diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 393b9f40..be9f71d4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -52,14 +52,17 @@ $ codemod --find-babel-config --plugin ./my-plugin.js src/
 This requires that all babel plugins and presets be installed locally and are listed in your `.babelrc` file. `babel-codemod` uses `babel-register` under the hood too accomplish this and all `.babelrc` [lookup rules apply](https://babeljs.io/docs/usage/babelrc/#lookup-behavior).
 
 ### Transpiling using TypeScript
+`babel-codemod` supports plugins written in TypeScript.  
 
-There is currently an [open issue](https://github.com/square/babel-codemod/issues/51) for supporting plugins written in typescript. In the interim, you can take the same approach using `--require` along with `ts-node/register`.
+Unlike babel transpilation described above, this feature is off by default and **requires that TypeScript be installed locally**.  This feature uses `ts-node/register` under the hood so [all rules](https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/tsconfig-json.html) regarding existence and placement of `tsconfig.json` apply.
+
+To opt-in to TypeScript transpilation of your plugins, simply pass the `--transpile-ts-plugins` option.
 
 For example:
 
 ```sh
 # Run a local plugin written with TypeScript.
-$ codemod --require ts-node/register --plugin ./my-plugin.ts src/
+$ codemod --transpile-ts-plugins --plugin ./my-plugin.ts src/
 ```
 
 ## Contributing
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index d1b25056..d9a74385 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -73,7 +73,8 @@
     "recast": "^0.13.0",
     "resolve": "^1.5.0",
     "tmp": "^0.0.33",
-    "whatwg-url": "^6.4.0"
+    "whatwg-url": "^6.4.0",
+    "ts-node": "^4.1.0"
   },
   "engines": {
     "node": ">=6.0.0"
diff --git a/src/Options.ts b/src/Options.ts
index bb0f98d6..0e9d0c1c 100644
--- a/src/Options.ts
+++ b/src/Options.ts
@@ -41,16 +41,26 @@ export default class Options {
     readonly requires: Array<string>,
     readonly transpilePlugins: boolean,
     readonly findBabelConfig: boolean,
+    readonly transpilePluginsWithTypescript: boolean,
     readonly ignore: PathPredicate,
     readonly stdio: boolean,
     readonly help: boolean,
     readonly dry: boolean
-  ) {}
+  ) {
+    const defaultFileSystemExtensions = new Set(['.js']);
+    if (transpilePluginsWithTypescript) {
+      {
+        defaultFileSystemExtensions.add('.ts');
+      }
+    }
 
-  private pluginLoader = new PluginLoader([
-    new FileSystemResolver(),
-    new PackageResolver()
-  ]);
+    this.pluginLoader = new PluginLoader([
+      new FileSystemResolver(defaultFileSystemExtensions),
+      new PackageResolver()
+    ]);
+  }
+
+  private pluginLoader: PluginLoader;
 
   private remotePluginLoader = new PluginLoader([
     new AstExplorerResolver(),
@@ -109,6 +119,18 @@ export default class Options {
     }
   }
 
+  loadTypescriptTranspile() {
+    try {
+      require.resolve('typescript');
+    } catch (e) {
+      throw new Error(
+        'Typescript is not installed locally. You must installed Typescript locally in order to transpile plugins written in Typescript'
+      );
+    }
+
+    require('ts-node').register();
+  }
+
   async getPlugin(name: string): Promise<Plugin | null> {
     for (let plugin of await this.getPlugins()) {
       if (plugin.declaredName === name || plugin.inferredName === name) {
@@ -164,6 +186,7 @@ export default class Options {
     let requires: Array<string> = [];
     let findBabelConfig = false;
     let transpilePlugins = true;
+    let transpilePluginsWithTypescript = false;
     let stdio = false;
     let help = false;
     let dry = false;
@@ -222,6 +245,10 @@ export default class Options {
           findBabelConfig = arg === '--find-babel-config';
           break;
 
+        case '--transpile-ts-plugins':
+          transpilePluginsWithTypescript = true;
+          break;
+
         case '--extensions':
           i++;
           extensions = new Set(
@@ -267,6 +294,7 @@ export default class Options {
       requires,
       transpilePlugins,
       findBabelConfig,
+      transpilePluginsWithTypescript,
       ignore,
       stdio,
       help,
diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index 4d8dd171..bdc3f10a 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ OPTIONS
       --[no-]transpile-plugins      Transpile plugins to enable future syntax (default: on).
       --[no-]find-babel-config      Run plugins through babel plugins/presets specified in local
                                     .babelrc file instead of babel-preset-env (default: off).
+      --transpile-ts-plugins        Transpile plugins to enable typescript syntax. Requires typescript to be installed local to project. (default: off).
   -s, --stdio                       Read source from stdin and print to stdout.
   -h, --help                        Show this help message.
   -d, --dry                         Run plugins without modifying files on disk.
@@ -79,8 +80,14 @@ export default async function run(
     return 0;
   }
 
