diff --git a/examples/README.md b/examples/README.md
index 7b1bd4d4..47ab5a9d 100644
--- a/examples/README.md
+++ b/examples/README.md
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ Below is a brief description of each of these:
 | `maturin-starter` | A template project which is configured to use [`maturin`](https://github.com/PyO3/maturin) for development. |
 | `setuptools-rust-starter` | A template project which is configured to use [`setuptools_rust`](https://github.com/PyO3/setuptools-rust/) for development. |
 | `word-count` | A quick performance comparison between word counter implementations written in each of Rust and Python. |
+| `plugin` | Illustrates how to use Python as a scripting language within a Rust application |
 
 ## Creating new projects from these examples
 
diff --git a/examples/plugin/Cargo.toml b/examples/plugin/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..08127b50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/plugin/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+[package]
+name = "plugin_example"
+version = "0.1.0"
+edition = "2021"
+
+
+[dependencies]
+pyo3={path="../../", features=["macros"]}
+plugin_api={path="plugin_api"}
+
+
+[workspace]
diff --git a/examples/plugin/README.md b/examples/plugin/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..17f2cf74
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/plugin/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+# plugin
+
+An example of a Rust app that uses Python for a plugin. A Python extension module built using PyO3 and [`maturin`](https://github.com/PyO3/maturin) is used to provide
+interface types that can be used to exchange data between Rust and Python. This also deals with how to separately test and load python modules.
+
+# Building and Testing
+## Host application
+To run the app itself, you only need to run 
+
+```shell
+cargo run
+```
+It will build the app, as well as the plugin API, then run the app, load the plugin and show it working.
+
+## Plugin API testing
+
+The plugin API is in a separate crate `plugin_api`, so you can test it separately from the main app. 
+
+To build the API only package, first install `maturin`:
+
+```shell
+pip install maturin
+```
+
+When building the plugin, simply using `maturin develop` will fail to produce a viable extension module due to the features arrangement of PyO3. 
+Instead, one needs to enable the optional feature as follows:
+
+```shell
+cd plugin_api
+maturin build --features "extension-module"
+```
+
+Alternatively, install nox and run the tests inside an isolated environment:
+
+```shell
+nox
+```
+
+## Copying this example
+
+Use [`cargo-generate`](https://crates.io/crates/cargo-generate):
+
+```bash
+$ cargo install cargo-generate
+$ cargo generate --git https://github.com/PyO3/pyo3 examples/plugin
+```
+
+(`cargo generate` will take a little while to clone the PyO3 repo first; be patient when waiting for the command to run.)
diff --git a/examples/plugin/plugin_api/Cargo.toml b/examples/plugin/plugin_api/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..870ad76a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/plugin/plugin_api/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+[package]
+name = "plugin_api"
+version = "0.1.0"
+description = "Plugin API example"
+edition = "2021"
+
+[lib]
+name = "plugin_api"
+crate-type = ["cdylib", "rlib"]
+
+[dependencies]
+#!!! Important - DO NOT ENABLE extension-module FEATURE HERE!!!
+pyo3 = { path = "../../../" }
+
+[features]
+# instead extension-module feature for pyo3 is enabled conditionally when we want to build a standalone extension module to test our plugins without "main" program
+extension-module = ["pyo3/extension-module"]
diff --git a/examples/plugin/plugin_api/noxfile.py b/examples/plugin/plugin_api/noxfile.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3b53c0c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/plugin/plugin_api/noxfile.py
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+import nox
+
+
+@nox.session
+def python(session):
+    session.install("-rrequirements-dev.txt")
+    session.install("maturin")
+    session.run_always("maturin", "develop", "--features", "extension-module")
+    session.run("pytest")
diff --git a/examples/plugin/plugin_api/pyproject.toml b/examples/plugin/plugin_api/pyproject.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..114687ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/plugin/plugin_api/pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+[build-system]
+requires = ["maturin>=0.14,<0.15"]
+build-backend = "maturin"
+
+[project]
+name = "plugin_api"
+requires-python = ">=3.7"
+classifiers = [
+    "Programming Language :: Rust",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPython",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: PyPy",
+]
+
+
diff --git a/examples/plugin/plugin_api/requirements-dev.txt b/examples/plugin/plugin_api/requirements-dev.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..20c7cdfb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/plugin/plugin_api/requirements-dev.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+pytest>=3.5.0
+pip>=21.3
+maturin>=0.14
diff --git a/examples/plugin/plugin_api/src/lib.rs b/examples/plugin/plugin_api/src/lib.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..59aae556
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/plugin/plugin_api/src/lib.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+use pyo3::prelude::*;
+
+///this is our Gadget that python plugin code can create, and rust app can then access natively.
