diff --git a/library/Icinga/Application/ApplicationBootstrap.php b/library/Icinga/Application/ApplicationBootstrap.php
index f3d8c086f..04cc930d2 100644
--- a/library/Icinga/Application/ApplicationBootstrap.php
+++ b/library/Icinga/Application/ApplicationBootstrap.php
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 namespace Icinga\Application;
 
+use DirectoryIterator;
 use ErrorException;
 use Exception;
 use LogicException;
@@ -62,7 +63,7 @@ abstract class ApplicationBootstrap
     protected $vendorDir;
 
     /**
-     * Library directory
+     * Icinga library directory
      *
      * @var string
      */
@@ -89,6 +90,20 @@ abstract class ApplicationBootstrap
      */
     protected $storageDir;
 
+    /**
+     * External library paths
+     *
+     * @var string[]
+     */
+    protected $libraryPaths;
+
+    /**
+     * Loaded external libraries
+     *
+     * @var Libraries
+     */
+    protected $libraries;
+
     /**
      * Icinga class loader
      *
@@ -176,6 +191,20 @@ abstract class ApplicationBootstrap
         $canonical = realpath($storageDir);
         $this->storageDir = $canonical ? $canonical : $storageDir;
 
+        if ($this->libraryPaths === null) {
+            $libraryPaths = getenv('ICINGAWEB_LIBDIR');
+            if ($libraryPaths !== false) {
+                $this->libraryPaths = array_filter(array_map(
+                    'realpath',
+                    explode(':', $libraryPaths)
+                ), 'is_dir');
+            } else {
+                $this->libraryPaths = is_dir('/usr/share/php-icinga')
+                    ? ['/usr/share/php-icinga']
+                    : [];
+            }
+        }
+
         set_include_path(
             implode(
                 PATH_SEPARATOR,
@@ -197,6 +226,16 @@ abstract class ApplicationBootstrap
      */
     abstract protected function bootstrap();
 
+    /**
+     * Get loaded external libraries
+     *
+     * @return Libraries
+     */
+    public function getLibraries()
+    {
+        return $this->libraries;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Getter for module manager
      *
@@ -499,6 +538,26 @@ abstract class ApplicationBootstrap
         return @file_exists($this->config->resolvePath('setup.token'));
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Load external libraries
+     *
+     * @return $this
+     */
+    protected function loadLibraries()
+    {
+        $this->libraries = new Libraries();
+        foreach ($this->libraryPaths as $libraryPath) {
+            foreach (new DirectoryIterator($libraryPath) as $path) {
+                if (! $path->isDot() && is_dir($path->getRealPath())) {
+                    $this->libraries->registerPath($path->getPathname())
+                        ->registerAutoloader();
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        return $this;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Setup default logging
      *
diff --git a/library/Icinga/Application/Cli.php b/library/Icinga/Application/Cli.php
index 194a86a52..70bd1c8e3 100644
--- a/library/Icinga/Application/Cli.php
+++ b/library/Icinga/Application/Cli.php
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ class Cli extends ApplicationBootstrap
         $this->assertRunningOnCli();
         $this->setupLogging()
             ->setupErrorHandling()
+            ->loadLibraries()
             ->loadConfig()
             ->setupTimezone()
             ->setupInternationalization()
diff --git a/library/Icinga/Application/EmbeddedWeb.php b/library/Icinga/Application/EmbeddedWeb.php
index 8cf4fe31e..4ca3caca1 100644
--- a/library/Icinga/Application/EmbeddedWeb.php
+++ b/library/Icinga/Application/EmbeddedWeb.php
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ class EmbeddedWeb extends ApplicationBootstrap
         return $this
             ->setupZendAutoloader()
             ->setupErrorHandling()
+            ->loadLibraries()
             ->loadConfig()
             ->setupLogging()
             ->setupLogger()
diff --git a/library/Icinga/Application/Web.php b/library/Icinga/Application/Web.php
index 834e584fe..a865c7d3a 100644
--- a/library/Icinga/Application/Web.php
+++ b/library/Icinga/Application/Web.php
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ class Web extends EmbeddedWeb
             ->setupZendAutoloader()
             ->setupLogging()
             ->setupErrorHandling()
+            ->loadLibraries()
             ->loadConfig()
             ->setupLogger()
             ->setupRequest()