
+  });
+  return res;
+}
+
+exports.sortParts = function(parts) {
+  return tsort(
+    exports.partsToParentChildList(parts)
+  ).filter(
+    function (name) { return parts[name] !== undefined; }
+  ).map(
+    function (name) { return parts[name]; }
+  );
+};
diff --git a/node/pluginfw/tsort.js b/node/pluginfw/tsort.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6591c51c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/node/pluginfw/tsort.js
@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+/**
+ * general topological sort
+ * from https://gist.github.com/1232505
+ * @author SHIN Suzuki (shinout310@gmail.com)
+ * @param Array<Array> edges : list of edges. each edge forms Array<ID,ID> e.g. [12 , 3]
+ *
+ * @returns Array : topological sorted list of IDs
+ **/
+
+function tsort(edges) {
+  var nodes   = {}, // hash: stringified id of the node => { id: id, afters: lisf of ids }
+      sorted  = [], // sorted list of IDs ( returned value )
+      visited = {}; // hash: id of already visited node => true
+
+  var Node = function(id) {
+    this.id = id;
+    this.afters = [];
+  }
+
+  // 1. build data structures
+  edges.forEach(function(v) {
+    var from = v[0], to = v[1];
+    if (!nodes[from]) nodes[from] = new Node(from);
+    if (!nodes[to]) nodes[to]     = new Node(to);
+    nodes[from].afters.push(to);
+  });
+
+  // 2. topological sort
+  Object.keys(nodes).forEach(function visit(idstr, ancestors) {
+    var node = nodes[idstr],
+        id   = node.id;
+
+    // if already exists, do nothing
+    if (visited[idstr]) return;
+
+    if (!Array.isArray(ancestors)) ancestors = [];
+
+    ancestors.push(id);
+
+    visited[idstr] = true;
+
+    node.afters.forEach(function(afterID) {
+      if (ancestors.indexOf(afterID) >= 0)  // if already in ancestors, a closed chain exists.
+        throw new Error('closed chain : ' +  afterID + ' is in ' + id);
+
+      visit(afterID.toString(), ancestors.map(function(v) { return v })); // recursive call
+    });
+
+    sorted.unshift(id);
+  });
+
+  return sorted;
+}
+
+/**
+ * TEST
+ **/
+function tsortTest() {
+
+  // example 1: success
+  var edges = [
+    [1, 2],
+    [1, 3],
+    [2, 4],
+    [3, 4]
+  ];
+
+  var sorted = tsort(edges);
+  console.log(sorted);
+
+  // example 2: failure ( A > B > C > A )
+  edges = [
+    ['A', 'B'],
+    ['B', 'C'],
+    ['C', 'A']
+  ];
+
+  try {
+    sorted = tsort(edges);
+  }
+  catch (e) {
+    console.log(e.message);
+  }
+
+  // example 3: generate random edges
+  var max = 100, iteration = 30;
+  function randomInt(max) {
+    return Math.floor(Math.random() * max) + 1;
+  }
+
+  edges = (function() {
+    var ret = [], i = 0;
+    while (i++ < iteration) ret.push( [randomInt(max), randomInt(max)] );
+    return ret;
+  })();
+
+  try {
+    sorted = tsort(edges);
+    console.log("succeeded", sorted);
+  }
+  catch (e) {
+    console.log("failed", e.message);
+  }
+
+}
+
+
+// for node.js
+if (typeof exports == 'object' && exports === this) {
+  module.exports = tsort;
+  if (process.argv[1] === __filename) tsortTest();
+}
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 27b2125a1..940bf0a47 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@
                       "formidable"          : "1.0.7",
                       "log4js"              : "0.4.1",
                       "jsdom-nocontextifiy" : "0.2.10",
-                      "async-stacktrace"    : "0.0.2"
+                      "async-stacktrace"    : "0.0.2",
+		      "npm"		    : "1.1",
                      },
   "devDependencies": {
                       "jshint"  : "*"