diff --git a/docs/README.md b/docs/README.md
index 6cf64a05e0b..d30c5f49a40 100644
--- a/docs/README.md
+++ b/docs/README.md
@@ -24,5 +24,6 @@ make html
 To view the output, just open up `build/html/index.html` in your browser:
 
 ```
-open build/html/index.html
+open build/html/1.0/index.html
+open build/html/2.0/index.html
 ```
diff --git a/docs/source-2.0/guides/building-models/build-config.rst b/docs/source-2.0/guides/building-models/build-config.rst
index bd6bbbb3ab6..fd83b4da592 100644
--- a/docs/source-2.0/guides/building-models/build-config.rst
+++ b/docs/source-2.0/guides/building-models/build-config.rst
@@ -1692,7 +1692,21 @@ model plugin
 
 The ``model`` plugin serializes a self-contained and filtered version of the
 model as a single file. All of the dependencies of the model are included
-in the file.
+in the file. By default the serialized model excludes :ref:`prelude <prelude>` shapes.
+
+To include prelude shapes in the serialized model, add the ``model`` plugin with an :ref:`artifact-name <plugin-id>`
+to the ``smithy-build.json`` file with the ``includePreludeShapes`` property set to ``true``.
+
+.. code-block:: json
+
+    {
+        "version": "1.0",
+        "plugins": {
+            "model::withPrelude": {
+                "includePreludeShapes": true
+            }
+        }
+    }
 
 
 .. _build-info-plugin:
diff --git a/smithy-build/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/build/plugins/ModelPlugin.java b/smithy-build/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/build/plugins/ModelPlugin.java
index d2f42c49ce1..854dcfbbc29 100644
--- a/smithy-build/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/build/plugins/ModelPlugin.java
+++ b/smithy-build/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/build/plugins/ModelPlugin.java
@@ -34,10 +34,11 @@ public String getName() {
 
     @Override
     public void execute(PluginContext context) {
-        context.getFileManifest().writeJson("model.json", serializeModel(context.getModel()));
+        boolean includePrelude = context.getSettings().getBooleanMemberOrDefault("includePreludeShapes");
+        context.getFileManifest().writeJson("model.json", serializeModel(context.getModel(), includePrelude));
     }
 
-    private static Node serializeModel(Model model) {
-        return ModelSerializer.builder().build().serialize(model);
+    private static Node serializeModel(Model model, boolean includePrelude) {
+        return ModelSerializer.builder().includePrelude(includePrelude).build().serialize(model);
     }
 }
diff --git a/smithy-build/src/test/java/software/amazon/smithy/build/SmithyBuildTest.java b/smithy-build/src/test/java/software/amazon/smithy/build/SmithyBuildTest.java
index c72ec5d753f..47398bdfcb7 100644
--- a/smithy-build/src/test/java/software/amazon/smithy/build/SmithyBuildTest.java
+++ b/smithy-build/src/test/java/software/amazon/smithy/build/SmithyBuildTest.java
@@ -165,6 +165,44 @@ public void createsEmptyManifest() throws Exception {
                 .get())));
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void modeExcludePreludeShapes() throws Exception {
+        SmithyBuildConfig config = SmithyBuildConfig.builder()
+                .load(Paths.get(getClass().getResource("exclude-prelude-shapes.json").toURI()))
+                .outputDirectory(outputDirectory.toString())
+                .build();
+        Model model = Model.assembler()
+                .assemble()
+                .unwrap();
+        SmithyBuildResult results = new SmithyBuild().config(config).model(model).build();
+        String content = IoUtils.readUtf8File(results.allArtifacts()
+                .filter(path -> path.toString().endsWith("withoutPrelude" + System.getProperty("file.separator") + "model.json"))
+                .findFirst()
+                .get());
+        assertThat(Files.isRegularFile(outputDirectory.resolve("source/withoutPrelude/model.json")), is(true));
+        assertThat(content, not(containsString("smithy.api#Boolean")));
+        assertThat(content, not(containsString("smithy.api#Integer")));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void modeIncludePreludeShapes() throws Exception {
+        SmithyBuildConfig config = SmithyBuildConfig.builder()
+                .load(Paths.get(getClass().getResource("include-prelude-shapes.json").toURI()))
+                .outputDirectory(outputDirectory.toString())
+                .build();
+        Model model = Model.assembler()
+                .assemble()
+                .unwrap();
+        SmithyBuildResult results = new SmithyBuild().config(config).model(model).build();
+        String content = IoUtils.readUtf8File(results.allArtifacts()
+                .filter(path -> path.toString().endsWith("withPrelude" + System.getProperty("file.separator") + "model.json"))
+                .findFirst()
+                .get());
+        assertThat(Files.isRegularFile(outputDirectory.resolve("source/withPrelude/model.json")), is(true));
+        assertThat(content, containsString("smithy.api#Boolean"));
+        assertThat(content, containsString("smithy.api#Integer"));
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void doesNotCopyErroneousModelsToBuildOutput() throws Exception {
         SmithyBuildConfig config = SmithyBuildConfig.builder()
diff --git a/smithy-build/src/test/resources/software/amazon/smithy/build/exclude-prelude-shapes.json b/smithy-build/src/test/resources/software/amazon/smithy/build/exclude-prelude-shapes.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c53d07a800b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/smithy-build/src/test/resources/software/amazon/smithy/build/exclude-prelude-shapes.json
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+{
+  "version": "1.0",
+  "plugins": {
+    "model::withoutPrelude": {
+      "includePreludeShapes": false
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/smithy-build/src/test/resources/software/amazon/smithy/build/include-prelude-shapes.json b/smithy-build/src/test/resources/software/amazon/smithy/build/include-prelude-shapes.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7de2c4f95f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/smithy-build/src/test/resources/software/amazon/smithy/build/include-prelude-shapes.json
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+{
+  "version": "1.0",
+  "plugins": {
+    "model::withPrelude": {
+      "includePreludeShapes": true
+    }
+  }
+}