diff --git a/doc/04-schema.md b/doc/04-schema.md
index 7b8ef5558..7d2775af1 100644
--- a/doc/04-schema.md
+++ b/doc/04-schema.md
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ Out of the box, composer supports three types:
   their installation, but contains no files and will not write anything to the
   filesystem. As such, it does not require a dist or source key to be
   installable.
-- **composer-installer:** A package of type `composer-installer` provides an
+- **composer-plugin:** A package of type `composer-plugin` may provide an
   installer for other packages that have a custom type. Read more in the
   [dedicated article](articles/custom-installers.md).
 
diff --git a/res/composer-schema.json b/res/composer-schema.json
index 328794ef8..eef9aa3d6 100644
--- a/res/composer-schema.json
+++ b/res/composer-schema.json
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
             "required": true
         },
         "type": {
-            "description": "Package type, either 'library' for common packages, 'composer-installer' for custom installers, 'metapackage' for empty packages, or a custom type ([a-z0-9-]+) defined by whatever project this package applies to.",
+            "description": "Package type, either 'library' for common packages, 'composer-plugin' for plugins, 'metapackage' for empty packages, or a custom type ([a-z0-9-]+) defined by whatever project this package applies to.",
             "type": "string"
         },
         "target-dir": {
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@
         },
         "extra": {
             "type": ["object", "array"],
-            "description": "Arbitrary extra data that can be used by custom installers, for example, package of type composer-installer must have a 'class' key defining the installer class name.",
+            "description": "Arbitrary extra data that can be used by plugins, for example, package of type composer-plugin may have a 'class' key defining an installer class name.",
             "additionalProperties": true
         },
         "autoload": {
diff --git a/src/Composer/Command/CreateProjectCommand.php b/src/Composer/Command/CreateProjectCommand.php
index 222add8e5..c38f0bec4 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Command/CreateProjectCommand.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Command/CreateProjectCommand.php
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ class CreateProjectCommand extends Command
                 new InputOption('repository-url', null, InputOption::VALUE_REQUIRED, 'Pick a different repository url to look for the package.'),
                 new InputOption('dev', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Enables installation of require-dev packages (enabled by default, only present for BC).'),
                 new InputOption('no-dev', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Disables installation of require-dev packages.'),
-                new InputOption('no-custom-installers', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Whether to disable custom installers.'),
+                new InputOption('no-plugins', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Whether to disable plugins.'),
                 new InputOption('no-scripts', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Whether to prevent execution of all defined scripts in the root package.'),
                 new InputOption('no-progress', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Do not output download progress.'),
                 new InputOption('keep-vcs', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Whether to prevent deletion vcs folder.'),
@@ -127,19 +127,19 @@ EOT
             $preferDist,
             !$input->getOption('no-dev'),
             $input->getOption('repository-url'),
-            $input->getOption('no-custom-installers'),
+            $input->getOption('no-plugins'),
             $input->getOption('no-scripts'),
             $input->getOption('keep-vcs'),
             $input->getOption('no-progress')
         );
     }
 
-    public function installProject(IOInterface $io, $config, $packageName, $directory = null, $packageVersion = null, $stability = 'stable', $preferSource = false, $preferDist = false, $installDevPackages = false, $repositoryUrl = null, $disableCustomInstallers = false, $noScripts = false, $keepVcs = false, $noProgress = false)
+    public function installProject(IOInterface $io, $config, $packageName, $directory = null, $packageVersion = null, $stability = 'stable', $preferSource = false, $preferDist = false, $installDevPackages = false, $repositoryUrl = null, $disablePlugins = false, $noScripts = false, $keepVcs = false, $noProgress = false)
     {
         $oldCwd = getcwd();
 
         if ($packageName !== null) {
-            $installedFromVcs = $this->installRootPackage($io, $config, $packageName, $directory, $packageVersion, $stability, $preferSource, $preferDist, $installDevPackages, $repositoryUrl, $disableCustomInstallers, $noScripts, $keepVcs, $noProgress);
+            $installedFromVcs = $this->installRootPackage($io, $config, $packageName, $directory, $packageVersion, $stability, $preferSource, $preferDist, $installDevPackages, $repositoryUrl, $disablePlugins, $noScripts, $keepVcs, $noProgress);
         } else {
             $installedFromVcs = false;
         }
@@ -158,8 +158,8 @@ EOT
             ->setDevMode($installDevPackages)
             ->setRunScripts( ! $noScripts);
 
