diff --git a/confluent_perl/Confluent/Client.pm b/confluent_perl/Confluent/Client.pm
index 65f14cbe..7dd26f91 100644
--- a/confluent_perl/Confluent/Client.pm
+++ b/confluent_perl/Confluent/Client.pm
@@ -143,6 +143,18 @@ sub authenticate {
     }
 }
 
+sub create {
+    my $self = shift;
+    my $path = shift;
+    return $self->send_request(operation=>'create', path=>$path, @_);
+}
+
+sub update {
+    my $self = shift;
+    my $path = shift;
+    return $self->send_request(operation=>'update', path=>$path, @_);
+}
+
 sub read {
     my $self = shift;
     my $path = shift;
@@ -150,6 +162,13 @@ sub read {
     return $self->send_request(operation=>'retrieve', path=>$path);
 }
 
+sub delete {
+    my $self = shift;
+    my $path = shift;
+    my %args = @_;
+    return $self->send_request(operation=>'delete', path=>$path);
+}
+
 sub send_request {
     my $self = shift;
     if (not $self->{authenticated}) {
diff --git a/confluent_server/confluent/core.py b/confluent_server/confluent/core.py
index da12f4ed..2d91ce94 100644
--- a/confluent_server/confluent/core.py
+++ b/confluent_server/confluent/core.py
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ import confluent.config.attributes as attrscheme
 import confluent.interface.console as console
 import confluent.exceptions as exc
 import confluent.messages as msg
+import confluent.shellmodule as shellmodule
 import os
 import sys
 
@@ -61,11 +62,15 @@ def load_plugins():
         sys.path.append(plugindir)
         #two passes, to avoid adding both py and pyc files
         for plugin in os.listdir(plugindir):
-            plugin = os.path.splitext(plugin)[0]
-            plugins.add(plugin)
-        for plugin in plugins:
             if plugin.startswith('.'):
                 continue
+            (plugin, plugtype) = os.path.splitext(plugin)
+            if plugtype == '.sh':
+                pluginmap[plugin] = shellmodule.Plugin(
+                    os.path.join(plugindir, plugin + '.sh'))
+            else:
+                plugins.add(plugin)
+        for plugin in plugins:
             tmpmod = __import__(plugin)
             if 'plugin_names' in tmpmod.__dict__:
                 for name in tmpmod.plugin_names:
@@ -297,7 +302,8 @@ def handle_path(path, operation, configmanager, inputdata=None):
         inputdata = msg.get_input_message(
             pathcomponents[2:], operation, inputdata)
         if 'handler' in plugroute:  # fixed handler definition
-            return pluginmap[plugroute['handler']].__dict__[operation](
+            hfunc = getattr(pluginmap[plugroute['handler']], operation)
+            return hfunc(
                 nodes=None, element=pathcomponents,
                 configmanager=configmanager,
                 inputdata=inputdata)
@@ -331,7 +337,8 @@ def handle_path(path, operation, configmanager, inputdata=None):
         inputdata = msg.get_input_message(
             pathcomponents, operation, inputdata, (node,))
         if 'handler' in plugroute:  # fixed handler definition
-            passvalue = pluginmap[plugroute['handler']].__dict__[operation](
+            hfunc = getattr(pluginmap[plugroute['handler']], operation)
+            passvalue = hfunc(
                 nodes=(node,), element=pathcomponents,
                 configmanager=configmanager,
                 inputdata=inputdata)
@@ -347,7 +354,8 @@ def handle_path(path, operation, configmanager, inputdata=None):
                 if attrname in nodeattr[node]:
                     plugpath = nodeattr[node][attrname]['value']
             if plugpath is not None:
-                passvalue = pluginmap[plugpath].__dict__[operation](
+                hfunc = getattr(pluginmap[plugpath], operation)
+                passvalue = hfunc(
                     nodes=(node,), element=pathcomponents,
                     configmanager=configmanager,
                     inputdata=inputdata)
diff --git a/confluent_server/confluent/shellmodule.py b/confluent_server/confluent/shellmodule.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a941111a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/confluent_server/confluent/shellmodule.py
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+# vim: tabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 softtabstop=4
+
+# Copyright 2014 IBM Corporation
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+# This implements a plugin factory to produce plugin objects from shell scripts
+# For now, this only is intended to support scripts to implement console
+# Special comment fields shall be used to request anything like config
+# data and config data will be passed in as environment variables.
+# at least in linux, this is a safe enough practice since environ is readable
+# only by the process owner and such an owner would be able to read a file
+# anyway.  Regardless, it is advisable to 'unset'
+
+import confluent.interface.console as conapi
+import eventlet
+import eventlet.green.select as select
+import eventlet.green.subprocess as subprocess
+import fcntl
+import os
+import pty
+import random
+import subprocess
+
+
+class ExecConsole(conapi.Console):
+    def __init__(self, executable, node):
+        self.executable = executable
+        self.subenv = {
+            'TERM': 'xterm',
+            'CONFLUENT_NODE': node,
+        }
+
+    def relaydata(self):
+        while 1:
+            select.select(
+                (self._master, self.subproc.stderr), (), (),
+                3600 + (random.random() * 120))
+            try:
+                while 1:
+                    self._datacallback(os.read(self._master, 128))
+                    eventlet.sleep(0)
+            except OSError as e:
+                if e.errno == 11:
+                    pass
+
+    def connect(self, callback):
+        self._datacallback = callback
+        master, slave = pty.openpty()
+        self._master = master
+        self.subproc = subprocess.Popen(
+            [self.executable], env=self.subenv,
+            stdin=slave, stdout=slave,
+            stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
+        fcntl.fcntl(master, fcntl.F_SETFL, os.O_NONBLOCK)
+        fcntl.fcntl(self.subproc.stderr.fileno(), fcntl.F_SETFL, os.O_NONBLOCK)
+        self.readerthread = eventlet.spawn(self.relaydata)
+
+    def write(self, data):
+        self.subproc.stdin.write(data)
+
+    def close(self):
+        self.subproc.terminate()
+        eventlet.sleep(10)
+        self.subproc.kill()
+
+
+class Plugin(object):
+    def __init__(self, filename):
+        self.filename = filename
+
+    def create(self, nodes, element, configmanager, inputdata):
+        if element != ['_console', 'session']:
+            raise NotImplementedError("Shell plugins only do console")
+        if len(nodes) != 1:
+            raise NotImplementedError("_console/session is only single node")
+        return ExecConsole(self.filename, nodes[0])