diff --git a/modules/kobalt-plugin-api/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/Args.kt b/modules/kobalt-plugin-api/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/Args.kt
index 7eca0631..e79e6cb4 100644
--- a/modules/kobalt-plugin-api/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/Args.kt
+++ b/modules/kobalt-plugin-api/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/Args.kt
@@ -39,6 +39,9 @@ class Args {
         const val DEFAULT_SERVER_PORT = 1234
     }
 
+    @Parameter(names = arrayOf("--plugins"), description = "Comma-separated list of plug-in Maven id's")
+    var pluginIds: String? = null
+
     @Parameter(names = arrayOf("--port"), description = "Port, if --server was specified")
     var port: Int = DEFAULT_SERVER_PORT
 
diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/Main.kt b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/Main.kt
index 9096b885..f59f1a31 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/Main.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/Main.kt
@@ -15,11 +15,13 @@ import com.beust.kobalt.internal.KobaltSettings
 import com.beust.kobalt.internal.PluginInfo
 import com.beust.kobalt.internal.TaskManager
 import com.beust.kobalt.internal.build.BuildFile
+import com.beust.kobalt.maven.DepFactory
 import com.beust.kobalt.maven.Http
 import com.beust.kobalt.misc.*
 import com.google.common.collect.HashMultimap
 import com.google.inject.Guice
 import java.io.File
+import java.net.URLClassLoader
 import java.nio.file.Paths
 import java.util.*
 import javax.inject.Inject
@@ -60,12 +62,18 @@ private class Main @Inject constructor(
         val server: KobaltServer,
         val pluginInfo: PluginInfo,
         val projectGenerator: ProjectGenerator,
+        val depFactory: DepFactory,
         val resolveDependency: ResolveDependency) {
 
     data class RunInfo(val jc: JCommander, val args: Args)
 
     public fun run(jc: JCommander, args: Args, argv: Array<String>): Int {
-//        github.uploadRelease("kobalt", "0.101", File("/Users/beust/t/a.zip"))
+        // Install plug-ins requested from the command line
+        args.pluginIds?.let {
+            val dependencies = it.split(",").map { depFactory.create(it) }
+            val urls = dependencies.map { it.jarFile.get().toURI().toURL() }
+            plugins.installPlugins(dependencies, URLClassLoader(urls.toTypedArray()))
+        }
 
         //
         // Add all the plugins read in kobalt-plugin.xml to the Plugins singleton, so that code
diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/app/ProjectGenerator.kt b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/app/ProjectGenerator.kt
index 945e19e8..8686dea4 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/app/ProjectGenerator.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/app/ProjectGenerator.kt
@@ -14,9 +14,13 @@ public class ProjectGenerator @Inject constructor(val pluginInfo: PluginInfo){
         File(args.buildFile).parentFile.mkdirs()
         args.archetypes?.let { archetypes ->
             val contributors = pluginInfo.initContributors.filter { archetypes.contains(it.archetypeName) }
-            contributors.forEach {
-                log(2, "Running archetype ${it.archetypeName}")
-                it.generateArchetype(args)
+            if (contributors.size > 0) {
+                contributors.forEach {
+                    log(2, "Running archetype ${it.archetypeName}")
+                    it.generateArchetype(args)
+                }
+            } else {
+                log(1, "Couldn't find any archetype named ${args.archetypes}")
             }
         }
     }