diff --git a/packages/graalvm-jvm/src/main/kotlin/elide/runtime/plugins/jvm/JvmConfig.kt b/packages/graalvm-jvm/src/main/kotlin/elide/runtime/plugins/jvm/JvmConfig.kt
index 6f8c708a47..faf7c92321 100644
--- a/packages/graalvm-jvm/src/main/kotlin/elide/runtime/plugins/jvm/JvmConfig.kt
+++ b/packages/graalvm-jvm/src/main/kotlin/elide/runtime/plugins/jvm/JvmConfig.kt
@@ -34,6 +34,11 @@ import elide.runtime.plugins.AbstractLanguageConfig
     classpathEntries.addAll(paths)
   }
 
+  /** Add new entries to the guest classpath used by the engine. */
+  public fun classpath(paths: Iterable<String>) {
+    classpathEntries.addAll(paths)
+  }
+
   /** Apply init-time settings to a new [context]. */
   internal fun applyTo(context: PolyglotContext) {
     // register intrinsics
diff --git a/packages/graalvm-kt/src/main/kotlin/elide/runtime/plugins/kotlin/Kotlin.kt b/packages/graalvm-kt/src/main/kotlin/elide/runtime/plugins/kotlin/Kotlin.kt
index 834e4f3970..8cf597232f 100644
--- a/packages/graalvm-kt/src/main/kotlin/elide/runtime/plugins/kotlin/Kotlin.kt
+++ b/packages/graalvm-kt/src/main/kotlin/elide/runtime/plugins/kotlin/Kotlin.kt
@@ -14,50 +14,41 @@
 package elide.runtime.plugins.kotlin
 
 import elide.runtime.core.DelicateElideApi
-import elide.runtime.core.EngineLifecycleEvent.ContextCreated
 import elide.runtime.core.EnginePlugin.InstallationScope
 import elide.runtime.core.EnginePlugin.Key
-import elide.runtime.core.PolyglotContext
-import elide.runtime.core.PolyglotContextBuilder
 import elide.runtime.core.getOrInstall
 import elide.runtime.plugins.AbstractLanguagePlugin
-import elide.runtime.plugins.AbstractLanguagePlugin.LanguagePluginManifest
 import elide.runtime.plugins.jvm.Jvm
 
-@Suppress("unused") @DelicateElideApi public class Kotlin private constructor(
-  private val config: KotlinConfig,
-  private val resources: LanguagePluginManifest,
-) {
-  private fun initializeContext(context: PolyglotContext) {
-    // apply init-time settings
-    config.applyTo(context)
-
-    // run embedded initialization code
-    initializeEmbeddedScripts(context, resources)
-  }
-  
-  private fun configureContext(builder: PolyglotContextBuilder) {
-    // nothing to do here
-  }
-  
+@DelicateElideApi public class Kotlin private constructor(public val config: KotlinConfig) {
   public companion object Plugin : AbstractLanguagePlugin<KotlinConfig, Kotlin>() {
+    private const val GUEST_CLASSPATH_KEY = "classpath"
+
     private const val KOTLIN_LANGUAGE_ID = "kt"
     private const val KOTLIN_PLUGIN_ID = "Kotlin"
-    
+
     override val languageId: String = KOTLIN_LANGUAGE_ID
     override val key: Key<Kotlin> = Key(KOTLIN_PLUGIN_ID)
-    
+
+    private fun resolveGuestClasspathEntries(manifest: LanguagePluginManifest): List<String> {
+      return manifest.resources[GUEST_CLASSPATH_KEY]?.map {
+        Kotlin::class.java.getResource("${manifest.root}/$it")?.toString() ?: error(
+          "Failed to resolve embedded classpath element: $it",
+        )
+      } ?: emptyList()
+    }
+
     override fun install(scope: InstallationScope, configuration: KotlinConfig.() -> Unit): Kotlin {
-      // apply the JVM plugin first
-      scope.configuration.getOrInstall(Jvm)
-      
-      // apply the configuration and create the plugin instance
-      val config = KotlinConfig().apply(configuration)
       val resources = resolveEmbeddedManifest(scope)
-      val instance = Kotlin(config, resources)
 