-        if ($disableCustomInstallers) {
-            $installer->disableCustomInstallers();
+        if ($disablePlugins) {
+            $installer->disablePlugins();
         }
 
         if (!$installer->run()) {
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ EOT
         return 0;
     }
 
-    protected function installRootPackage(IOInterface $io, $config, $packageName, $directory = null, $packageVersion = null, $stability = 'stable', $preferSource = false, $preferDist = false, $installDevPackages = false, $repositoryUrl = null, $disableCustomInstallers = false, $noScripts = false, $keepVcs = false, $noProgress = false)
+    protected function installRootPackage(IOInterface $io, $config, $packageName, $directory = null, $packageVersion = null, $stability = 'stable', $preferSource = false, $preferDist = false, $installDevPackages = false, $repositoryUrl = null, $disablePlugins = false, $noScripts = false, $keepVcs = false, $noProgress = false)
     {
         $stability = strtolower($stability);
         if ($stability === 'rc') {
@@ -285,8 +285,8 @@ EOT
 
         $io->write('<info>Installing ' . $package->getName() . ' (' . VersionParser::formatVersion($package, false) . ')</info>');
 
-        if ($disableCustomInstallers) {
-            $io->write('<info>Custom installers have been disabled.</info>');
+        if ($disablePlugins) {
+            $io->write('<info>Plugins have been disabled.</info>');
         }
 
         if (0 === strpos($package->getPrettyVersion(), 'dev-') && in_array($package->getSourceType(), array('git', 'hg'))) {
diff --git a/src/Composer/Command/InstallCommand.php b/src/Composer/Command/InstallCommand.php
index 05d3f37d9..90ad2810f 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Command/InstallCommand.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Command/InstallCommand.php
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ class InstallCommand extends Command
                 new InputOption('dry-run', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Outputs the operations but will not execute anything (implicitly enables --verbose).'),
                 new InputOption('dev', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Enables installation of require-dev packages (enabled by default, only present for BC).'),
                 new InputOption('no-dev', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Disables installation of require-dev packages.'),
-                new InputOption('no-custom-installers', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Disables all custom installers.'),
+                new InputOption('no-plugins', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Disables all plugins.'),
                 new InputOption('no-scripts', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Skips the execution of all scripts defined in composer.json file.'),
                 new InputOption('no-progress', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Do not output download progress.'),
                 new InputOption('verbose', 'v|vv|vvv', InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Shows more details including new commits pulled in when updating packages.'),
@@ -90,8 +90,8 @@ EOT
             ->setOptimizeAutoloader($input->getOption('optimize-autoloader'))
         ;
 
-        if ($input->getOption('no-custom-installers')) {
-            $install->disableCustomInstallers();
+        if ($input->getOption('no-plugins')) {
+            $install->disablePlugins();
         }
 
         return $install->run() ? 0 : 1;
diff --git a/src/Composer/Command/UpdateCommand.php b/src/Composer/Command/UpdateCommand.php
index dc103cf99..8d3133b83 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Command/UpdateCommand.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Command/UpdateCommand.php
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ class UpdateCommand extends Command
                 new InputOption('dev', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Enables installation of require-dev packages (enabled by default, only present for BC).'),
                 new InputOption('no-dev', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Disables installation of require-dev packages.'),
                 new InputOption('lock', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Only updates the lock file hash to suppress warning about the lock file being out of date.'),
-                new InputOption('no-custom-installers', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Disables all custom installers.'),
+                new InputOption('no-plugins', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Disables all plugins.'),
                 new InputOption('no-scripts', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Skips the execution of all scripts defined in composer.json file.'),
                 new InputOption('no-progress', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Do not output download progress.'),
                 new InputOption('verbose', 'v|vv|vvv', InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'Shows more details including new commits pulled in when updating packages.'),
@@ -96,8 +96,8 @@ EOT
             ->setUpdateWhitelist($input->getOption('lock') ? array('lock') : $input->getArgument('packages'))
         ;
 
