diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 6f0ff4b008..aaf5317fe6 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -34,6 +34,10 @@ binary: ## build executable for Linux
 	@echo "WARNING: binary creates a Linux executable. Use cross for macOS or Windows."
 	./scripts/build/binary
 
+.PHONY: plugins
+plugins: ## build example CLI plugins
+	./scripts/build/plugins
+
 .PHONY: cross
 cross: ## build executable for macOS and Windows
 	./scripts/build/cross
@@ -42,10 +46,18 @@ cross: ## build executable for macOS and Windows
 binary-windows: ## build executable for Windows
 	./scripts/build/windows
 
+.PHONY: plugins-windows
+plugins-windows: ## build example CLI plugins for Windows
+	./scripts/build/plugins-windows
+
 .PHONY: binary-osx
 binary-osx: ## build executable for macOS
 	./scripts/build/osx
 
+.PHONY: plugins-osx
+plugins-osx: ## build example CLI plugins for macOS
+	./scripts/build/plugins-osx
+
 .PHONY: dynbinary
 dynbinary: ## build dynamically linked binary
 	./scripts/build/dynbinary
diff --git a/cli-plugins/examples/helloworld/main.go b/cli-plugins/examples/helloworld/main.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a319ee623f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cli-plugins/examples/helloworld/main.go
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+
+	"github.com/docker/cli/cli-plugins/manager"
+	"github.com/docker/cli/cli-plugins/plugin"
+	"github.com/docker/cli/cli/command"
+	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+)
+
+func main() {
+	plugin.Run(func(dockerCli command.Cli) *cobra.Command {
+		goodbye := &cobra.Command{
+			Use:   "goodbye",
+			Short: "Say Goodbye instead of Hello",
+			Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) {
+				fmt.Fprintln(dockerCli.Out(), "Goodbye World!")
+			},
+		}
+
+		cmd := &cobra.Command{
+			Use:   "helloworld",
+			Short: "A basic Hello World plugin for tests",
+			Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
+				fmt.Fprintln(dockerCli.Out(), "Hello World!")
+			},
+		}
+
+		cmd.AddCommand(goodbye)
+		return cmd
+	},
+		manager.Metadata{
+			SchemaVersion: "0.1.0",
+			Vendor:        "Docker Inc.",
+			Version:       "0.1.0",
+		})
+}
diff --git a/cli-plugins/manager/metadata.go b/cli-plugins/manager/metadata.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2d5734e868
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cli-plugins/manager/metadata.go
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+package manager
+
+const (
+	// NamePrefix is the prefix required on all plugin binary names
+	NamePrefix = "docker-"
+
+	// MetadataSubcommandName is the name of the plugin subcommand
+	// which must be supported by every plugin and returns the
+	// plugin metadata.
+	MetadataSubcommandName = "docker-cli-plugin-metadata"
+)
+
+// Metadata provided by the plugin
+type Metadata struct {
+	// SchemaVersion describes the version of this struct. Mandatory, must be "0.1.0"
+	SchemaVersion string
+	// Vendor is the name of the plugin vendor. Mandatory
+	Vendor string
+	// Version is the optional version of this plugin.
+	Version string
+	// ShortDescription should be suitable for a single line help message.
+	ShortDescription string
+	// URL is a pointer to the plugin's homepage.
+	URL string
+}
diff --git a/cli-plugins/plugin/plugin.go b/cli-plugins/plugin/plugin.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ce2bd0bd6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cli-plugins/plugin/plugin.go
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+package plugin
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+
+	"github.com/docker/cli/cli"
+	"github.com/docker/cli/cli-plugins/manager"
+	"github.com/docker/cli/cli/command"
+	cliflags "github.com/docker/cli/cli/flags"
+	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
+)
+
+// Run is the top-level entry point to the CLI plugin framework. It should be called from your plugin's `main()` function.
+func Run(makeCmd func(command.Cli) *cobra.Command, meta manager.Metadata) {
+	dockerCli, err := command.NewDockerCli()
+	if err != nil {
+		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, err)
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+
+	plugin := makeCmd(dockerCli)
+
+	cmd := newPluginCommand(dockerCli, plugin, meta)
+
+	if err := cmd.Execute(); err != nil {
+		if sterr, ok := err.(cli.StatusError); ok {
+			if sterr.Status != "" {
+				fmt.Fprintln(dockerCli.Err(), sterr.Status)
+			}
+			// StatusError should only be used for errors, and all errors should
+			// have a non-zero exit status, so never exit with 0
+			if sterr.StatusCode == 0 {
+				os.Exit(1)
+			}
+			os.Exit(sterr.StatusCode)
+		}
+		fmt.Fprintln(dockerCli.Err(), err)
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+}
+
+func newPluginCommand(dockerCli *command.DockerCli, plugin *cobra.Command, meta manager.Metadata) *cobra.Command {
+	var (
+		opts  *cliflags.ClientOptions
+		flags *pflag.FlagSet
+	)
+
+	name := plugin.Use
+	fullname := manager.NamePrefix + name
+
+	cmd := &cobra.Command{
+		Use:              fmt.Sprintf("docker [OPTIONS] %s [ARG...]", name),
+		Short:            fullname + " is a Docker CLI plugin",
+		SilenceUsage:     true,
+		SilenceErrors:    true,
+		TraverseChildren: true,
+		PersistentPreRunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
+			// flags must be the top-level command flags, not cmd.Flags()
+			opts.Common.SetDefaultOptions(flags)
+			return dockerCli.Initialize(opts)
+		},
+		DisableFlagsInUseLine: true,
+	}
+	opts, flags = cli.SetupPluginRootCommand(cmd)
+
+	cmd.SetOutput(dockerCli.Out())
+
+	cmd.AddCommand(
+		plugin,
+		newMetadataSubcommand(plugin, meta),
+	)
+
+	cli.DisableFlagsInUseLine(cmd)
+
+	return cmd
+}
+
+func newMetadataSubcommand(plugin *cobra.Command, meta manager.Metadata) *cobra.Command {
+	if meta.ShortDescription == "" {
+		meta.ShortDescription = plugin.Short
+	}
+	cmd := &cobra.Command{
+		Use:    manager.MetadataSubcommandName,
+		Hidden: true,
+		RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
+			enc := json.NewEncoder(os.Stdout)
+			enc.SetEscapeHTML(false)
+			enc.SetIndent("", "     ")
+			return enc.Encode(meta)
+		},
+	}
+	return cmd
+}
diff --git a/cli/cobra.go b/cli/cobra.go
index ce4284a0fd..8acce94783 100644
--- a/cli/cobra.go
+++ b/cli/cobra.go
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
 )
 
