diff --git a/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/app/components/LayoutDistributor.vue b/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/app/components/GlobalLayout.vue
similarity index 69%
rename from packages/@vuepress/core/lib/app/components/LayoutDistributor.vue
rename to packages/@vuepress/core/lib/app/components/GlobalLayout.vue
index 59105fd4ae..e137bb3c0f 100644
--- a/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/app/components/LayoutDistributor.vue
+++ b/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/app/components/GlobalLayout.vue
@@ -3,13 +3,11 @@
 </template>
 
 <script>
-import { getLayoutAsyncComponent } from '../util'
-
 export default {
   computed: {
     layout () {
       if (this.$page.path) {
-        if (getLayoutAsyncComponent(this.$page.frontmatter.layout)) {
+        if (this.$vuepress.isLayoutExists(this.$page.frontmatter.layout)) {
           return this.$page.frontmatter.layout
         }
         return 'Layout'
diff --git a/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/app/plugins/VuePress.js b/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/app/plugins/VuePress.js
index 1ed3976209..bdb93e1b54 100644
--- a/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/app/plugins/VuePress.js
+++ b/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/app/plugins/VuePress.js
@@ -1,7 +1,24 @@
 import Store from './Store'
+import {
+  isPageExists,
+  isPageLoaded,
+  getPageAsyncComponent,
+  isLayoutExists,
+  isLayoutLoaded,
+  getLayoutAsyncComponent
+} from '../util'
 
 class VuePress extends Store {}
 
+Object.assign(VuePress.prototype, {
+  isPageExists,
+  isPageLoaded,
+  getPageAsyncComponent,
+  isLayoutExists,
+  isLayoutLoaded,
+  getLayoutAsyncComponent
+})
+
 export default {
   install (Vue) {
     const ins = new VuePress()
diff --git a/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/internal-plugins/routes.js b/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/internal-plugins/routes.js
index cc8ededad0..d6cf90b9b1 100644
--- a/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/internal-plugins/routes.js
+++ b/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/internal-plugins/routes.js
@@ -3,22 +3,23 @@ module.exports = (options, ctx) => ({
 
   // @internal/routes
   async clientDynamicModules () {
-    const code = importCode() + routesCode(ctx.pages)
+    const code = importCode(ctx.globalLayout) + routesCode(ctx.pages)
     return { name: 'routes.js', content: code, dirname: 'internal' }
   }
 })
 
 /**
  * Import utilities
+ * @param {string} globalLayout path of global layout component
  * @returns {string}
  */
-function importCode () {
+function importCode (globalLayout) {
   return `
 import { injectComponentOption, ensureAsyncComponentsLoaded } from '@app/util'
 import rootMixins from '@internal/root-mixins'
-import LayoutDistributor from '@app/components/LayoutDistributor.vue'
+import GlobalLayout from ${JSON.stringify(globalLayout)}
 
-injectComponentOption(LayoutDistributor, 'mixins', rootMixins)
+injectComponentOption(GlobalLayout, 'mixins', rootMixins)
 `
 }
 
@@ -41,7 +42,7 @@ function routesCode (pages) {
   {
     name: ${JSON.stringify(componentName)},
     path: ${JSON.stringify(pagePath)},
-    component: LayoutDistributor,
+    component: GlobalLayout,
     beforeEnter: (to, from, next) => {
       ensureAsyncComponentsLoaded(${JSON.stringify(layout || 'Layout')}, ${JSON.stringify(componentName)}).then(next)
     },${_meta ? `\n    meta: ${JSON.stringify(_meta)}` : ''}
@@ -78,7 +79,7 @@ function routesCode (pages) {
   const notFoundRoute = `,
   {
     path: '*',
-    component: LayoutDistributor
+    component: GlobalLayout
   }`
 
   return (
diff --git a/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/prepare/AppContext.js b/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/prepare/AppContext.js
index 09aee105f7..f0528a21e3 100644
--- a/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/prepare/AppContext.js
+++ b/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/prepare/AppContext.js
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@ module.exports = class AppContext {
     this.normalizeHeadTagUrls()
     await this.resolveTheme()
     this.resolveTemplates()
+    this.resolveGlobalLayout()
 
     this.applyInternalPlugins()
     this.applyUserPlugins()
@@ -257,6 +258,58 @@ module.exports = class AppContext {
     this.ssrTemplate = ssrTemplate
   }
 
+  /**
+   * resolve global layout
+   *
+   * @returns {string}
+   * @api private
+   */
+
+  resolveGlobalLayout () {
+    const GLOBAL_LAYOUT_COMPONENT_NAME = `GlobalLayout`
+
+    this.globalLayout = this.resolveCommonAgreementFilePath(
+      'globalLayout',
+      {
+        defaultValue: path.resolve(__dirname, `../app/components/${GLOBAL_LAYOUT_COMPONENT_NAME}.vue`),
+        siteAgreement: `components/${GLOBAL_LAYOUT_COMPONENT_NAME}.vue`,
+        themeAgreement: `layouts/${GLOBAL_LAYOUT_COMPONENT_NAME}.vue`
+      }
+    )
+
+    logger.debug('globalLayout: ' + chalk.gray(this.globalLayout))
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Resolve a path-type config.
+   *
+   * @param {string} configKey
+   * @param {string} defaultValue an absolute path
+   * @param {string} siteAgreement a relative path to vuepress dir
+   * @param {string} themeAgreement a relative path to theme dir
+   * @returns {string | void}
+   */
+
+  resolveCommonAgreementFilePath (configKey, {
+    defaultValue,
+    siteAgreement,
+    themeAgreement
+  }) {
+    const siteConfigValue = this.siteConfig[configKey]
+    siteAgreement = path.resolve(this.vuepressDir, siteAgreement)
+
+    const themeConfigValue = this.getThemeConfigValue(configKey)
+    themeAgreement = this.getThemeAgreementFile(themeAgreement)
+
+    return fsExistsFallback([
+      siteConfigValue,
+      siteAgreement,
+      themeConfigValue,
+      themeAgreement,
+      defaultValue
+    ])
+  }
+
   /**
    * Find all page source files located in sourceDir
    *
@@ -312,6 +365,29 @@ module.exports = class AppContext {
     Object.assign(this, (await loadTheme(this)))
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Get config value of current active theme.
+   *
+   * @param {string} key
+   * @returns {any}
+   * @api private
+   */
+
+  getThemeConfigValue (key) {
+    return this.themeEntryFile[key] || this.parentThemeEntryFile[key]
+  }
+
+  getThemeAgreementFile (filepath) {
+    const current = path.resolve(this.themePath, filepath)
+    if (fs.existsSync(current)) {
+      return current
+    }
+    const parent = path.resolve(this.parentThemePath, filepath)
+    if (fs.existsSync(parent)) {
+      return parent
+    }
+  }
+
   /**
    * Get the data to be delivered to the client.
    *