diff --git a/lib/statusnet.php b/lib/statusnet.php
index eba9ab9b8e..2aa73486eb 100644
--- a/lib/statusnet.php
+++ b/lib/statusnet.php
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ class StatusNet
 {
     protected static $have_config;
     protected static $is_api;
+    protected static $plugins = array();
 
     /**
      * Configure and instantiate a plugin into the current configuration.
@@ -74,9 +75,22 @@ class StatusNet
                 $inst->$aname = $avalue;
             }
         }
+
+        // Record activated plugins for later display/config dump
+        self::$plugins[] = array($name, $attrs);
+
         return true;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Get a list of activated plugins in this process.
+     * @return array of (string $name, array $args) pairs
+     */
+    public static function getActivePlugins()
+    {
+        return self::$plugins;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Initialize, or re-initialize, StatusNet global configuration
      * and plugins.
@@ -232,6 +246,7 @@ class StatusNet
         global $_server, $_path, $config;
 
         Event::clearHandlers();
+        self::$plugins = array();
 
         // try to figure out where we are. $server and $path
         // can be set by including module, else we guess based
diff --git a/scripts/showplugins.php b/scripts/showplugins.php
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..058393b0ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/showplugins.php
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env php
+<?php
+/*
+ * StatusNet - a distributed open-source microblogging tool
+ * Copyright (C) 2010, StatusNet, Inc.
+ *
+ * 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/>.
+ */
+
+define('INSTALLDIR', realpath(dirname(__FILE__) . '/..'));
+
+require_once INSTALLDIR.'/scripts/commandline.inc';
+
+foreach (StatusNet::getActivePlugins() as $data) {
+    list($plugin, $args) = $data;
+    echo "$plugin: ";
+    if ($args === null) {
+        echo "(no args)\n";
+    } else {
+        foreach ($args as $arg => $val) {
+            echo "\n  $arg: ";
+            var_export($val);
+        }
+        echo "\n";
+    }
+    echo "\n";
+}