-        if ($input->getOption('no-custom-installers')) {
-            $install->disableCustomInstallers();
+        if ($input->getOption('no-plugins')) {
+            $install->disablePlugins();
         }
 
         return $install->run() ? 0 : 1;
diff --git a/src/Composer/Factory.php b/src/Composer/Factory.php
index 82c5084c2..749e1ad88 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Factory.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Factory.php
@@ -370,7 +370,7 @@ class Factory
     {
         $im->addInstaller(new Installer\LibraryInstaller($io, $composer, null));
         $im->addInstaller(new Installer\PearInstaller($io, $composer, 'pear-library'));
-        $im->addInstaller(new Installer\InstallerInstaller($io, $composer));
+        $im->addInstaller(new Installer\PluginInstaller($io, $composer));
         $im->addInstaller(new Installer\MetapackageInstaller($io));
     }
 
diff --git a/src/Composer/Installer.php b/src/Composer/Installer.php
index 8f424cc39..1d3ec9255 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Installer.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Installer.php
@@ -461,7 +461,7 @@ class Installer
             $this->io->write('Nothing to install or update');
         }
 
-        $operations = $this->moveCustomInstallersToFront($operations);
+        $operations = $this->movePluginsToFront($operations);
 
         foreach ($operations as $operation) {
             // collect suggestions
@@ -540,7 +540,7 @@ class Installer
 
 
     /**
-     * Workaround: if your packages depend on custom installers, we must be sure
+     * Workaround: if your packages depend on plugins, we must be sure
      * that those are installed / updated first; else it would lead to packages
      * being installed multiple times in different folders, when running Composer
      * twice.
@@ -552,7 +552,7 @@ class Installer
      * @param OperationInterface[] $operations
      * @return OperationInterface[] reordered operation list
      */
-    private function moveCustomInstallersToFront(array $operations)
+    private function movePluginsToFront(array $operations)
     {
         $installerOps = array();
         foreach ($operations as $idx => $op) {
@@ -564,7 +564,7 @@ class Installer
                 continue;
             }
 
-            if ($package->getRequires() === array() && $package->getType() === 'composer-installer') {
+            if ($package->getRequires() === array() && ($package->getType() === 'composer-plugin' || $package->getType() === 'composer-installer')) {
                 $installerOps[] = $op;
                 unset($operations[$idx]);
             }
@@ -1055,7 +1055,7 @@ class Installer
     }
 
     /**
-     * Disables custom installers.
+     * Disables plugins.
      *
      * Call this if you want to ensure that third-party code never gets
      * executed. The default is to automatically install, and execute
@@ -1063,9 +1063,9 @@ class Installer
      *
      * @return Installer
      */
-    public function disableCustomInstallers()
+    public function disablePlugins()
     {
-        $this->installationManager->disableCustomInstallers();
+        $this->installationManager->disablePlugins();
 
         return $this;
     }
diff --git a/src/Composer/Installer/InstallationManager.php b/src/Composer/Installer/InstallationManager.php
index 406ee1166..b26273847 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Installer/InstallationManager.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Installer/InstallationManager.php
@@ -66,16 +66,16 @@ class InstallationManager
     }
 
     /**
-     * Disables custom installers.
+     * Disables plugins.
      *
-     * We prevent any custom installers from being instantiated by simply
+     * We prevent any plugins from being instantiated by simply
      * deactivating the installer for them. This ensure that no third-party
      * code is ever executed.
      */
-    public function disableCustomInstallers()
+    public function disablePlugins()
     {
         foreach ($this->installers as $i => $installer) {
-            if (!$installer instanceof InstallerInstaller) {
+            if (!$installer instanceof PluginInstaller) {
                 continue;
             }
 
diff --git a/src/Composer/Installer/InstallerInstaller.php b/src/Composer/Installer/PluginInstaller.php
similarity index 86%
rename from src/Composer/Installer/InstallerInstaller.php
rename to src/Composer/Installer/PluginInstaller.php
index a833b68d2..9be0a9155 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Installer/InstallerInstaller.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Installer/PluginInstaller.php
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ use Composer\Package\PackageInterface;
  *
  * @author Jordi Boggiano <j.boggiano@seld.be>
  */
-class InstallerInstaller extends LibraryInstaller
+class PluginInstaller extends LibraryInstaller
 {
     private $installationManager;
     private static $classCounter = 0;
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ class InstallerInstaller extends LibraryInstaller
      */
     public function __construct(IOInterface $io, Composer $composer, $type = 'library')
     {
-        parent::__construct($io, $composer, 'composer-installer');
+        parent::__construct($io, $composer, $type);
         $this->installationManager = $composer->getInstallationManager();
 