+  if(options.transpilePluginsWithTypescript){
+    options.loadTypescriptTranspile();
+  }
+
+
   options.loadBabelTranspile();
 
+ 
   options.loadRequires();
 
   let plugins = await options.getBabelPlugins();
diff --git a/test/cli/CLITest.ts b/test/cli/CLITest.ts
index 42e21e81..519d35df 100644
--- a/test/cli/CLITest.ts
+++ b/test/cli/CLITest.ts
@@ -229,4 +229,87 @@ describe('CLI', function() {
       await server.stop();
     }
   });
+
+  it('can load plugins written in Typescript', async function() {
+    let afile = await createTemporaryFile('a-file.js', '3 + 4;');
+    let { status, stdout, stderr } = await runCodemodCLI([
+      afile,
+      '-p',
+      plugin('typescript/increment-typescript', '.ts'),
+      '--transpile-ts-plugins'
+    ]);
+
+    deepEqual(
+      { status, stdout, stderr },
+      {
+        status: 0,
+        stdout: `${afile}\n1 file(s), 1 modified, 0 errors\n`,
+        stderr: ''
+      }
+    );
+    strictEqual(await readFile(afile, 'utf8'), '4 + 5;');
+  });
+
+  it('can load plugins written in Typescript without ts extension', async function() {
+    let afile = await createTemporaryFile('a-file.js', '3 + 4;');
+    let { status, stdout, stderr } = await runCodemodCLI([
+      afile,
+      '-p',
+      plugin('typescript/increment-typescript', ''),
+      '--transpile-ts-plugins'
+    ]);
+
+    deepEqual(
+      { status, stdout, stderr },
+      {
+        status: 0,
+        stdout: `${afile}\n1 file(s), 1 modified, 0 errors\n`,
+        stderr: ''
+      }
+    );
+    strictEqual(await readFile(afile, 'utf8'), '4 + 5;');
+  });
+
+  it('can load plugins with multiple files written in Typescript', async function() {
+    let afile = await createTemporaryFile('a-file.js', '3 + 4;');
+    let { status, stdout, stderr } = await runCodemodCLI([
+      afile,
+      '-p',
+      plugin('typescript/increment-export-default-multiple/index', '.ts'),
+      '--transpile-ts-plugins'
+    ]);
+
+    deepEqual(
+      { status, stdout, stderr },
+      {
+        status: 0,
+        stdout: `${afile}\n1 file(s), 1 modified, 0 errors\n`,
+        stderr: ''
+      }
+    );
+    strictEqual(await readFile(afile, 'utf8'), '4 + 5;');
+  });
+
+  it('can load plugins with multiple files written in Typescript and Javascript', async function() {
+    let afile = await createTemporaryFile('a-file.js', '3 + 4;');
+    let { status, stdout, stderr } = await runCodemodCLI([
+      afile,
+      '-p',
+      plugin(
+        'typescript/increment-export-default-multiple/increment-export-index',
+        '.ts'
+      ),
+      '--transpile-ts-plugins'
+    ]);
+
+    deepEqual(
+      { status, stdout, stderr },
+      {
+        status: 0,
+        stdout: `${afile}\n1 file(s), 1 modified, 0 errors\n`,
+        stderr: ''
+      }
+    );
+    strictEqual(await readFile(afile, 'utf8'), '4 + 5;');
+  });
 });
diff --git a/test/fixtures/plugin/typescript/increment-export-default-multiple/increment-export-default-js.js b/test/fixtures/plugin/typescript/increment-export-default-multiple/increment-export-default-js.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3a04ca07
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/plugin/typescript/increment-export-default-multiple/increment-export-default-js.js
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+export function incrementValue(x) {
+  return x + 1;
+}
diff --git a/test/fixtures/plugin/typescript/increment-export-default-multiple/increment-export-default.ts b/test/fixtures/plugin/typescript/increment-export-default-multiple/increment-export-default.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e3855618
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/plugin/typescript/increment-export-default-multiple/increment-export-default.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+export function incrementValue(x: number): number {
+  return x + 1;
+}
diff --git a/test/fixtures/plugin/typescript/increment-export-default-multiple/increment-export-index.ts b/test/fixtures/plugin/typescript/increment-export-default-multiple/increment-export-index.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1a85e16d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/plugin/typescript/increment-export-default-multiple/increment-export-index.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+import { incrementValue } from './increment-export-default-js';
+
+/* tslint:disable */
+export default function() {
+  return {
+    visitor: {
+      NumericLiteral(path) {
+        let value: number = path.node.value;
+        path.node.value = incrementValue(value);
+      }
+    }
+  };
+}
diff --git a/test/fixtures/plugin/typescript/increment-export-default-multiple/index.ts b/test/fixtures/plugin/typescript/increment-export-default-multiple/index.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..90f8072e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/plugin/typescript/increment-export-default-multiple/index.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+import {incrementValue} from './increment-export-default';
+
+/* tslint:disable */
+export default function() {
+  return {
+    visitor: {
+      NumericLiteral(path) {
+        let value: number = path.node.value;
+        path.node.value = incrementValue(value);
+      }
+    }
+  };
+}
diff --git a/test/fixtures/plugin/typescript/increment-typescript.ts b/test/fixtures/plugin/typescript/increment-typescript.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9f62aa02
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/plugin/typescript/increment-typescript.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+function incrementValue(x: number): number {
+  return x + 1;
+}
+
+/* tslint:disable */
+export default function() {
+  return {
+    visitor: {
+      NumericLiteral(path) {
+        let value: number = path.node.value;
+        path.node.value = incrementValue(value);
+      }
+    }
+  };
+}
diff --git a/test/helpers/plugin.ts b/test/helpers/plugin.ts
index 4efe1721..2629f188 100644
--- a/test/helpers/plugin.ts
+++ b/test/helpers/plugin.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { join } from 'path';
 
