diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/BasePluginTask.kt b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/BasePluginTask.kt
index 1c4285b3..077093bf 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/BasePluginTask.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/BasePluginTask.kt
@@ -3,11 +3,11 @@ package com.beust.kobalt
 import com.beust.kobalt.api.Plugin
 import com.beust.kobalt.api.PluginTask
 import com.beust.kobalt.api.Project
+import com.beust.kobalt.internal.TaskResult
+import com.beust.kobalt.internal.TaskResult2
 
 public abstract class BasePluginTask(override val plugin: Plugin,
         override val name: String,
         override val doc: String,
         override val project: Project)
-        : PluginTask {
-    override val dependsOn = arrayListOf<String>()
-}
+        : PluginTask()
diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/Plugins.kt b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/Plugins.kt
index a2aa7d4a..cb2918d3 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/Plugins.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/Plugins.kt
@@ -105,7 +105,13 @@ public class Plugins @Inject constructor (val taskManagerProvider : Provider<Tas
                 plugin.taskManager = taskManagerProvider.get()
                 plugin.plugins = this
             }
+
+            // Call apply() on each plug-in that accepts a project
             log(2, "Applying plug-in \"${plugin.name}\"")
+            projects.filter { plugin.accept(it) }.forEach { project ->
+                plugin.apply(project, context)
+            }
+
 
             var currentClass : Class<in Any> = plugin.javaClass
 
@@ -147,11 +153,9 @@ public class Plugins @Inject constructor (val taskManagerProvider : Provider<Tas
                 }
 
                 projects.filter { plugin.accept(it) }.forEach { project ->
-                    plugin.addTask(annotation, project, toTask(method, project, plugin))
+                    plugin.addStaticTask(annotation, project, toTask(method, project, plugin))
                     annotation.runBefore.forEach { plugin.dependsOn(it, annotation.name) }
                     annotation.runAfter.forEach { plugin.dependsOn(annotation.name, it) }
-
-                    plugin.apply(project, context)
                 }
             }
         }
diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/api/BasePlugin.kt b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/api/BasePlugin.kt
index 0f2d9247..5aa68e55 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/api/BasePlugin.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/api/BasePlugin.kt
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import com.beust.kobalt.BasePluginTask
 import com.beust.kobalt.Plugins
 import com.beust.kobalt.internal.TaskManager
 import com.beust.kobalt.internal.TaskResult
+import com.beust.kobalt.internal.TaskResult2
 import java.util.ArrayList
 import java.util.concurrent.Callable
 import kotlin.properties.Delegates
@@ -12,9 +13,22 @@ abstract public class BasePlugin : Plugin {
     override val tasks: ArrayList<PluginTask> = arrayListOf()
     override var taskManager : TaskManager by Delegates.notNull()
     override var methodTasks = arrayListOf<Plugin.MethodTask>()
-
     override fun accept(project: Project) = true
-
     var plugins : Plugins by Delegates.notNull()
 
+    fun addSyntheticTask(name: String, project: Project, task: (Project) -> TaskResult) {
+        val task = object: PluginTask() {
+            override val doc = "A synthetic task"
+            override val name = name
+            override val plugin = this@BasePlugin
+            override val project = project
+
+            override fun call(): TaskResult2<PluginTask>? {
+                val taskResult = task(project)
+                return TaskResult2(taskResult.success, this)
+            }
+        }
+        tasks.add(task)
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/api/Plugin.kt b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/api/Plugin.kt
index 961f7292..aacebc39 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/api/Plugin.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/api/Plugin.kt
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ public interface Plugin {
     class MethodTask(val method: Method, val taskAnnotation: Task)
     val methodTasks : ArrayList<MethodTask>
 
-    fun addTask(annotation: Task, project: Project, task: (Project) -> TaskResult) {
+    fun addStaticTask(annotation: Task, project: Project, task: (Project) -> TaskResult) {
         tasks.add(object : BasePluginTask(this, annotation.name, annotation.description, project) {
             override fun call(): TaskResult2<PluginTask> {
                 val taskResult = task(project)
diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/api/PluginTask.kt b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/api/PluginTask.kt
index 8f1b7378..779854de 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/api/PluginTask.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/api/PluginTask.kt
@@ -4,12 +4,12 @@ import com.beust.kobalt.internal.TaskResult2
 import com.beust.kobalt.misc.ToString
 import java.util.concurrent.Callable
 