         $repo = $composer->getRepositoryManager()->getLocalRepository();
@@ -45,6 +45,9 @@ class InstallerInstaller extends LibraryInstaller
             if ('composer-installer' === $package->getType()) {
                 $this->registerInstaller($package);
             }
+            if ('composer-plugin' === $package->getType()) {
+                $this->registerInstaller($package);
+            }
         }
     }
 
@@ -55,7 +58,7 @@ class InstallerInstaller extends LibraryInstaller
     {
         $extra = $package->getExtra();
         if (empty($extra['class'])) {
-            throw new \UnexpectedValueException('Error while installing '.$package->getPrettyName().', composer-installer packages should have a class defined in their extra key to be usable.');
+            throw new \UnexpectedValueException('Error while installing '.$package->getPrettyName().', composer-plugin packages should have a class defined in their extra key to be usable.');
         }
 
         parent::install($repo, $package);
@@ -69,7 +72,7 @@ class InstallerInstaller extends LibraryInstaller
     {
         $extra = $target->getExtra();
         if (empty($extra['class'])) {
-            throw new \UnexpectedValueException('Error while installing '.$target->getPrettyName().', composer-installer packages should have a class defined in their extra key to be usable.');
+            throw new \UnexpectedValueException('Error while installing '.$target->getPrettyName().', composer-plugin packages should have a class defined in their extra key to be usable.');
         }
 
         parent::update($repo, $initial, $target);
diff --git a/tests/Composer/Test/Fixtures/installer/custom-installers-are-installed-first.test b/tests/Composer/Test/Fixtures/installer/plugins-are-installed-first.test
similarity index 90%
rename from tests/Composer/Test/Fixtures/installer/custom-installers-are-installed-first.test
rename to tests/Composer/Test/Fixtures/installer/plugins-are-installed-first.test
index dd9d26d98..c57a36d35 100644
--- a/tests/Composer/Test/Fixtures/installer/custom-installers-are-installed-first.test
+++ b/tests/Composer/Test/Fixtures/installer/plugins-are-installed-first.test
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ Composer installers are installed first if they have no requirements
             "package": [
                 { "name": "pkg", "version": "1.0.0" },
                 { "name": "pkg2", "version": "1.0.0" },
-                { "name": "inst", "version": "1.0.0", "type": "composer-installer" },
-                { "name": "inst2", "version": "1.0.0", "type": "composer-installer", "require": { "pkg2": "*" } }
+                { "name": "inst", "version": "1.0.0", "type": "composer-plugin" },
+                { "name": "inst2", "version": "1.0.0", "type": "composer-plugin", "require": { "pkg2": "*" } }
             ]
         }
     ],
diff --git a/tests/Composer/Test/Installer/Fixtures/installer-v1/composer.json b/tests/Composer/Test/Installer/Fixtures/installer-v1/composer.json
index 2230f4c4c..3ec38c60e 100644
--- a/tests/Composer/Test/Installer/Fixtures/installer-v1/composer.json
+++ b/tests/Composer/Test/Installer/Fixtures/installer-v1/composer.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
     "name": "",
     "version": "1.0.0",
-    "type": "composer-installer",
+    "type": "composer-plugin",
     "autoload": { "psr-0": { "Installer": "" } },
     "extra": {
         "class": "Installer\\Custom"
diff --git a/tests/Composer/Test/Installer/Fixtures/installer-v2/composer.json b/tests/Composer/Test/Installer/Fixtures/installer-v2/composer.json
index 82daa3d43..974c82b54 100644
--- a/tests/Composer/Test/Installer/Fixtures/installer-v2/composer.json
+++ b/tests/Composer/Test/Installer/Fixtures/installer-v2/composer.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
     "name": "",
     "version": "2.0.0",
-    "type": "composer-installer",
+    "type": "composer-plugin",
     "autoload": { "psr-0": { "Installer": "" } },
     "extra": {
         "class": "Installer\\Custom2"
diff --git a/tests/Composer/Test/Installer/Fixtures/installer-v3/composer.json b/tests/Composer/Test/Installer/Fixtures/installer-v3/composer.json
index 84c1d8c00..ef2cc278b 100644
--- a/tests/Composer/Test/Installer/Fixtures/installer-v3/composer.json
+++ b/tests/Composer/Test/Installer/Fixtures/installer-v3/composer.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
     "name": "",
     "version": "3.0.0",
-    "type": "composer-installer",
+    "type": "composer-plugin",
     "autoload": { "psr-0": { "Installer": "" } },
     "extra": {
         "class": "Installer\\Custom2"
diff --git a/tests/Composer/Test/Installer/Fixtures/installer-v4/composer.json b/tests/Composer/Test/Installer/Fixtures/installer-v4/composer.json
index f29258bc6..5ff8d7cb6 100644
--- a/tests/Composer/Test/Installer/Fixtures/installer-v4/composer.json
+++ b/tests/Composer/Test/Installer/Fixtures/installer-v4/composer.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
     "name": "",
     "version": "4.0.0",
-    "type": "composer-installer",
+    "type": "composer-plugin",
     "autoload": { "psr-0": { "Installer": "" } },
     "extra": {
         "class": [
diff --git a/tests/Composer/Test/Installer/InstallerInstallerTest.php b/tests/Composer/Test/Installer/PluginInstallerTest.php
similarity index 92%
rename from tests/Composer/Test/Installer/InstallerInstallerTest.php
rename to tests/Composer/Test/Installer/PluginInstallerTest.php
index c61182389..217edb999 100644
--- a/tests/Composer/Test/Installer/InstallerInstallerTest.php
+++ b/tests/Composer/Test/Installer/PluginInstallerTest.php
@@ -14,13 +14,13 @@ namespace Composer\Test\Installer;
 