+#[pyclass]
+pub struct Gadget {
+    #[pyo3(get, set)]
+    pub prop: usize,
+    //this field will only be accessible to rust code
+    pub rustonly: Vec<usize>,
+}
+
+#[pymethods]
+impl Gadget {
+    #[new]
+    fn new() -> Self {
+        Gadget {
+            prop: 777,
+            rustonly: Vec::new(),
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn push(&mut self, v: usize) {
+        self.rustonly.push(v);
+    }
+}
+
+/// A Python module for plugin interface types
+#[pymodule]
+pub fn plugin_api(_py: Python<'_>, m: &PyModule) -> PyResult<()> {
+    m.add_class::<Gadget>()?;
+    Ok(())
+}
diff --git a/examples/plugin/plugin_api/tests/test_Gadget.py b/examples/plugin/plugin_api/tests/test_Gadget.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f1175f27
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/plugin/plugin_api/tests/test_Gadget.py
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+import pytest
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def gadget():
+    import plugin_api as pa
+
+    g = pa.Gadget()
+    return g
+
+
+def test_creation(gadget):
+    pass
+
+
+def test_property(gadget):
+    gadget.prop = 42
+    assert gadget.prop == 42
+
+
+def test_push(gadget):
+    gadget.push(42)
diff --git a/examples/plugin/plugin_api/tests/test_import.py b/examples/plugin/plugin_api/tests/test_import.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ae1d6f67
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/plugin/plugin_api/tests/test_import.py
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+def test_import():
+    import plugin_api
diff --git a/examples/plugin/python_plugin/gadget_init_plugin.py b/examples/plugin/python_plugin/gadget_init_plugin.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2eeba6fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/plugin/python_plugin/gadget_init_plugin.py
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+import plugin_api
+import rng
+
+
+def start():
+    """create an instance of Gadget, configure it and return to Rust"""
+    g = plugin_api.Gadget()
+    g.push(1)
+    g.push(2)
+    g.push(3)
+    g.prop = rng.get_random_number()
+    return g
diff --git a/examples/plugin/python_plugin/rng.py b/examples/plugin/python_plugin/rng.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..042e5e4b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/plugin/python_plugin/rng.py
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+def get_random_number():
+    # verified by the roll of a fair die to be random
+    return 4
diff --git a/examples/plugin/src/main.rs b/examples/plugin/src/main.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b50b5454
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/plugin/src/main.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+use plugin_api::plugin_api as pylib_module;
+use pyo3::prelude::*;
+use pyo3::types::PyList;
+use std::path::Path;
+
+fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
+    //"export" our API module to the python runtime
+    pyo3::append_to_inittab!(pylib_module);
+    //spawn runtime
+    pyo3::prepare_freethreaded_python();
+    //import path for python
+    let path = Path::new("./python_plugin/");
+    //do useful work
+    Python::with_gil(|py| {
+        //add the current directory to import path of Python (do not use this in production!)
+        let syspath: &PyList = py.import("sys")?.getattr("path")?.extract()?;
+        syspath.insert(0, &path)?;
+        println!("Import path is: {:?}", syspath);
+
+        // Now we can load our python_plugin/gadget_init_plugin.py file.
+        // It can in turn import other stuff as it deems appropriate
+        let plugin = PyModule::import(py, "gadget_init_plugin")?;
+        // and call start function there, which will return a python reference to Gadget.
+        // Gadget here is a "pyclass" object reference
+        let gadget = plugin.getattr("start")?.call0()?;
+
+        //now we extract (i.e. mutably borrow) the rust struct from python object
+        {
+            //this scope will have mutable access to the gadget instance, which will be dropped on
+            //scope exit so Python can access it again.
+            let mut gadget_rs: PyRefMut<'_, plugin_api::Gadget> = gadget.extract()?;
+            // we can now modify it as if it was a native rust struct
+            gadget_rs.prop = 42;
+            //which includes access to rust-only fields that are not visible to python
+            println!("rust-only vec contains {:?}", gadget_rs.rustonly);
+            gadget_rs.rustonly.clear();
+        }
+
+        //any modifications we make to rust object are reflected on Python object as well
+        let res: usize = gadget.getattr("prop")?.extract()?;
+        println!("{res}");
+        Ok(())
+    })
+}