diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index b41f2bd94..ba0f90457 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -136,6 +136,7 @@
     "dashify": "^2.0.0",
     "decompress": "^4.2.0",
     "decompress-targz": "^4.1.1",
+    "decompress-unzip": "^4.0.1",
     "deep-equal": "^2.0.1",
     "detect-port": "^1.1.1",
     "electron-devtools-installer": "^2.2.0",
@@ -207,6 +208,7 @@
     "rm-temp": "rimraf $TMPDIR/jest* $TMPDIR/react-native-packager*",
     "reset": "yarn rm-dist && yarn rm-temp && yarn cache clean && yarn rm-modules",
     "start": "cross-env NODE_ENV=development node scripts/start-dev-server.js",
+    "start:no-embedded-plugins": "cross-env NODE_ENV=development cross-env FLIPPER_NO_EMBEDDED_PLUGINS=true node scripts/start-dev-server.js",
     "build": "yarn rm-dist && cross-env NODE_ENV=production node scripts/build-release.js $@",
     "build-headless": "yarn rm-dist && mkdir dist && cross-env NODE_ENV=production node scripts/build-headless.js $@",
     "fix": "eslint . --fix --ext .js,.tsx",
diff --git a/src/utils/pluginManager.tsx b/src/utils/pluginManager.tsx
index fa96b6cbe..988d66db3 100644
--- a/src/utils/pluginManager.tsx
+++ b/src/utils/pluginManager.tsx
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import NpmApi, {Package} from 'npm-api';
 import semver from 'semver';
 import decompress from 'decompress';
 import decompressTargz from 'decompress-targz';
+import decompressUnzip from 'decompress-unzip';
 import tmp from 'tmp';
 
 const ALGOLIA_APPLICATION_ID = 'OFCNCOG2CU';
@@ -68,27 +69,42 @@ export async function installPluginFromFile(packagePath: string) {
   const tmpDir = tmp.dirSync().name;
   try {
     const files = await decompress(packagePath, tmpDir, {
-      plugins: [decompressTargz()],
+      plugins: [decompressTargz(), decompressUnzip()],
     });
     if (!files.length) {
       throw new Error('The package is not in tar.gz format or is empty');
     }
+
+    // npm packages are tar.gz archives containing folder 'package' inside
     const packageDir = path.join(tmpDir, 'package');
-    if (!(await fs.pathExists(packageDir))) {
+    const isNpmPackage = await fs.pathExists(packageDir);
+
+    // vsix packages are zip archives containing folder 'extension' inside
+    const extensionDir = path.join(tmpDir, 'extension');
+    const isVsix = await fs.pathExists(extensionDir);
+
+    if (!isNpmPackage && !isVsix) {
       throw new Error(
-        'Package format is invalid: directory "package" not found',
+        'Package format is invalid: directory "package" or "extensions" not found in the archive root',
       );
     }
-    const packageJsonPath = path.join(packageDir, 'package.json');
+
+    const packageRoot = isNpmPackage ? packageDir : extensionDir;
+
+    // otherwise both npm and vsix are quite similar, so we can use the same logic for installing them
+    const packageJsonPath = path.join(packageRoot, 'package.json');
     if (!(await fs.pathExists(packageJsonPath))) {
       throw new Error(
-        'Package format is invalid: file "package/package.json" not found',
+        `Package format is invalid: file "${path.relative(
+          tmpDir,
+          packageJsonPath,
+        )}" not found`,
       );
     }
     const packageJson = await fs.readJSON(packageJsonPath);
     const name = packageJson.name as string;
     await installPlugin(name, pluginManager =>
-      pluginManager.installFromPath(packageDir).then(() => {}),
+      pluginManager.installFromPath(packageRoot).then(() => {}),
     );
   } finally {
     if (fs.existsSync(tmpDir)) {
diff --git a/static/index.js b/static/index.js
index 5853994f9..21db19cdb 100644
--- a/static/index.js
+++ b/static/index.js
@@ -74,12 +74,18 @@ const argv = yargs
 
 const {config, configPath, flipperDir} = setup(argv);
 
+const skipLoadingEmbeddedPlugins = process.env.FLIPPER_NO_EMBEDDED_PLUGINS;
+
 const pluginPaths = config.pluginPaths
-  .concat(
+  .concat([
     path.join(configPath, '..', 'thirdparty'),
-    path.join(__dirname, '..', 'src', 'plugins'),
-    path.join(__dirname, '..', 'src', 'fb', 'plugins'),
-  )
+    ...(skipLoadingEmbeddedPlugins
+      ? []
+      : [
+          path.join(__dirname, '..', 'src', 'plugins'),
+          path.join(__dirname, '..', 'src', 'fb', 'plugins'),
+        ]),
+  ])
   .map(expandTilde)
   .filter(fs.existsSync);
 
diff --git a/types/decompress-unzip.d.tsx b/types/decompress-unzip.d.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..43baefa23
--- /dev/null
+++ b/types/decompress-unzip.d.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) Facebook, Inc. and its affiliates.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+ *
+ * @format
+ */
+
+declare module 'decompress-unzip' {
+  export default function(): any;
+}