-export default function plugin(name: string): string {
-  return join(__dirname, `../fixtures/plugin/${name}.js`);
+export default function plugin(name: string, ext: string = '.js'): string {
+  return join(__dirname, `../fixtures/plugin/${name}${ext}`);
 }
diff --git a/tsconfig.json b/tsconfig.json
index da33e489..4a75bbb6 100644
--- a/tsconfig.json
+++ b/tsconfig.json
@@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
 {
-  "compilerOptions": {
-    "module": "commonjs",
-    "target": "es6",
-    "noImplicitAny": false,
-    "sourceMap": true,
-    "strictNullChecks": true,
-    "declaration": true
-  }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+    "compilerOptions": {
+        "module": "commonjs",
+        "target": "es6",
+        "noImplicitAny": false,
+        "sourceMap": true,
+        "strictNullChecks": true,
+        "declaration": true
+    },
+    "exclude": [
+        "./test/fixtures/**/*.ts"
+    ]
+}
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 76836635..96292679 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
     lodash.pick "4.4.0"
     meow "3.7.0"
 
-"@commitlint/config-conventional@6.0.2":
+"@commitlint/config-conventional@^6.0.2":
   version "6.0.2"
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/@commitlint/config-conventional/-/config-conventional-6.0.2.tgz#8ef87a6facb75b3377b2760b0e91097f8ec64db4"
 
@@ -273,6 +273,14 @@
     "@types/glob" "*"
     "@types/node" "*"
 
+"@types/strip-bom@^3.0.0":
+  version "3.0.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/@types/strip-bom/-/strip-bom-3.0.0.tgz#14a8ec3956c2e81edb7520790aecf21c290aebd2"
+
+"@types/strip-json-comments@0.0.30":
+  version "0.0.30"
+  resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/@types/strip-json-comments/-/strip-json-comments-0.0.30.tgz#9aa30c04db212a9a0649d6ae6fd50accc40748a1"
+
 "@types/tmp@^0.0.33":
   version "0.0.33"
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/@types/tmp/-/tmp-0.0.33.tgz#1073c4bc824754ae3d10cfab88ab0237ba964e4d"
@@ -388,7 +396,7 @@ array-uniq@^1.0.1:
   version "1.0.3"
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/array-uniq/-/array-uniq-1.0.3.tgz#af6ac877a25cc7f74e058894753858dfdb24fdb6"
 
-arrify@^1.0.1:
+arrify@^1.0.0, arrify@^1.0.1:
   version "1.0.1"
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/arrify/-/arrify-1.0.1.tgz#898508da2226f380df904728456849c1501a4b0d"
 
@@ -1283,7 +1291,7 @@ diff@3.3.1:
   version "3.3.1"
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/diff/-/diff-3.3.1.tgz#aa8567a6eed03c531fc89d3f711cd0e5259dec75"
 
-diff@^3.2.0:
+diff@^3.1.0, diff@^3.2.0:
   version "3.4.0"
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/diff/-/diff-3.4.0.tgz#b1d85507daf3964828de54b37d0d73ba67dda56c"
 
@@ -1684,6 +1692,12 @@ home-or-tmp@^2.0.0:
     os-homedir "^1.0.0"
     os-tmpdir "^1.0.1"
 
