diff --git a/pkgs/applications/misc/plover/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/misc/plover/default.nix
index 05886a85bf0c7..9acb2123a4859 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/misc/plover/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/misc/plover/default.nix
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
-{ lib, fetchurl, python27Packages, python36Packages, wmctrl,
-  qtbase, mkDerivationWith }:
+{ lib
+, fetchFromGitHub
+, python3Packages, python27Packages
+, wmctrl, qtbase, mkDerivationWith
+}:
 
-{
+rec {
   stable = with python27Packages; buildPythonPackage rec {
     pname = "plover";
     version = "3.1.1";
@@ -12,9 +15,11 @@
       license     = licenses.gpl2;
     };
 
-    src = fetchurl {
-      url    = "https://github.com/openstenoproject/plover/archive/v${version}.tar.gz";
-      sha256 = "1hdg5491phx6svrxxsxp8v6n4b25y7y4wxw7x3bxlbyhaskgj53r";
+    src = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "openstenoproject";
+      repo = "plover";
+      rev = "v${version}";
+      sha256 = "114rlxvq471fyifwcdcgdad79ak7q3w2lk8z9nqhz1i9fg05721c";
     };
 
     nativeBuildInputs     = [ setuptools_scm ];
@@ -24,27 +29,29 @@
     ];
   };
 
-  dev = with python36Packages; mkDerivationWith buildPythonPackage rec {
+  dev = with python3Packages; mkDerivationWith buildPythonPackage rec {
     pname = "plover";
-    version = "4.0.0.dev8";
+    version = "4.0.0.dev9";
 
     meta = with lib; {
       description = "OpenSteno Plover stenography software";
       maintainers = with maintainers; [ twey kovirobi ];
-      license     = licenses.gpl2;
+      license     = licenses.gpl2Plus;
     };
 
-    src = fetchurl {
-      url    = "https://github.com/openstenoproject/plover/archive/v${version}.tar.gz";
-      sha256 = "1wxkmik1zyw5gqig5r0cas5v6f5408fbnximzw610rdisqy09rxp";
+    src = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "openstenoproject";
+      repo = "plover";
+      rev = "54dbcf4ea73cc1ecc1d7c70dbe7bdb13f055d101";
+      sha256 = "1jm6rajlh8nm1b1331pyvp20vxxfwi4nb8wgqlkznf0kkdvfa78a";
     };
 
-    # I'm not sure why we don't find PyQt5 here but there's a similar
-    # sed on many of the platforms Plover builds for
-    postPatch = "sed -i /PyQt5/d setup.cfg";
-
     checkInputs           = [ pytest mock ];
-    propagatedBuildInputs = [ Babel pyqt5 xlib pyserial appdirs wcwidth setuptools ];
+    propagatedBuildInputs = [
+      Babel pyqt5 xlib pyserial
+      appdirs wcwidth setuptools
+      certifi
+    ];
 
     dontWrapQtApps = true;
 
@@ -52,4 +59,48 @@
       makeWrapperArgs+=("''${qtWrapperArgs[@]}")
     '';
   };
+
+  plugins-manager = with python3Packages; buildPythonPackage rec {
+    pname = "plover-plugins-manager";
+    version = "0.6.1";
+
+    src = fetchFromGitHub {
+      owner = "benoit-pierre";
+      repo = "plover_plugins_manager";
+      rev = version;
+      sha256 = "sha256-7OyGmSwOvoqwbBgXdfUUmwvjszUNRPlD4XyBeJ29vBg=";
+    };
+
+    patches = [ ./plugins_manager.patch ];
+
+    buildInputs = [
+      # plover.dev
+      dev
+    ];
+
+    propagatedBuildInputs = [
+      pip pkginfo pygments
+      readme_renderer requests
+      requests-cache requests-futures
+      setuptools wheel
+    ];
+
+    # tests try to instantiate a virtualenv and lack permission
+    doCheck = false;
+
+    meta = with lib; {
+      description = "OpenSteno Plover stenography software plugin manager";
+      homepage = "https://github.com/benoit-pierre/plover_plugins_manager";
+      license = licenses.gpl2Plus;
+      maintainers = with maintainers; [ evils ];
+    };
+  };
+
+  dev-with-plugins = dev.overrideAttrs (old: {
+    pname = "plover-with-plugins";
+    propagatedBuildInputs = old.propagatedBuildInputs ++ [ plugins-manager ];
+
+    # the plugin manager installs plugins as local python packages
+    permitUserSite = true;
+  });
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/misc/plover/plugins_manager.patch b/pkgs/applications/misc/plover/plugins_manager.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..d5e68f2cbca60
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/applications/misc/plover/plugins_manager.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+diff --git a/plover_plugins_manager/__main__.py b/plover_plugins_manager/__main__.py
+index 9e03097..6204472 100644
+--- a/plover_plugins_manager/__main__.py
++++ b/plover_plugins_manager/__main__.py
+@@ -42,16 +42,7 @@ def pip(args, stdin=None, stdout=None, stderr=None, **kwargs):
+            'plover_plugins_manager.pip_wrapper',
+            '--disable-pip-version-check']
+     env = dict(os.environ)
+-    # Make sure user plugins are handled
+-    # even if user site is not enabled.
+-    if not running_under_virtualenv() and not site.ENABLE_USER_SITE:
+-        pypath = env.get('PYTHONPATH')
+-        if pypath is None:
+-            pypath = []
+-        else:
+-            pypath = pypath.split(os.pathsep)
+-        pypath.insert(0, site.USER_SITE)
+-        env['PYTHONPATH'] = os.pathsep.join(pypath)
++    env['PYTHONPATH'] = os.pathsep.join(sys.path + [site.USER_SITE])
+     command = args.pop(0)
+     if command == 'check':
+         cmd.append('check')
diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/requests-futures/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/requests-futures/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..93f7710563a5a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/requests-futures/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+{ lib
+, buildPythonPackage
+, fetchFromGitHub
+, requests
+, pythonOlder
+}:
+
+buildPythonPackage rec {
+  pname = "requests-futures";
+  version = "0.9.9-27-gf126048";
+  disabled = pythonOlder "3.3";
+
+  src = fetchFromGitHub {
+    owner = "ross";
+    repo = "requests-futures";
+    rev = "f12604869b80c730192a84403f8a9b513c3f2520";
+    sha256 = "0a2n4gxpv7wlp7wxjppnigbwvc36zjam97xdzk1g8xg43jb6pjhd";
+  };
+
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [ requests ];
+
+  # tests try to access network
+  doCheck = false;
+
+  pythonImportsCheck = [ "requests_futures" ];
+
+  meta = with lib; {
+    description = "Asynchronous Python HTTP Requests for Humans using Futures";
+    homepage = "https://github.com/ross/requests-futures";
+    license = licenses.asl20;
+    maintainers = with maintainers; [ evils ];
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
index f22df1c35d93d..09b2f067308f9 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
@@ -7354,6 +7354,8 @@ in {
 
   requests-cache = callPackage ../development/python-modules/requests-cache { };
 
+  requests-futures = callPackage ../development/python-modules/requests-futures { };
+
   requests-hawk = callPackage ../development/python-modules/requests-hawk { };
 
   requests = callPackage ../development/python-modules/requests { };