diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 65dbf60d..5caa5f22 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ pkg-config = "0.3.24"
 polars = "0.35.4"
 polars-core = "0.35.4"
 pretty_assertions = "1.4.0"
+prettyplease = "0.2.20"
 proc-macro2 = "1.0.56"
 quote = "1.0.21"
 r2d2 = "0.8.9"
diff --git a/crates/duckdb/Cargo.toml b/crates/duckdb/Cargo.toml
index d2783176..b6cca439 100644
--- a/crates/duckdb/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/duckdb/Cargo.toml
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ name = "duckdb"
 
 [features]
 default = []
+# todo: remove this requirement on buildtime_bindgen going forward
+loadable_extension = ["libduckdb-sys/loadable_extension", "buildtime_bindgen"]
 bundled = ["libduckdb-sys/bundled"]
 json = ["libduckdb-sys/json", "bundled"]
 parquet = ["libduckdb-sys/parquet", "bundled"]
diff --git a/crates/libduckdb-sys/Cargo.toml b/crates/libduckdb-sys/Cargo.toml
index d02c0ea0..4e5e933b 100644
--- a/crates/libduckdb-sys/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/libduckdb-sys/Cargo.toml
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ buildtime_bindgen = ["bindgen", "pkg-config", "vcpkg"]
 json = ["bundled"]
 parquet = ["bundled"]
 extensions-full = ["json", "parquet"]
+loadable_extension = ["prettyplease", "quote", "syn"]
+
 
 [dependencies]
 
