diff --git a/lib/plugin.php b/lib/plugin.php
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/plugin.php
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * Laconica, the distributed open-source microblogging tool
+ *
+ * Utility class for plugins
+ *
+ * PHP version 5
+ *
+ * LICENCE: This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+ * along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ *
+ * @category  Plugin
+ * @package   Laconica
+ * @author    Evan Prodromou <evan@controlyourself.ca>
+ * @copyright 2008 Control Yourself, Inc.
+ * @license   http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/agpl-3.0.html GNU Affero General Public License version 3.0
+ * @link      http://laconi.ca/
+ */
+
+if (!defined('LACONICA')) {
+    exit(1);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Base class for plugins
+ *
+ * A base class for Laconica plugins. Mostly a light wrapper around
+ * the Event framework.
+ *
+ * Subclasses of Plugin will automatically handle an event if they define
+ * a method called "onEventName". (Well, OK -- only if they call parent::__construct()
+ * in their constructors.)
+ *
+ * They will also automatically handle the InitializePlugin and CleanupPlugin with the
+ * initialize() and cleanup() methods, respectively.
+ *
+ * @category Plugin
+ * @package  Laconica
+ * @author   Evan Prodromou <evan@controlyourself.ca>
+ * @license  http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/agpl-3.0.html GNU Affero General Public License version 3.0
+ * @link     http://laconi.ca/
+ *
+ * @see      Event
+ */
+
+class Plugin
+{
+    function __construct()
+    {
+        Event::addHandler('InitializePlugin', array($this, 'initialize'));
+        Event::addHandler('CleanupPlugin', array($this, 'cleanup'));
+
+        foreach (get_class_methods($this) as $method) {
+            if (mb_substr($method, 0, 2) == 'on') {
+                Event::addHandler(mb_substr($method, 2), array($this, $method));
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    function initialize()
+    {
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    function cleanup()
+    {
+        return true;
+    }
+}