diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/api/Plugin.kt b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/api/Plugin.kt
index 5978b6ce..5b5ead57 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/api/Plugin.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/api/Plugin.kt
@@ -33,13 +33,9 @@ public interface Plugin {
                     return TaskResult2(taskResult.success, this)
                 }
             })
-        runBefore.forEach { dependsOn(it, name) }
-        runAfter.forEach { dependsOn(name, it) }
+        runBefore.forEach { taskManager.runBefore(it, name) }
+        runAfter.forEach { taskManager.runBefore(name, it) }
     }
 
     var taskManager : TaskManager
-
-    fun dependsOn(task1: String, task2: String) {
-        taskManager.dependsOn(task1, task2)
-    }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/api/PluginTask.kt b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/api/PluginTask.kt
index 779854de..0c41fb31 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/api/PluginTask.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/api/PluginTask.kt
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ abstract public class PluginTask : Callable<TaskResult2<PluginTask>> {
     open val name: String = ""
     open val doc: String = ""
     abstract val project: Project
-    val dependsOn = arrayListOf<String>()
+    val runBefore = arrayListOf<String>()
+    val runAfter = 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 f080f803..7bcf06fc 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/internal/TaskManager.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/internal/TaskManager.kt
@@ -14,14 +14,19 @@ import javax.inject.Singleton
 
 @Singleton
 public class TaskManager @Inject constructor(val plugins: Plugins, val args: Args) : KobaltLogger {
-    private val dependentTaskMap = TreeMultimap.create<String, String>()
+    private val runBefore = TreeMultimap.create<String, String>()
+    private val runAfter= TreeMultimap.create<String, String>()
 
     /**
      * Called by plugins to indicate task dependencies defined at runtime. Keys depend on values.
      * Declare that `task1` depends on `task2`.
      */
-    fun dependsOn(task1: String, task2: String) {
-        dependentTaskMap.put(task1, task2)
+    fun runBefore(task1: String, task2: String) {
+        runBefore.put(task1, task2)
+    }
+
+    fun runAfter(task1: String, task2: String) {
+        runAfter.put(task1, task2)
     }
 
     class TaskInfo(val id: String) {
@@ -47,22 +52,22 @@ public class TaskManager @Inject constructor(val plugins: Plugins, val args: Arg
             //
             plugins.allTasks.filter { it.project.name == project.name }.forEach { rt ->
                 tasksByNames.put(rt.name, rt)
-                if (rt.dependsOn.size() > 0) {
-                    rt.dependsOn.forEach { d ->
-                        dependentTaskMap.put(rt.name, d)
+                if (rt.runBefore.size() > 0) {
+                    rt.runBefore.forEach { d ->
+                        runBefore.put(rt.name, d)
                     }
                 }
             }
 
             val freeTaskMap = hashMapOf<String, PluginTask>()
             tasksByNames.keySet().forEach {
-                if (!dependentTaskMap.containsKey(it)) freeTaskMap.put(it, tasksByNames.get(it).elementAt(0))
+                if (! runBefore.containsKey(it)) freeTaskMap.put(it, tasksByNames.get(it).elementAt(0))
             }
 
             log(2, "Free tasks: ${freeTaskMap.keySet()}")
             log(2, "Dependent tasks:")
-            dependentTaskMap.keySet().forEach { t ->
-                log(2, "  ${t} -> ${dependentTaskMap.get(t)}}")
+            runBefore.keySet().forEach { t ->
+                log(2, "  ${t} -> ${runBefore.get(t)}}")
             }
 
             //
@@ -102,7 +107,7 @@ public class TaskManager @Inject constructor(val plugins: Plugins, val args: Arg
                                 throw KobaltException("Unknown task: ${target}")
                             }
                             tasks.forEach { task ->
-                                val dependencyNames = dependentTaskMap.get(task.name)
+                                val dependencyNames = runBefore.get(task.name)
                                 dependencyNames.forEach { dependencyName ->
                                     if (!seen.contains(dependencyName)) {
                                         newToProcess.add(dependencyName)
@@ -127,7 +132,7 @@ public class TaskManager @Inject constructor(val plugins: Plugins, val args: Arg
             //
             val graph = DynamicGraph<PluginTask>()
             freeTaskMap.values().filter { transitiveClosure.contains(it.name) } forEach { graph.addNode(it) }
-            dependentTaskMap.entries().filter {
+            runBefore.entries().filter {
                 transitiveClosure.contains(it.key)
             }.forEach { entry ->
                 plugins.findTasks(entry.key).filter { it.project.name == project.name }.forEach { from ->
diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/plugin/kotlin/KotlinPlugin.kt b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/plugin/kotlin/KotlinPlugin.kt
index 8912dfdd..59754056 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/plugin/kotlin/KotlinPlugin.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/plugin/kotlin/KotlinPlugin.kt
@@ -3,12 +3,15 @@ package com.beust.kobalt.plugin.kotlin
 import com.beust.kobalt.Plugins
 import com.beust.kobalt.api.ICompilerInfo
 import com.beust.kobalt.api.Kobalt
+import com.beust.kobalt.api.KobaltContext
 import com.beust.kobalt.api.Project
 import com.beust.kobalt.api.annotation.Directive
 import com.beust.kobalt.api.annotation.Task
 import com.beust.kobalt.internal.JvmCompilerPlugin
 import com.beust.kobalt.internal.TaskResult
+import com.beust.kobalt.internal.TaskResult2
 import com.beust.kobalt.maven.*
+import com.beust.kobalt.misc.KFiles
 import com.beust.kobalt.misc.KobaltExecutors
 import com.beust.kobalt.misc.KobaltLogger
 import com.beust.kobalt.plugin.java.JavaProject
@@ -19,7 +22,7 @@ import javax.inject.Singleton
 @Singleton
 public class KotlinPlugin @Inject constructor(
         override val localRepo: LocalRepo,
-        override val files: com.beust.kobalt.misc.KFiles,
+        override val files: KFiles,
         override val depFactory: DepFactory,
         override val dependencyManager: DependencyManager,
         override val executors: KobaltExecutors)
@@ -29,6 +32,14 @@ public class KotlinPlugin @Inject constructor(
         Kobalt.registerCompiler(KotlinCompilerInfo())
     }
 
+    override fun apply(project: Project, context: KobaltContext) {
+        log(1, "ADD SYNTH TASK")
+//        addTask(project, "syntheticTask", "A dynamic task", runBefore = listOf("clean")) { p: Project ->
+//            println("@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Synthetic task")
+//            TaskResult()
+//        }
+    }
+
     companion object {
         public const val TASK_COMPILE: String = "compile"
         public const val TASK_COMPILE_TEST: String = "compileTest"