diff --git a/docs/gatsby-config.js b/docs/gatsby-config.js
index ce27675a2a0..e7b1e33d76c 100644
--- a/docs/gatsby-config.js
+++ b/docs/gatsby-config.js
@@ -49,7 +49,10 @@ module.exports = {
           Testing: ['testing/mocking', 'testing/testing', 'testing/graphql-playground'],
           Performance: ['performance/caching', 'performance/apq'],
           Security: ['security/authentication', 'security/terminating-ssl'],
-          Integrations: ['integrations/middleware'],
+          Integrations: [
+            'integrations/middleware',
+            'integrations/plugins',
+          ],
           Deployment: [
             'deployment/heroku',
             'deployment/lambda',
diff --git a/docs/source/integrations/plugins.md b/docs/source/integrations/plugins.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..281242fb9c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/source/integrations/plugins.md
@@ -0,0 +1,322 @@
+---
+title: Plugins
+description: Extend Apollo Server with custom functionality
+---
+
+> Plugins are available in Apollo Server 2.2.x and later.
+
+**Plugins** enable you to extend Apollo Server's core functionality by performing 
+custom operations in response to certain events. Currently, these events correspond
+to individual phases of the GraphQL request lifecycle, and to the startup of Apollo Server itself.
+
+For example, a basic logging plugin might log the GraphQL query string associated 
+with each request that's sent to Apollo Server.
+
+## Creating a plugin
+
+Plugins are JavaScript objects that implement one or more functions that respond to 
+events. Here's a basic plugin that responds to the `serverWillStart` event:
+
+```js:title=index.js
+const myPlugin = {
+  serverWillStart() {
+    console.log('Server starting up!');
+  },
+};
+```
+
+> If you're using TypeScript to create a plugin, the `apollo-server-plugin-base` module exports the [`ApolloServerPlugin` interface](https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-server/blob/master/packages/apollo-server-plugin-base/src/index.ts) for plugins to implement.
+
+You can define a plugin in the same file where you initialize Apollo Server, or
+you can export it as a separate module:
+
+```js:title=myplugin.js
+module.exports = {
+  serverWillStart() {
+    console.log('Server starting up!');
+  },
+};
+```
+
+To create a plugin that accepts options, create a function that accepts an
+`options` object and returns a properly structured plugin object, like so:
+
+```js:title=myplugin.js
+module.exports = (options) => {
+  return {
+    serverWillStart() {
+      console.log(options.logMessage);
+    },
+  };
+};
+```
+
+
+### Responding to events
+
+A plugin specifies exactly which [lifecycle events](#plugin-event-reference)
+it responds to by implementing functions that correspond to those events.
+The plugin in the examples above responds to the `serverWillStart` event, which
+fires when Apollo Server is preparing to start up.
+
+A plugin can respond to any combination of supported events.
+
+#### Responding to request lifecycle events
+
+Plugins can respond to the following events associated with the GraphQL request
+lifecycle:
+
+* [`parsingDidStart`](#parsingdidstart)
+* [`validationDidStart`](#validationdidstart)
+* [`didResolveOperation`](#didresolveoperation)
+* [`executionDidStart`](#executiondidstart)
+* [`didEncounterErrors`](#didencountererrors)
+* [`willSendResponse`](#willsendresponse)
+
+**However**, the way you define these functions is slightly different from the
+`serverWillStart` example above. First, your plugin must define the `requestDidStart` function:
+
+```js
+const myPlugin = {
+  requestDidStart() {
+    console.log('Request started!');
+  },
+};
+```
+
+The `requestDidStart` event fires whenever Apollo Server receives a GraphQL request,
+_before_ any of the lifecycle events listed above. You can respond to this event
+just like you respond to `serverWillStart`, but you _also_ use this function
+ to define responses for a request's lifecycle events, like so:
+
+```js
+const myPlugin = {
+  requestDidStart(requestContext) {
+    console.log('Request started!');
+
+    return {
+
+      parsingDidStart(requestContext) {
+        console.log('Parsing started!');
+      }
+
+      validationDidStart(requestContext) {
+        console.log('Validation started!');
+      }
+
+    }
+  },
+};
+```
+
+As shown, the `requestDidStart` function can optionally return an object that 
+defines functions that respond to request lifecycle events. This structure 
+organizes and encapsulates all of your plugin's request lifecycle logic, making it 
+easier to reason about.
+
+### Inspecting request and response details
+
+As the example above shows, `requestDidStart` and request lifecycle functions accept a `requestContext`
+parameter. This parameter is of type `GraphQLRequestContext`, which includes a
+`request` (of type `GraphQLRequest`), along with a `response` field (of type `GraphQLResponse`) if it's available.
+
+These types and their related subtypes are all defined in [`apollo-server-types/src/index.ts`](https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-server/blob/master/packages/apollo-server-types/src/index.ts).
+
+## Installing a plugin
+
+Add your plugin to Apollo Server by providing a `plugins` configuration 
+option to the `ApolloServer` constructor, like so:
+
+```js
+const { ApolloServer } = require('apollo-server');
+const ApolloServerOperationRegistry =
+  require('apollo-server-plugin-operation-registry');
+
+/* This example doesn't provide `typeDefs` or `resolvers`,
+   both of which are required to start the server. */
+const { typeDefs, resolvers } = require('./separatelyDefined');
+
+const server = new ApolloServer({
+  typeDefs,
+  resolvers,
+
+  // You can import plugins or define them in-line, as shown:
+  plugins: [
+
+    /* This plugin is from a package that's imported above. */
+    ApolloServerOperationRegistry({ /* options */ }),
+
+    /* This plugin is imported in-place. */
+    require('./localPluginModule'),
+
+    /* This plugin is defined in-line. */
+    {
+      serverWillStart() {
+        console.log('Server starting up!');
+      },
+    }
+  ],
+})
+```
+
+## Plugin event reference
+
+Apollo Server supports two types of plugin events: **server lifecycle
+events** and **request lifecycle events**.
