diff --git a/plugins/.gitignore b/plugins/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3af1b9c51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+proxy.pyc
diff --git a/plugins/proxy.py b/plugins/proxy.py
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..b2db79b0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/proxy.py
@@ -0,0 +1,175 @@
+#!/usr/bin/python
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+#
+# xmlrpc — helper for Python-based external (xml-rpc) ikiwiki plugins
+#
+# Copyright © martin f. krafft <madduck@madduck.net>
+# Released under the terms of the GNU GPL version 2
+#
+__name__ = 'xmlrpc'
+__description__ = 'xml-rpc-based ikiwiki plugin to process RST files'
+__version__ = '0.1'
+__author__ = 'martin f. krafft <madduck@madduck.net>'
+__copyright__ = 'Copyright © ' + __author__
+__licence__ = 'GPLv2'
+
+LOOP_DELAY = 0.1
+
+import sys
+import time
+import xmlrpclib
+import xml.parsers.expat
+from SimpleXMLRPCServer import SimpleXMLRPCDispatcher
+
+class _IkiWikiExtPluginXMLRPCDispatcher(SimpleXMLRPCDispatcher):
+
+    def __init__(self, allow_none=False, encoding=None):
+        try:
+            SimpleXMLRPCDispatcher.__init__(self, allow_none, encoding)
+        except TypeError:
+            # see http://bugs.debian.org/470645
+            # python2.4 and before only took one argument
+            SimpleXMLRPCDispatcher.__init__(self)
+
+class _XMLStreamParser(object):
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        self._parser = xml.parsers.expat.ParserCreate()
+        self._parser.StartElementHandler = self._push_tag
+        self._parser.EndElementHandler = self._pop_tag
+        self._parser.XmlDeclHandler = self._check_pipelining
+        self._reset()
+
+    def _reset(self):
+        self._stack = list()
+        self._acc = r''
+        self._first_tag_received = False
+
+    def _push_tag(self, tag, attrs):
+        self._stack.append(tag)
+        self._first_tag_received = True
+
+    def _pop_tag(self, tag):
+        top = self._stack.pop()
+        if top != tag:
+            raise ParseError, 'expected %s closing tag, got %s' % (top, tag)
+
+    def _request_complete(self):
+        return self._first_tag_received and len(self._stack) == 0
+
+    def _check_pipelining(self, *args):
+        if self._first_tag_received:
+            raise PipeliningDetected, 'need a new line between XML documents'
+
+    def parse(self, data):
+        self._parser.Parse(data, False)
+        self._acc += data
+        if self._request_complete():
+            ret = self._acc
+            self._reset()
+            return ret
+
+    class ParseError(Exception):
+        pass
+
+    class PipeliningDetected(Exception):
+        pass
+
+class _IkiWikiExtPluginXMLRPCHandler(object):
+
+    def __init__(self, debug_fn, allow_none=False, encoding=None):
+        self._dispatcher = _IkiWikiExtPluginXMLRPCDispatcher(allow_none, encoding)
+        self.register_function = self._dispatcher.register_function
+        self._debug_fn = debug_fn
+
+    def register_function(self, function, name=None):
+        # will be overwritten by __init__
+        pass
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _write(out_fd, data):
+        out_fd.write(data)
+        out_fd.flush()
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _read(in_fd):
+        ret = None
+        parser = _XMLStreamParser()
+        while True:
+            line = in_fd.readline()
+            if len(line) == 0:
+                # ikiwiki exited, EOF received
+                return None
+
+            ret = parser.parse(line)
+            # unless this returns non-None, we need to loop again
+            if ret is not None:
+                return ret
+
+    def send_rpc(self, cmd, in_fd, out_fd, **kwargs):
+        xml = xmlrpclib.dumps(sum(kwargs.iteritems(), ()), cmd)
+        self._debug_fn('sending xml to ikiwiki to call procedure %s: [%s]' % (cmd, xml))
+        _IkiWikiExtPluginXMLRPCHandler._write(out_fd, xml)
+
+        self._debug_fn('reading response from ikiwiki...')
+
+        xml = _IkiWikiExtPluginXMLRPCHandler._read(in_fd)
+        self._debug_fn('read response to procedure %s from ikiwiki: [%s]' % (cmd, xml))
+        if xml is None:
+            # ikiwiki is going down
+            return None
+
+        data = xmlrpclib.loads(xml)[0]
+        self._debug_fn('parsed data from response to procedure %s: [%s]' % (cmd, data))
+        return data
+
+    def handle_rpc(self, in_fd, out_fd):
+        self._debug_fn('waiting for procedure calls from ikiwiki...')
+        ret = _IkiWikiExtPluginXMLRPCHandler._read(in_fd)
+        if ret is None:
+            # ikiwiki is going down
+            self._debug_fn('ikiwiki is going down, and so are we...')
+            return
+
+        self._debug_fn('received procedure call from ikiwiki: [%s]' % ret)
+        ret = self._dispatcher._marshaled_dispatch(ret)
+        self._debug_fn('sending procedure response to ikiwiki: [%s]' % ret)
+        _IkiWikiExtPluginXMLRPCHandler._write(out_fd, ret)
+        return ret
+
+class IkiWikiProcedureProxy(object):
+
+    def __init__(self, id, in_fd=sys.stdin, out_fd=sys.stdout, debug_fn=None):
+        self._id = id
+        self._in_fd = in_fd
+        self._out_fd = out_fd
+        self._hooks = list()
+        if debug_fn is not None:
+            self._debug_fn = debug_fn
+        else:
+            self._debug_fn = lambda s: None
+        self._xmlrpc_handler = _IkiWikiExtPluginXMLRPCHandler(self._debug_fn)
+        self._xmlrpc_handler.register_function(self._importme, name='import')
+
+    def register_hook(self, type, function):
+        self._hooks.append((type, function.__name__))
+        self._xmlrpc_handler.register_function(function)
+
+    def _importme(self):
+        self._debug_fn('importing...')
+        for type, function in self._hooks:
+            self._debug_fn('hooking %s into %s chain...' % (function, type))
+            self._xmlrpc_handler.send_rpc('hook', self._in_fd, self._out_fd,
+                                          id=self._id, type=type, call=function)
+        return 0
+
+    def run(self):
+        try:
+            while True:
+                ret = self._xmlrpc_handler.handle_rpc(self._in_fd, self._out_fd)
+                if ret is None:
+                    return
+                time.sleep(LOOP_DELAY)
+        except Exception, e:
+            self._debug_fn('uncaught exception: %s' % e)
+            sys.exit(posix.EX_SOFTWARE)