+homedir-polyfill@^1.0.1:
+  version "1.0.1"
+  resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/homedir-polyfill/-/homedir-polyfill-1.0.1.tgz#4c2bbc8a758998feebf5ed68580f76d46768b4bc"
+  dependencies:
+    parse-passwd "^1.0.0"
+
 hosted-git-info@^2.1.4, hosted-git-info@^2.4.2:
   version "2.5.0"
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/hosted-git-info/-/hosted-git-info-2.5.0.tgz#6d60e34b3abbc8313062c3b798ef8d901a07af3c"
@@ -2204,6 +2218,10 @@ lru-cache@^4.0.1:
     pseudomap "^1.0.2"
     yallist "^2.1.2"
 
+make-error@^1.1.1:
+  version "1.3.2"
+  resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/make-error/-/make-error-1.3.2.tgz#8762ffad2444dd8ff1f7c819629fa28e24fea1c4"
+
 map-obj@^1.0.0, map-obj@^1.0.1:
   version "1.0.1"
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/map-obj/-/map-obj-1.0.1.tgz#d933ceb9205d82bdcf4886f6742bdc2b4dea146d"
@@ -2521,6 +2539,10 @@ parse-json@^4.0.0:
     error-ex "^1.3.1"
     json-parse-better-errors "^1.0.1"
 
+parse-passwd@^1.0.0:
+  version "1.0.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/parse-passwd/-/parse-passwd-1.0.0.tgz#6d5b934a456993b23d37f40a382d6f1666a8e5c6"
+
 parse-url@^1.3.0:
   version "1.3.11"
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/parse-url/-/parse-url-1.3.11.tgz#57c15428ab8a892b1f43869645c711d0e144b554"
@@ -3132,7 +3154,7 @@ strip-indent@^2.0.0:
   version "2.0.0"
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/strip-indent/-/strip-indent-2.0.0.tgz#5ef8db295d01e6ed6cbf7aab96998d7822527b68"
 
-strip-json-comments@~2.0.1:
+strip-json-comments@^2.0.0, strip-json-comments@~2.0.1:
   version "2.0.1"
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/strip-json-comments/-/strip-json-comments-2.0.1.tgz#3c531942e908c2697c0ec344858c286c7ca0a60a"
 
@@ -3239,6 +3261,30 @@ trim-right@^1.0.1:
   version "1.0.1"
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/trim-right/-/trim-right-1.0.1.tgz#cb2e1203067e0c8de1f614094b9fe45704ea6003"
 
+ts-node@^4.1.0:
+  version "4.1.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/ts-node/-/ts-node-4.1.0.tgz#36d9529c7b90bb993306c408cd07f7743de20712"
+  dependencies:
+    arrify "^1.0.0"
+    chalk "^2.3.0"
+    diff "^3.1.0"
+    make-error "^1.1.1"
+    minimist "^1.2.0"
+    mkdirp "^0.5.1"
+    source-map-support "^0.5.0"
+    tsconfig "^7.0.0"
+    v8flags "^3.0.0"
+    yn "^2.0.0"
+
+tsconfig@^7.0.0:
+  version "7.0.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/tsconfig/-/tsconfig-7.0.0.tgz#84538875a4dc216e5c4a5432b3a4dec3d54e91b7"
+  dependencies:
+    "@types/strip-bom" "^3.0.0"
+    "@types/strip-json-comments" "0.0.30"
+    strip-bom "^3.0.0"
+    strip-json-comments "^2.0.0"
+
 tslib@^1.7.1, tslib@^1.8.0:
   version "1.8.1"
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/tslib/-/tslib-1.8.1.tgz#6946af2d1d651a7b1863b531d6e5afa41aa44eac"
@@ -3330,6 +3376,12 @@ uuid@^3.1.0:
   version "3.1.0"
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/uuid/-/uuid-3.1.0.tgz#3dd3d3e790abc24d7b0d3a034ffababe28ebbc04"
 
+v8flags@^3.0.0:
+  version "3.0.1"
+  resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/v8flags/-/v8flags-3.0.1.tgz#dce8fc379c17d9f2c9e9ed78d89ce00052b1b76b"
+  dependencies:
+    homedir-polyfill "^1.0.1"
+
 validate-npm-package-license@^3.0.1:
   version "3.0.1"
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/validate-npm-package-license/-/validate-npm-package-license-3.0.1.tgz#2804babe712ad3379459acfbe24746ab2c303fbc"
@@ -3407,3 +3459,7 @@ yargs@~3.10.0:
     cliui "^2.1.0"
     decamelize "^1.0.0"
     window-size "0.1.0"
+
+yn@^2.0.0:
+  version "2.0.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/yn/-/yn-2.0.0.tgz#e5adabc8acf408f6385fc76495684c88e6af689a"