+// setupCommonRootCommand contains the setup common to
+// SetupRootCommand and SetupPluginRootCommand.
 func setupCommonRootCommand(rootCmd *cobra.Command) (*cliflags.ClientOptions, *pflag.FlagSet) {
 	opts := cliflags.NewClientOptions()
 	flags := rootCmd.Flags()
@@ -47,6 +49,16 @@ func SetupRootCommand(rootCmd *cobra.Command) (*cliflags.ClientOptions, *pflag.F
 	return opts, flags
 }
 
+// SetupPluginRootCommand sets default usage, help and error handling for a plugin root command.
+func SetupPluginRootCommand(rootCmd *cobra.Command) (*cliflags.ClientOptions, *pflag.FlagSet) {
+	opts, flags := setupCommonRootCommand(rootCmd)
+
+	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolP("help", "", false, "Print usage")
+	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().Lookup("help").Hidden = true
+
+	return opts, flags
+}
+
 // FlagErrorFunc prints an error message which matches the format of the
 // docker/cli/cli error messages
 func FlagErrorFunc(cmd *cobra.Command, err error) error {
diff --git a/docker.Makefile b/docker.Makefile
index 19bbe02b6b..6de7683c64 100644
--- a/docker.Makefile
+++ b/docker.Makefile
@@ -56,6 +56,9 @@ binary: build_binary_native_image ## build the CLI
 