-      // subscribe to lifecycle events
-      scope.lifecycle.on(ContextCreated, instance::configureContext)
+      // apply the JVM plugin first, and register the custom classpath entries
+      scope.configuration.getOrInstall(Jvm).config.apply {
+        classpath(resolveGuestClasspathEntries(resources))
+      }
+
+      // apply the configuration and create the plugin instance
+      val config = KotlinConfig().apply(configuration)
+      val instance = Kotlin(config)
 
       // register resources with the VFS
       installEmbeddedBundles(scope, resources)
diff --git a/packages/graalvm-kt/src/main/resources/META-INF/elide/embedded/runtime/kt/classpath/elide-kotlin-runtime.jar b/packages/graalvm-kt/src/main/resources/META-INF/elide/embedded/runtime/kt/classpath/elide-kotlin-runtime.jar
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9ad8a5a36f
Binary files /dev/null and b/packages/graalvm-kt/src/main/resources/META-INF/elide/embedded/runtime/kt/classpath/elide-kotlin-runtime.jar differ
diff --git a/packages/graalvm-kt/src/main/resources/META-INF/elide/embedded/runtime/kt/classpath/kotlin-script-runtime-1.9.20-Beta2.jar b/packages/graalvm-kt/src/main/resources/META-INF/elide/embedded/runtime/kt/classpath/kotlin-script-runtime-1.9.20-Beta2.jar
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..646faac851
Binary files /dev/null and b/packages/graalvm-kt/src/main/resources/META-INF/elide/embedded/runtime/kt/classpath/kotlin-script-runtime-1.9.20-Beta2.jar differ
diff --git a/packages/graalvm-kt/src/main/resources/META-INF/elide/embedded/runtime/kt/classpath/kotlin-stdlib-1.9.20-Beta2.jar b/packages/graalvm-kt/src/main/resources/META-INF/elide/embedded/runtime/kt/classpath/kotlin-stdlib-1.9.20-Beta2.jar
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5e8f6dab4c
Binary files /dev/null and b/packages/graalvm-kt/src/main/resources/META-INF/elide/embedded/runtime/kt/classpath/kotlin-stdlib-1.9.20-Beta2.jar differ
diff --git a/packages/graalvm-kt/src/main/resources/META-INF/elide/embedded/runtime/kt/runtime.current.json b/packages/graalvm-kt/src/main/resources/META-INF/elide/embedded/runtime/kt/runtime.current.json
index 954c001398..fc4d078d9c 100644
--- a/packages/graalvm-kt/src/main/resources/META-INF/elide/embedded/runtime/kt/runtime.current.json
+++ b/packages/graalvm-kt/src/main/resources/META-INF/elide/embedded/runtime/kt/runtime.current.json
@@ -1,4 +1,11 @@
 {
   "engine": "v4",
-  "language": "Kotlin"
+  "language": "Kotlin",
+  "resources": {
+    "classpath": [
+      "classpath/elide-kotlin-runtime.jar",
+      "classpath/kotlin-script-runtime-1.9.20-Beta2.jar",
+      "classpath/kotlin-stdlib-1.9.20-Beta2.jar"
+    ]
+  }
 }
diff --git a/packages/graalvm-kt/src/main/resources/META-INF/elide/embedded/runtime/kt/runtime.json.gz b/packages/graalvm-kt/src/main/resources/META-INF/elide/embedded/runtime/kt/runtime.json.gz
index d53ad73447..50c4ac08f0 100644
Binary files a/packages/graalvm-kt/src/main/resources/META-INF/elide/embedded/runtime/kt/runtime.json.gz and b/packages/graalvm-kt/src/main/resources/META-INF/elide/embedded/runtime/kt/runtime.json.gz differ