diff --git a/docs/development.rst b/docs/development.rst
index a706836ae..b2d5d9dad 100644
--- a/docs/development.rst
+++ b/docs/development.rst
@@ -16,3 +16,47 @@ Basic example of running the linter from Python:
 
 .. automodule:: yamllint.linter
    :members:
+
+Develop rule plugins
+---------------------
+
+yamllint provides a plugin mechanism using setuptools (pkg_resources) to allow
+adding custom rules. So, you can extend yamllint and add rules with your own
+custom yamllint rule plugins if you developed them.
+
+Yamllint rule plugins must satisfy the followings.
+
+#. It must be a python package installable using pip and distributed under
+   GPLv3+ same as yamllint.
+#. It must contains the entry point configuration in setup.cfg or something
+   similar packaging configuration files, to make it installed and working as a
+   yamllint plugin like below. (<plugin_name> is that plugin name and
+   <plugin_src_dir> is a dir where the rule modules exist.)
+   ::
+
+     [options.entry_points]
+     yamllint.plugins =
+          <plugin_name> = <plugin_src_dir>
+
+#. It must contain custom yamllint rule modules:
+
+   - Each rule module must define a couple of global variables, ID and TYPE. ID
+     must not conflicts with other rules' ID.
+   - Each rule module must define a function named 'check' to test input data
+     complies with the rule.
+   - Each rule module may have other global variables.
+
+     - CONF to define its configuration parameters and those types.
+     - DEFAULT to provide default values for each configuration parameters.
+
+#. It must define a global variable RULES_MAP to provide mappings of rule ID
+   and rule modules to yamllint like this.
+   ::
+
+     RULES_MAP = {
+         # rule ID: rule module
+         a_custom_rule.ID: a_custom_rule
+     }
+
+To develop yamllint rules, the default rules themselves in yamllint may become
+good references.
diff --git a/yamllint/plugins.py b/yamllint/plugins.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3997e56b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/yamllint/plugins.py
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+# Copyright (C) 2020 Satoru SATOH
+#
+# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU 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 General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+"""
+Plugin module utilizing setuptools (pkg_resources) to allow users to add their
+own custom lint rules.
+"""
+try:
+    from pkg_resources import iter_entry_points
+except ImportError:
+    def iter_entry_points(group):
+        """Dummy function for pkg_resources.iter_entry_points."""
+        yield
+
+
+PACKAGE_GROUP = "yamllint.plugins"
+
+
+def validate_rule_module(rule_mod):
+    """Test if given rule module is valid.
+    """
+    return getattr(rule_mod, "ID", False
+                   ) and callable(getattr(rule_mod, "check", False))
+
+
+def load_plugin_rules_itr(group=PACKAGE_GROUP):
+    """Load custom lint rule plugins."""
+    for entry in iter_entry_points(group):
+        try:
+            rules_mod = entry.load()
+            yield rules_mod.RULES_MAP
+        except AttributeError:
+            pass  # TBD
+
+
+def update_rules_map(rules_map):
+    """Update and add plugins rules to given rules' map."""
+    for plugin_rules_map in load_plugin_rules_itr():
+        for rule_id, rule_mod in plugin_rules_map.items():
+            if not validate_rule_module(rule_mod):
+                continue
+
+            if rule_id not in rules_map:
+                rules_map[rule_id] = rule_mod
+
+    return rules_map
diff --git a/yamllint/rules/__init__.py b/yamllint/rules/__init__.py
index a084d6ee1..03ea2a19a 100644
--- a/yamllint/rules/__init__.py
+++ b/yamllint/rules/__init__.py
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
+import yamllint.plugins
+
 from yamllint.rules import (
     braces,
     brackets,
@@ -63,8 +65,11 @@
 }
 
 
-def get(id):
-    if id not in _RULES:
+def get(id, rules=None):
+    if rules is None:
+        rules = yamllint.plugins.update_rules_map(_RULES)
+
+    if id not in rules:
         raise ValueError('no such rule: "%s"' % id)
 
-    return _RULES[id]
+    return rules[id]