 build: binary ## alias for binary
 
+plugins: build_binary_native_image ## build the CLI plugin examples
+	docker run --rm $(ENVVARS) $(MOUNTS) $(BINARY_NATIVE_IMAGE_NAME) ./scripts/build/plugins
+
 .PHONY: clean
 clean: build_docker_image ## clean build artifacts
 	docker run --rm $(ENVVARS) $(MOUNTS) $(DEV_DOCKER_IMAGE_NAME) make clean
@@ -76,10 +79,18 @@ cross: build_cross_image ## build the CLI for macOS and Windows
 binary-windows: build_cross_image ## build the CLI for Windows
 	docker run --rm $(ENVVARS) $(MOUNTS) $(CROSS_IMAGE_NAME) make $@
 
+.PHONY: plugins-windows
+plugins-windows: build_cross_image ## build the example CLI plugins for Windows
+	docker run --rm $(ENVVARS) $(MOUNTS) $(CROSS_IMAGE_NAME) make $@
+
 .PHONY: binary-osx
 binary-osx: build_cross_image ## build the CLI for macOS
 	docker run --rm $(ENVVARS) $(MOUNTS) $(CROSS_IMAGE_NAME) make $@
 
+.PHONY: plugins-osx
+plugins-osx: build_cross_image ## build the example CLI plugins for macOS
+	docker run --rm $(ENVVARS) $(MOUNTS) $(CROSS_IMAGE_NAME) make $@
+
 .PHONY: dev
 dev: build_docker_image ## start a build container in interactive mode for in-container development
 	docker run -ti --rm $(ENVVARS) $(MOUNTS) \
diff --git a/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.e2e b/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.e2e
index 68368c0970..b2f57e0a10 100644
--- a/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.e2e
+++ b/dockerfiles/Dockerfile.e2e
@@ -38,5 +38,6 @@ ARG VERSION
 ARG GITCOMMIT
 ENV VERSION=${VERSION} GITCOMMIT=${GITCOMMIT}
 RUN ./scripts/build/binary
+RUN ./scripts/build/plugins
 
 CMD ./scripts/test/e2e/entry
diff --git a/scripts/build/plugins b/scripts/build/plugins
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..bc14748b92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/build/plugins
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#
+# Build a static binary for the host OS/ARCH
+#
+
+set -eu -o pipefail
+
+source ./scripts/build/.variables
+
+mkdir -p "build/plugins-${GOOS}-${GOARCH}"
+for p in cli-plugins/examples/* ; do
+    [ -d "$p" ] || continue
+
+    n=$(basename "$p")
+
+    TARGET="build/plugins-${GOOS}-${GOARCH}/docker-${n}"
+
+    echo "Building statically linked $TARGET"
+    export CGO_ENABLED=0
+    go build -o "${TARGET}" --ldflags "${LDFLAGS}" "github.com/docker/cli/${p}"
+done
diff --git a/scripts/build/plugins-osx b/scripts/build/plugins-osx
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..8e870f4f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/build/plugins-osx
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#
+# Build a static binary for the host OS/ARCH
+#
+
+set -eu -o pipefail
+
+source ./scripts/build/.variables
+
+export CGO_ENABLED=1
+export GOOS=darwin
+export GOARCH=amd64
+export CC=o64-clang
+export CXX=o64-clang++
+export LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS -linkmode external -s"
+export LDFLAGS_STATIC_DOCKER='-extld='${CC}
+
+source ./scripts/build/plugins
diff --git a/scripts/build/plugins-windows b/scripts/build/plugins-windows
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..607ad6dc12
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/build/plugins-windows
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#
+# Build a static binary for the host OS/ARCH
+#
+
+set -eu -o pipefail
+
+source ./scripts/build/.variables
+export CC=x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc
+export CGO_ENABLED=1
+export GOOS=windows
+export GOARCH=amd64
+
+source ./scripts/build/plugins