diff --git a/bin/tape b/bin/tape
index 500f1b14..498910cd 100755
--- a/bin/tape
+++ b/bin/tape
@@ -1,12 +1,34 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env node
 
-var path = require('path');
+var resolveModule = require('resolve').sync;
+var resolvePath = require('path').resolve;
+var parseOpts = require('minimist');
 var glob = require('glob');
 
-process.argv.slice(2).forEach(function (arg) {
+var opts = parseOpts(process.argv.slice(2), {
+        alias: { r: 'require' },
+        string: 'require',
+        default: { r: [] }
+    });
+
+var cwd = process.cwd();
+
+if (typeof opts.require === 'string') {
+    opts.require = [opts.require];
+}
+
+opts.require.forEach(function(module) {
+    if (module) {
+      /* This check ensures we ignore `-r ""`, trailing `-r`, or
+       * other silly things the user might (inadvertently) be doing. */
+      require(resolveModule(module, { basedir: cwd }));
+    }
+});
+
+opts._.forEach(function (arg) {
     glob(arg, function (err, files) {
         files.forEach(function (file) {
-            require(path.resolve(process.cwd(), file));
+            require(resolvePath(cwd, file));
         });
     });
 });
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 0be3595b..892dfca5 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -15,7 +15,9 @@
     "glob": "~5.0.3",
     "has": "~1.0.1",
     "inherits": "~2.0.1",
+    "minimist": "~1.2.0",
     "object-inspect": "~1.0.0",
+    "resolve": "~1.1.6",
     "resumer": "~0.0.0",
     "string.prototype.trim": "^1.1.1",
     "through": "~2.3.4"
diff --git a/readme.markdown b/readme.markdown
index ca774862..04368de0 100644
--- a/readme.markdown
+++ b/readme.markdown
@@ -64,6 +64,26 @@ $ tape 'tests/**/*.js'
 $ tape "tests/**/*.js"
 ```
 
+## Preloading modules
+
+Additionally, it is possible to make `tape` load one or more modules before running any tests, by using the `-r` or `--require` flag. Here's an example that loads [babel-register](http://babeljs.io/docs/usage/require/) before running any tests, to allow for JIT compilation:
+
+```sh
+$ tape -r babel-register tests/**/*.js
+```
+
+Depending on the module you're loading, you may be able to paramaterize it using environment variables or auxiliary files. Babel, for instance, will load options from [`.babelrc`](http://babeljs.io/docs/usage/babelrc/) at runtime.
+
+The `-r` flag behaves exactly like node's `require`, and uses the same module resolution algorithm. This means that if you need to load local modules, you have to prepend their path with `./` or `../` accordingly.
+
+For example:
+
+```sh
+$ tape -r ./my/local/module tests/**/*.js
+```
+
+Please note that modules that all modules loaded using the `-r` flag will run *before* any tests, regardless of when they are specified. For example, `tape -r a b -r c` will actually load `a` and `c` *before` loading `b`, since they are flagged as required modules.
+
 # things that go well with tape
 
 tape maintains a fairly minimal core. Additional features are usually added by using another module alongside tape.
diff --git a/test/require.js b/test/require.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0385ea45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/require.js
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+var tap = require('tap');
+var spawn = require('child_process').spawn;
+var trim = require('string.prototype.trim');
+
+tap.test('requiring a single module', function (t) {
+    t.plan(2);
+    
+    var tc = tap.createConsumer();
+    
+    var rows = [];
+    tc.on('data', function (r) { rows.push(r) });
+    tc.on('end', function () {
+        var rs = rows.map(function (r) {
+            if (r && typeof r === 'object') {
+                return { id : r.id, ok : r.ok, name : trim(r.name) };
+            }
+            else return r;
+        });
+        t.same(rs, [
+            'TAP version 13',
+            'module-a',
+            { id: 1, ok: true, name: 'loaded module a' },
+            'test-a',
+            { id: 2, ok: true, name: 'module-a loaded in same context'},
+            { id: 3, ok: true, name: 'test ran after module-a was loaded'},
+            'tests 3',
+            'pass  3',
+            'ok'
+        ]);
+    });
+    
+    var ps = tape('-r ./require/a require/test-a.js');
+    ps.stdout.pipe(tc);
+    ps.on('exit', function (code) {
+        t.equal(code, 0);
+    });
+});
+
+tap.test('requiring multiple modules', function (t) {
+    t.plan(2);
+    
+    var tc = tap.createConsumer();
+    
+    var rows = [];
+    tc.on('data', function (r) { rows.push(r) });
+    tc.on('end', function () {
+        var rs = rows.map(function (r) {
+            if (r && typeof r === 'object') {
+                return { id : r.id, ok : r.ok, name : trim(r.name) };
+            }
+            else return r;
+        });
+        t.same(rs, [
+            'TAP version 13',
+            'module-a',
+            { id: 1, ok: true, name: 'loaded module a' },
+            'module-b',
+            { id: 2, ok: true, name: 'loaded module b' },
+            'test-a',
+            { id: 3, ok: true, name: 'module-a loaded in same context'},
+            { id: 4, ok: true, name: 'test ran after module-a was loaded'},
+            'test-b',
+            { id: 5, ok: true, name: 'module-b loaded in same context'},
+            { id: 6, ok: true, name: 'test ran after module-b was loaded'},
+            'tests 6',
+            'pass  6',
+            'ok'
+        ]);
+    });
+    
+    var ps = tape('-r ./require/a -r ./require/b require/test-a.js require/test-b.js');
+    ps.stdout.pipe(tc);
+    ps.on('exit', function (code) {
+        t.equal(code, 0);
+    });
+});
+
+function tape(args) {
+  var proc = require('child_process')
+  var bin = __dirname + '/../bin/tape'
+
+  return proc.spawn(bin, args.split(' '), { cwd: __dirname })
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/require/a.js b/test/require/a.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0947b7b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/require/a.js
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+var tape = require('../..');
+
+tape.test('module-a', function(t) {
+  t.pass('loaded module a')
+  t.end()
+})
+
+global.module_a = true
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/require/b.js b/test/require/b.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..18942e0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/require/b.js
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+var tape = require('../..');
+
+tape.test('module-b', function(t) {
+  t.pass('loaded module b')
+  t.end()
+})
+
+global.module_b = true
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/require/test-a.js b/test/require/test-a.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..822ef540
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/require/test-a.js
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+var tape = require('../..');
+
+tape.test('test-a', function(t) {
+  t.ok(global.module_a, 'module-a loaded in same context')
+  t.pass('test ran after module-a was loaded')
+  t.end()
+})
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/require/test-b.js b/test/require/test-b.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8efcba1c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/require/test-b.js
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+var tape = require('../..');
+
+tape.test('test-b', function(t) {
+  t.ok(global.module_b, 'module-b loaded in same context')
+  t.pass('test ran after module-b was loaded')
+  t.end()
+})
\ No newline at end of file