diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index db44116..5830915 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
     <groupId>io.whelk.asciidoc</groupId>
     <artifactId>asciidoc-template-maven-plugin</artifactId>
-    <version>1.0.7-RELEASE</version>
+    <version>1.0.8-SNAPSHOT</version>
     <packaging>maven-plugin</packaging>
 
     <name>Asciidoc Template Plugin</name>
@@ -67,6 +67,17 @@
             <version>1.18.12</version>
             <scope>provided</scope>
         </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId>
+            <artifactId>junit-jupiter-api</artifactId>
+            <version>5.7.0-RC1</version>
+            <scope>test</scope>
+        </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.assertj</groupId>
+            <artifactId>assertj-core</artifactId>
+            <version>3.16.1</version>
+        </dependency>
     </dependencies>
 
     <build>
diff --git a/src/main/java/io/whelk/asciidoc/TemplateMojo.java b/src/main/java/io/whelk/asciidoc/TemplateMojo.java
index ab89b60..a8fdfc0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/whelk/asciidoc/TemplateMojo.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/whelk/asciidoc/TemplateMojo.java
@@ -2,9 +2,16 @@
 
 import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.nio.file.Paths;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
+import java.util.regex.Matcher;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
+import lombok.Value;
 import org.apache.maven.plugin.AbstractMojo;
 import org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoExecutionException;
 import org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoFailureException;
@@ -14,10 +21,15 @@
 import org.apache.maven.project.MavenProject;
 
 import lombok.SneakyThrows;
+import org.assertj.core.util.VisibleForTesting;
 
 @Mojo(name = "build", defaultPhase = LifecyclePhase.PACKAGE)
 public class TemplateMojo extends AbstractMojo {
 
+    public static final String TAG = "tag";
+
+    public static final String TAG_END = "end";
+
     @Parameter(property = "templateDirectory")
     String templateDirectory;
 
@@ -45,10 +57,8 @@ public void execute() throws MojoExecutionException, MojoFailureException {
 
     @SneakyThrows
     private List<String> readLines(String first, String... more) {
-        return Files
-                .readAllLines(Paths.get(first, more))
-                .stream()
-                .collect(Collectors.toList());
+        return new ArrayList<>(Files
+                .readAllLines(Paths.get(first, more)));
     }
 
     private List<String> updateLines(List<String> lines) {
@@ -67,13 +77,62 @@ private List<String> updateLine(final String line) {
     }
 
     private boolean matchesIncludeLine(final String line) {
-        return line.startsWith("include::") && 
-               line.endsWith(".adoc[]");
+        return line.startsWith("include::") &&
+                line.endsWith("]");
+    }
+
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    List<String> updateIncludeLine(final String line) {
+        var pathAndOptions = extractPathAndOptions(line);
+        if (pathAndOptions.optionMap.containsKey(TAG)) {
+            return readTaggedLines(templateDirectory, pathAndOptions);
+        }
+        return this.readLines(templateDirectory, pathAndOptions.path);
+    }
+
+    @SneakyThrows
+    private List<String> readTaggedLines(String templateDirectory, PathAndOptions path) {
+        ArrayList<String> lines = new ArrayList<>(Files
+                .readAllLines(Paths.get(templateDirectory, path.path)));
+        String tag = path.optionMap.get(TAG);
+        AtomicReference<Boolean> startHasBeenReached = new AtomicReference<>(false);
+        AtomicReference<Boolean> endHasBeenReached = new AtomicReference<>(false);
+        List<String> taggedLines = lines.stream().filter(x -> {
+            boolean foundStart = x.contains(TAG + "::" + tag);
+            boolean foundEnd = x.contains(TAG_END + "::" + tag);
+            if (!startHasBeenReached.get()) {
+                startHasBeenReached.set(foundStart);
+            }
+            if (startHasBeenReached.get() && !endHasBeenReached.get()) {
+                endHasBeenReached.set(foundEnd);
+            }
+            boolean thisIsATagLine = foundStart || foundEnd;
+            return !thisIsATagLine && startHasBeenReached.get() && !endHasBeenReached.get();
+        }).collect(Collectors.toList());
+        return taggedLines;
+    }
+
+    @Value
+    static
+    class PathAndOptions {
+        String path;
+        Map<String, String> optionMap;
     }
 
-    private List<String> updateIncludeLine(final String line) {
-        var path = line.substring(9, line.length() - 2);
-        return this.readLines(templateDirectory, path);
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    PathAndOptions extractPathAndOptions(String line) {
+        int pathStart = 9;
+        Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("\\[.*\\]$");
+        Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(line);
+        boolean found = matcher.find();
+        String[] allOptions = matcher.group().replaceAll("[\\[\\]]", "").split(",");
+        Map<String, String> optionMap = Arrays.asList(allOptions).stream()
+                .filter(x -> x.trim().length() > 0)
+                .map(x -> x.split("="))
+                .collect(Collectors.toMap(x -> x[0], x -> x[1]));
+        int pathEnd = matcher.start();
+        String path = line.substring(pathStart, pathEnd);
+        return new PathAndOptions(path, optionMap);
     }
 
     private void setDefaultConfiguration() {
diff --git a/src/test/java/io/whelk/asciidoc/TemplateMojoTest.java b/src/test/java/io/whelk/asciidoc/TemplateMojoTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5010194
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/io/whelk/asciidoc/TemplateMojoTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+package io.whelk.asciidoc;
+
+import io.whelk.asciidoc.TemplateMojo.PathAndOptions;
+
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+
+public class TemplateMojoTest {
+
+    // tag::exampleShort[]
+    String test = "this is a small test";
+    // end::exampleShort[]
+
+    @Test
+    void testFilePathExtraction() {
+        TemplateMojo templateMojo = new TemplateMojo();
+
+        assertThat(templateMojo.extractPathAndOptions("include::otherFile.adoc[]"))
+                .isEqualTo(new PathAndOptions("otherFile.adoc", Map.of()));
+
+        assertThat(templateMojo.extractPathAndOptions("include::src/test/java/io/whelk/asciidoc/TemplateMojoTest.java[tag=exampleShort]"))
+                .isEqualTo(new PathAndOptions("src/test/java/io/whelk/asciidoc/TemplateMojoTest.java", Map.of("tag", "exampleShort")));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void includeJavaCode() {
+        TemplateMojo templateMojo = new TemplateMojo();
+        templateMojo.templateDirectory = "./";
+
+        assertThat(templateMojo.updateIncludeLine("include::src/test/java/io/whelk/asciidoc/TemplateMojoTest.java[tag=exampleShort]"))
+                .containsOnly("    String test = \"this is a small test\";");
+    }
+
+}