@@ -35,6 +37,9 @@ vcpkg = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 serde = { workspace = true, features = ["derive"] }
 serde_json = { workspace = true }
 tar = { workspace = true }
+syn = { workspace = true, optional = true }
+quote = { workspace = true, optional = true }
+prettyplease = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 arrow = { workspace = true, features = ["ffi"] }
diff --git a/crates/libduckdb-sys/build.rs b/crates/libduckdb-sys/build.rs
index 8a279e27..5596cc9a 100644
--- a/crates/libduckdb-sys/build.rs
+++ b/crates/libduckdb-sys/build.rs
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ mod build_bundled {
         #[cfg(feature = "buildtime_bindgen")]
         {
             use super::{bindings, HeaderLocation};
-            let header = HeaderLocation::FromPath(format!("{out_dir}/{lib_name}/src/include/duckdb.h"));
+            let header = HeaderLocation::FromPath(format!("{out_dir}/{lib_name}/src/include"));
             bindings::write_to_out_dir(header, out_path);
         }
         #[cfg(not(feature = "buildtime_bindgen"))]
@@ -178,11 +178,28 @@ impl From<HeaderLocation> for String {
                 let prefix = env_prefix();
                 let mut header = env::var(format!("{prefix}_INCLUDE_DIR"))
                     .unwrap_or_else(|_| env::var(format!("{}_LIB_DIR", env_prefix())).unwrap());
-                header.push_str("/duckdb.h");
+                header.push_str(if cfg!(feature = "loadable_extension") {
+                    "/duckdb_extension.h"
+                } else {
+                    "/duckdb.h"
+                });
                 header
             }
-            HeaderLocation::Wrapper => "wrapper.h".into(),
-            HeaderLocation::FromPath(path) => path,
+            HeaderLocation::Wrapper => if cfg!(feature = "loadable_extension") {
+                "wrapper_ext.h"
+            } else {
+                "wrapper.h"
+            }
+            .into(),
+            HeaderLocation::FromPath(path) => format!(
+                "{}/{}",
+                path,
+                if cfg!(feature = "loadable_extension") {
+                    "duckdb_extension.h"
+                } else {
+                    "duckdb.h"
+                }
+            ),
         }
     }
 }
@@ -266,7 +283,6 @@ mod build_linked {
         match pkg_config::Config::new().print_system_libs(false).probe(link_lib) {
             Ok(mut lib) => {
                 if let Some(mut header) = lib.include_paths.pop() {
-                    header.push("duckdb.h");
                     HeaderLocation::FromPath(header.to_string_lossy().into())
                 } else {
                     HeaderLocation::Wrapper
@@ -288,7 +304,6 @@ mod build_linked {
             // See if vcpkg can find it.
             if let Ok(mut lib) = vcpkg::Config::new().probe(lib_name()) {
                 if let Some(mut header) = lib.include_paths.pop() {
-                    header.push("duckdb.h");
                     return Some(HeaderLocation::FromPath(header.to_string_lossy().into()));
                 }
             }
@@ -308,15 +323,28 @@ mod bindings {
     pub fn write_to_out_dir(header: HeaderLocation, out_path: &Path) {
         let header: String = header.into();
         let mut output = Vec::new();
-        bindgen::builder()
+        let mut bindings = bindgen::builder()
             .trust_clang_mangling(false)
             .header(header.clone())
-            .parse_callbacks(Box::new(bindgen::CargoCallbacks::new()))
+            .parse_callbacks(Box::new(bindgen::CargoCallbacks::new()));
+
+        if cfg!(feature = "loadable_extension") {
+            bindings = bindings.ignore_functions(); // see generate_functions
+        }
+
+        bindings
             .generate()
             .unwrap_or_else(|_| panic!("could not run bindgen on header {header}"))
             .write(Box::new(&mut output))
             .expect("could not write output of bindgen");
-        let output = String::from_utf8(output).expect("bindgen output was not UTF-8?!");
+
+        let mut output = String::from_utf8(output).expect("bindgen output was not UTF-8?!");
+
+        #[cfg(feature = "loadable_extension")]
+        {
+            super::loadable_extension::generate_functions(&mut output);
+        }
+
         let mut file = OpenOptions::new()
             .write(true)
             .truncate(true)
@@ -328,3 +356,109 @@ mod bindings {
             .unwrap_or_else(|_| panic!("Could not write to {out_path:?}"));
     }
 }
+
+#[cfg(all(feature = "buildtime_bindgen", feature = "loadable_extension"))]
+mod loadable_extension {
+    fn get_duckdb_api_routines(ast: syn::File) -> syn::ItemStruct {
+        ast.items
+            .into_iter()
+            .find_map(|i| {
+                if let syn::Item::Struct(s) = i {
+                    if s.ident == "duckdb_ext_api_v0" {
+                        Some(s)
+                    } else {
+                        None
+                    }
+                } else {
+                    None
+                }
+            })
+            .expect("could not find duckdb_ext_api_v0")
+    }
+
+    pub fn generate_functions(output: &mut String) {
+        let ast: syn::File = syn::parse_str(output).expect("could not parse bindgen output");
+        let duckdb_api_routines = get_duckdb_api_routines(ast);
+        let duckdb_api_routines_ident = duckdb_api_routines.ident;
+        let p_api = quote::format_ident!("p_api");
+        let mut stores = Vec::new();
+
+        for field in duckdb_api_routines.fields {
+            let ident = field.ident.expect("unnamed field");
+            let span = ident.span();
+            let name = ident.to_string();
+            let ptr_name = syn::Ident::new(format!("__{}", name.to_uppercase()).as_ref(), span);
+            let duckdb_fn_name = syn::Ident::new(&name, span);
+            let method = extract_method(&field.ty).unwrap_or_else(|| panic!("unexpected type for {name}"));
+            let arg_names: syn::punctuated::Punctuated<&syn::Ident, syn::token::Comma> =
+                method.inputs.iter().map(|i| &i.name.as_ref().unwrap().0).collect();
+            let args = &method.inputs;
+            let varargs = &method.variadic;
+            if varargs.is_some() {
+                continue;
+            }
+
+            let ty = &method.output;
+            let tokens = {
+                quote::quote! {
+                    static #ptr_name: ::std::sync::atomic::AtomicPtr<()> = ::std::sync::atomic::AtomicPtr::new(::std::ptr::null_mut());
+                    pub unsafe fn #duckdb_fn_name(#args) #ty {
+                        let fun = {
+                            let ptr = #ptr_name.load(::std::sync::atomic::Ordering::Acquire);
+                            assert!(!ptr.is_null(), "DuckDB API not initialized or DuckDB feature omitted");
+                            let fun: unsafe extern "C" fn(#args #varargs) #ty = ::std::mem::transmute(ptr);
+                            fun
+                        };
+
+                        (fun)(#arg_names)
+                    }
+                }
+            };
+
+            output.push_str(&prettyplease::unparse(
+                &syn::parse2(tokens).expect("could not parse quote output"),
+            ));
+
+            output.push('\n');
+            let _ = &mut stores.push(quote::quote! {
+                if let Some(fun) = (*#p_api).#ident {
+                    #ptr_name.store(
+                        fun as usize as *mut (),
+                        ::std::sync::atomic::Ordering::Release,
+                    );
+                }
+            });
+        }
+
+        // todo: check version number
+        let tokens = quote::quote! {
+            pub unsafe fn duckdb_extension_init(#p_api: *mut #duckdb_api_routines_ident) -> ::std::result::Result<(), ()> {
+                #(#stores)*
+                Ok(())
+            }
+        };
+        output.push_str(&prettyplease::unparse(
+            &syn::parse2(tokens).expect("could not parse quote output"),
+        ));
+        output.push('\n');
+    }
+
+    fn extract_method(ty: &syn::Type) -> Option<&syn::TypeBareFn> {
+        match ty {
+            syn::Type::Path(tp) => tp.path.segments.last(),
+            _ => None,
+        }
+        .map(|seg| match &seg.arguments {
+            syn::PathArguments::AngleBracketed(args) => args.args.first(),
+            _ => None,
+        })?
+        .map(|arg| match arg {
+            syn::GenericArgument::Type(t) => Some(t),
+            _ => None,
+        })?
+        .map(|ty| match ty {
+            syn::Type::BareFn(r) => Some(r),
+            _ => None,
+        })?
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/libduckdb-sys/wrapper_ext.h b/crates/libduckdb-sys/wrapper_ext.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..525858d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/libduckdb-sys/wrapper_ext.h
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+#include "duckdb/duckdb_extension.h"
\ No newline at end of file