+
+Server lifecycle events are high-level events related to the lifecycle of Apollo Server itself.
+Currently, two server lifecycle events are supported: [`serverWillStart`](#serverwillstart) and [`requestDidStart`](#requestdidstart).
+
+Request lifecycle events are associated with a specific request. You define responses to these events _within_ the response to a `requestDidStart` event, as described in [Responding to request lifecycle events](#responding-to-request-lifecycle-events).
+
+### Server lifecycle events
+
+### `serverWillStart`
+
+The `serverWillStart` event fires when Apollo Server is preparing to start serving GraphQL requests. If you respond to this event with an `async` function (or if the function returns a `Promise`), the server doesn't start until the asynchronous operation completes. If the `Promise` is _rejected_, startup _fails_ (**unless you're using [Express middleware](/integrations/middleware/)**). This helps you make sure all
+of your server's dependencies are available before attempting to begin serving requests.
+
+#### Example
+
+```js
+const server = new ApolloServer({
+  /* ... other necessary configuration ... */
+
+  plugins: [
+    {
+      serverWillStart() {
+        console.log('Server starting!');
+      }
+    }
+  ]
+})
+```
+
+### `requestDidStart`
+
+The `requestDidStart` event fires whenever Apollo Server begins fulfilling a GraphQL request.
+
+This function can optionally return an object that includes functions for responding
+to request lifecycle events that might follow `requestDidStart`.
+
+```js
+const server = new ApolloServer({
+  /* ... other necessary configuration ... */
+
+  plugins: [
+    {
+      requestDidStart(requestContext) {
+
+        /* Within this returned object, define functions that respond
+           to request-specific lifecycle events. */
+        return {
+
+          /* The `parsingDidStart` request lifecycle event fires
+             when parsing begins. The event is scoped within an
+             associated `requestDidStart` server lifecycle event. */
+          parsingDidStart(requestContext) {
+            console.log('Parsing started!')
+          },
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  ],
+})
+```
+
+If your plugin doesn't need to respond to any request lifecycle events, `requestDidStart`
+should not return a value. 
+
+### Request lifecycle events
+
+> If you're using TypeScript to create your plugin, implement the [ `GraphQLRequestListener` interface](https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-server/blob/master/packages/apollo-server-plugin-base/src/index.ts) from the `apollo-server-plugin-base` module to define functions for request lifecycle events.
+
+### `parsingDidStart`
+
+The `parsingDidStart` event fires whenever Apollo Server will parse a GraphQL
+request to create its associated `document` AST.
+
+If Apollo Server receives a request with a query string that matches a _previous_
+request, the associated `document` might already be available in Apollo Server's cache.
+In this case, `parsingDidStart` is _not_ called for the request, because parsing
+does not occur.
+
+```typescript
+parsingDidStart?(
+  requestContext: GraphQLRequestContext<TContext>,
+): (err?: Error) => void | void;
+```
+
+### `validationDidStart`
+
+The `validationDidStart` event fires whenever Apollo Server will validate a 
+request's `document` AST against your GraphQL schema.
+
+Like `parsingDidStart`, this event does _not_ fire if a request's `document` is
+already available in Apollo Server's cache (only successfully validated `document`s are cached by Apollo Server).
+
+The `document` AST is guaranteed to be 
+available at this stage, because parsing must succeed for validation to occur.
+
+```typescript
+validationDidStart?(
+  requestContext: WithRequired<GraphQLRequestContext<TContext>, 'document'>,
+): (err?: ReadonlyArray<Error>) => void | void;
+```
+
+### `didResolveOperation`
+
+The `didResolveOperation` event fires after the `graphql` library successfully
+determines the operation to execute from a request's `document` AST. At this stage,
+both the `operationName` string and `operation` AST are available.
+
+> If the operation is anonymous (i.e., the operation is `query { ... }` instead of `query NamedQuery { ... }`), then `operationName` is `null`.
+
+```typescript
+didResolveOperation?(
+  requestContext: WithRequired<
+    GraphQLRequestContext<TContext>,
+    'document' | 'operationName' | 'operation'
+  >,
+): ValueOrPromise<void>;
+```
+
+### `executionDidStart`
+
+The `executionDidStart` event fires whenever Apollo Server begins executing the 
+GraphQL operation specified by a request's `document` AST.
+
+```typescript
+executionDidStart?(
+  requestContext: WithRequired<
+    GraphQLRequestContext<TContext>,
+    'document' | 'operationName' | 'operation'
+  >,
+): (err?: Error) => void | void;
+```
+
+### `didEncounterErrors`
+
+The `didEncounterErrors` event fires whenever Apollo Server encounters an error while
+executing a GraphQL operation.
+
+```typescript
+didEncounterErrors?(
+  requestContext: WithRequired<
+    GraphQLRequestContext<TContext>,
+    'metrics' | 'source' | 'errors'
+  >,
+): ValueOrPromise<void>;
+```
+
+### `willSendResponse`
+
+The `willSendResponse` event fires whenever Apollo Server is about to send a response
+for a GraphQL operation. This event fires (and Apollo Server sends a response) even
+if the GraphQL operation encounters one or more errors.
+
+```typescript
+willSendResponse?(
+  requestContext: WithRequired<GraphQLRequestContext<TContext>, 'response'>,
+): ValueOrPromise<void>;
+```