 use Composer\Composer;
 use Composer\Config;
-use Composer\Installer\InstallerInstaller;
+use Composer\Installer\PluginInstaller;
 use Composer\Package\Loader\JsonLoader;
 use Composer\Package\Loader\ArrayLoader;
 use Composer\Package\PackageInterface;
 use Composer\Autoload\AutoloadGenerator;
 
-class InstallerInstallerTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
+class PluginInstallerTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
 {
     protected $composer;
     protected $packages;
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ class InstallerInstallerTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
             ->expects($this->once())
             ->method('getPackages')
             ->will($this->returnValue(array()));
-        $installer = new InstallerInstallerMock($this->io, $this->composer);
+        $installer = new PluginInstallerMock($this->io, $this->composer);
 
         $test = $this;
         $this->im
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ class InstallerInstallerTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
             ->method('getPackages')
             ->will($this->returnValue(array()));
 
-        $installer = new InstallerInstallerMock($this->io, $this->composer);
+        $installer = new PluginInstallerMock($this->io, $this->composer);
 
         $test = $this;
 
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ class InstallerInstallerTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
             ->expects($this->exactly(2))
             ->method('hasPackage')
             ->will($this->onConsecutiveCalls(true, false));
-        $installer = new InstallerInstallerMock($this->io, $this->composer);
+        $installer = new PluginInstallerMock($this->io, $this->composer);
 
         $test = $this;
         $this->im
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ class InstallerInstallerTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
             ->expects($this->exactly(2))
             ->method('hasPackage')
             ->will($this->onConsecutiveCalls(true, false));
-        $installer = new InstallerInstallerMock($this->io, $this->composer);
+        $installer = new PluginInstallerMock($this->io, $this->composer);
 
         $test = $this;
         $this->im
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ class InstallerInstallerTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
     }
 }
 
-class InstallerInstallerMock extends InstallerInstaller
+class PluginInstallerMock extends PluginInstaller
 {
     public function getInstallPath(PackageInterface $package)
     {