-public interface PluginTask : Callable<TaskResult2<PluginTask>> {
-    val plugin: Plugin
-    val name: String
-    val doc: String
-    val project: Project
-    val dependsOn : List<String>
+abstract public class PluginTask : Callable<TaskResult2<PluginTask>> {
+    abstract val plugin: Plugin
+    open val name: String = ""
+    open val doc: String = ""
+    abstract val project: Project
+    val dependsOn = arrayListOf<String>()
 
     override public fun toString() : String {
         return ToString("PluginTask", "id", project.name + ":" + name).s
diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/internal/TaskManager.kt b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/internal/TaskManager.kt
index b1adfec3..f080f803 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/internal/TaskManager.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/internal/TaskManager.kt
@@ -4,15 +4,11 @@ import com.beust.kobalt.Args
 import com.beust.kobalt.Plugins
 import com.beust.kobalt.api.PluginTask
 import com.beust.kobalt.api.Project
-import com.beust.kobalt.api.Task
 import com.beust.kobalt.misc.KobaltLogger
 import com.beust.kobalt.maven.KobaltException
-import com.google.common.collect.ArrayListMultimap
 import com.google.common.collect.HashMultimap
 import com.google.common.collect.TreeMultimap
 import java.util.HashSet
-import java.util.concurrent.LinkedBlockingQueue
-import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit
 import javax.inject.Inject
 import javax.inject.Singleton
 
@@ -28,6 +24,13 @@ public class TaskManager @Inject constructor(val plugins: Plugins, val args: Arg
         dependentTaskMap.put(task1, task2)
     }
 
+    class TaskInfo(val id: String) {
+        val project: String?
+            get() = if (id.contains(":")) id.split(":").get(0) else null
+        val task: String
+            get() = if (id.contains(":")) id.split(":").get(1) else id
+    }
+
     public fun runTargets(targets: List<String>, projects: List<Project>) {
         val tasksByNames = HashMultimap.create<String, PluginTask>()
 
@@ -36,6 +39,9 @@ public class TaskManager @Inject constructor(val plugins: Plugins, val args: Arg
             log(1, "                   Building project ${project.name}")
             log(1, "")
 
+            val allTasksByNames = hashMapOf<String, PluginTask>()
+            plugins.allTasks.forEach { allTasksByNames.put(TaskInfo(it.name).task, it)}
+
             //
             // Locate all the tasks
             //
@@ -70,38 +76,45 @@ public class TaskManager @Inject constructor(val plugins: Plugins, val args: Arg
                 val newToProcess = hashSetOf<String>()
                 log(3, "toProcess size: " + toProcess.size())
                 toProcess.forEach { target ->
-                    log(3, "Processing ${target}")
-                    val actualTarget =
-                        if (target.contains(":")) {
-                            // The target specifies a project explicitly
-                            target.split(":").let {
-                                val projectName = it[0]
-                                if (projectName == project.name) {
-                                    it[1]
+                    val pluginTask = allTasksByNames.get(target)
+                    // Only calculate the transitive closure for this target if its plug-in accepts the
+                    // current project
+                    if (pluginTask != null && pluginTask.plugin.accept(project)) {
+                        log(3, "Processing ${target}")
+                        val actualTarget =
+                                if (target.contains(":")) {
+                                    // The target specifies a project explicitly
+                                    target.split(":").let {
+                                        val projectName = it[0]
+                                        if (projectName == project.name) {
+                                            it[1]
+                                        } else {
+                                            null
+                                        }
+                                    }
                                 } else {
-                                    null
+                                    target
+                                }
+                        if (actualTarget != null) {
+                            transitiveClosure.add(actualTarget)
+                            val tasks = tasksByNames.get(actualTarget)
+                            if (tasks.isEmpty()) {
+                                throw KobaltException("Unknown task: ${target}")
+                            }
+                            tasks.forEach { task ->
+                                val dependencyNames = dependentTaskMap.get(task.name)
+                                dependencyNames.forEach { dependencyName ->
+                                    if (!seen.contains(dependencyName)) {
+                                        newToProcess.add(dependencyName)
+                                        seen.add(dependencyName)
+                                    }
                                 }
                             }
                         } else {
-                            target
+                            log(2, "Target ${target} specified so not running it for project ${project.name}")
                         }
-                    if (actualTarget != null) {
-                        transitiveClosure.add(actualTarget)
-                        val tasks = tasksByNames.get(actualTarget)
-                        if (tasks.isEmpty()) {
-                            throw KobaltException("Unknown task: ${target}")
-                        }
-                        tasks.forEach { task ->
-                            val dependencyNames = dependentTaskMap.get(task.name)
-                            dependencyNames.forEach { dependencyName ->
-                                if (!seen.contains(dependencyName)) {
-                                    newToProcess.add(dependencyName)
-                                    seen.add(dependencyName)
-                                }
-                            }
-                        }
-                    } else {
-                        log(2, "Target ${target} specified so not running it for project ${project.name}")
+                    } else if (pluginTask == null) {
+                        throw AssertionError("Should have found the task for $target")
                     }
                 }
                 done = newToProcess.isEmpty()