diff --git a/.changeset/fluffy-tomatoes-warn.md b/.changeset/fluffy-tomatoes-warn.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f44cd385
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/fluffy-tomatoes-warn.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@hey-api/openapi-ts': patch
+---
+
+fix: add support for custom plugins
diff --git a/packages/openapi-ts/src/index.ts b/packages/openapi-ts/src/index.ts
index 7c507fa8..65068aa7 100644
--- a/packages/openapi-ts/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/openapi-ts/src/index.ts
@@ -15,8 +15,9 @@ import {
   operationParameterFilterFn,
   operationParameterNameFn,
 } from './openApi/config';
+import type { ClientPlugins } from './plugins';
 import { defaultPluginConfigs } from './plugins';
-import type { PluginNames } from './plugins/types';
+import type { DefaultPluginConfigsMap, PluginNames } from './plugins/types';
 import type { Client } from './types/client';
 import type { ClientConfig, Config, UserConfig } from './types/config';
 import { CLIENTS } from './types/config';
@@ -164,8 +165,10 @@ const getOutput = (userConfig: ClientConfig): Config['output'] => {
 };
 
 const getPluginOrder = ({
+  pluginConfigs,
   userPlugins,
 }: {
+  pluginConfigs: DefaultPluginConfigsMap<ClientPlugins>;
   userPlugins: ReadonlyArray<PluginNames>;
 }): Config['pluginOrder'] => {
   const circularReferenceTracker = new Set<PluginNames>();
@@ -179,12 +182,19 @@ const getPluginOrder = ({
     if (!visitedNodes.has(name)) {
       circularReferenceTracker.add(name);
 
-      for (const dependency of defaultPluginConfigs[name]._dependencies || []) {
+      const pluginConfig = pluginConfigs[name];
+
+      if (!pluginConfig) {
+        throw new Error(
+          `🚫 unknown plugin dependency "${name}" - do you need to register a custom plugin with this name?`,
+        );
+      }
+
+      for (const dependency of pluginConfig._dependencies || []) {
         dfs(dependency);
       }
 
-      for (const dependency of defaultPluginConfigs[name]
-        ._optionalDependencies || []) {
+      for (const dependency of pluginConfig._optionalDependencies || []) {
         if (userPlugins.includes(dependency)) {
           dfs(dependency);
         }
@@ -218,18 +228,37 @@ const getPlugins = (
       return plugin;
     }
 
-    // @ts-ignore
+    // @ts-expect-error
     userPluginsConfig[plugin.name] = plugin;
     return plugin.name;
   });
-  const pluginOrder = getPluginOrder({ userPlugins });
+
+  const pluginOrder = getPluginOrder({
+    pluginConfigs: {
+      ...userPluginsConfig,
+      ...defaultPluginConfigs,
+    },
+    userPlugins,
+  });
 
   const plugins = pluginOrder.reduce(
     (result, name) => {
-      // @ts-ignore
+      const defaultOptions = defaultPluginConfigs[name];
+      const userOptions = userPluginsConfig[name];
+      if (userOptions && defaultOptions) {
+        const nativePluginOption = Object.keys(userOptions).find((key) =>
+          key.startsWith('_'),
+        );
+        if (nativePluginOption) {
+          throw new Error(
+            `🚫 cannot register plugin "${userOptions.name}" - attempting to override a native plugin option "${nativePluginOption}"`,
+          );
+        }
+      }
+      // @ts-expect-error
       result[name] = {
-        ...defaultPluginConfigs[name],
-        ...userPluginsConfig[name],
+        ...defaultOptions,
+        ...userOptions,
       };
       return result;
     },
diff --git a/packages/openapi-ts/src/plugins/types.d.ts b/packages/openapi-ts/src/plugins/types.d.ts
index 8bdd152d..e69901f6 100644
--- a/packages/openapi-ts/src/plugins/types.d.ts
+++ b/packages/openapi-ts/src/plugins/types.d.ts
@@ -40,7 +40,8 @@ export interface PluginName<Name extends PluginNames> {
 }
 
 interface CommonConfig {
-  name: PluginNames;
+  // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/ban-types
+  name: PluginNames | (string & {});
   output?: string;
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/openapi-ts/test/plugins.spec.ts b/packages/openapi-ts/test/plugins.spec.ts
index 3ec579ba..5ad51faf 100644
--- a/packages/openapi-ts/test/plugins.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/openapi-ts/test/plugins.spec.ts
@@ -2,9 +2,10 @@ import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';
 import path from 'node:path';
 import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
 
-import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+import { describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest';
 
 import { createClient } from '../';
+import type { PluginConfig } from '../src/plugins/types';
 import type { UserConfig } from '../src/types/config';
 import { getFilePaths } from './utils';
 
@@ -223,4 +224,87 @@ for (const version of versions) {
       });
     });
   });
+
+  describe('custom plugin', () => {
+    it('handles a custom plugin', async () => {
+      const myPlugin: PluginConfig<{
+        customOption: boolean;
+        name: string;
+        output: string;
+      }> = {
+        _dependencies: ['@hey-api/types'],
+        _handler: vi.fn(),
+        _handlerLegacy: vi.fn(),
+        customOption: true,
+        name: 'my-plugin',
+        output: 'my-plugin',
+      };
+
+      await createClient({
+        client: '@hey-api/client-fetch',
+        experimentalParser: true,
+        input: path.join(__dirname, 'spec', '3.1.x', 'full.json'),
+        output: path.join(outputDir, myPlugin.name, 'default'),
+        // @ts-expect-error
+        plugins: [myPlugin],
+      });
+
+      expect(myPlugin._handler).toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(myPlugin._handlerLegacy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    });
+
+    it('throws on invalid dependency', async () => {
+      const myPlugin: PluginConfig<{
+        name: string;
+        output: string;
+      }> = {
+        // @ts-expect-error
+        _dependencies: ['@hey-api/oops'],
+        _handler: vi.fn(),
+        _handlerLegacy: vi.fn(),
+        name: 'my-plugin',
+        output: 'my-plugin',
+      };
+
+      await expect(() =>
+        createClient({
+          client: '@hey-api/client-fetch',
+          experimentalParser: true,
+          input: path.join(__dirname, 'spec', '3.1.x', 'full.json'),
+          output: path.join(outputDir, myPlugin.name, 'default'),
+          // @ts-expect-error
+          plugins: [myPlugin],
+        }),
+      ).rejects.toThrowError(/unknown plugin/g);
+
+      expect(myPlugin._handler).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(myPlugin._handlerLegacy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    });
+
+    it('throws on native plugin override', async () => {
+      const myPlugin: PluginConfig<{
+        name: string;
+        output: string;
+      }> = {
+        _handler: vi.fn(),
+        _handlerLegacy: vi.fn(),
+        name: '@hey-api/types',
+        output: 'my-plugin',
+      };
+
+      await expect(() =>
+        createClient({
+          client: '@hey-api/client-fetch',
+          experimentalParser: true,
+          input: path.join(__dirname, 'spec', '3.1.x', 'full.json'),
+          output: path.join(outputDir, myPlugin.name, 'default'),
+          // @ts-expect-error
+          plugins: [myPlugin],
+        }),
+      ).rejects.toThrowError(/cannot register plugin/g);
+
+      expect(myPlugin._handler).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(myPlugin._handlerLegacy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    });
+  });
 }