diff --git a/dub.sdl b/dub.sdl
index 2eac444644..f70cc98bae 100644
--- a/dub.sdl
+++ b/dub.sdl
@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@ subPackage {
     "src/dmd/escape.d" \
     "src/dmd/expression.d" \
     "src/dmd/expressionsem.d" \
+    "src/dmd/frontend.d" \
     "src/dmd/func.d" \
     "src/dmd/gluelayer.d" \
     "src/dmd/hdrgen.d" \
diff --git a/src/dmd/frontend.d b/src/dmd/frontend.d
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..581f8dd9e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/dmd/frontend.d
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+/**
+ * Compiler implementation of the
+ * $(LINK2 http://www.dlang.org, D programming language).
+ *
+ * This module contains high-level interfaces for interacting
+  with DMD as a library.
+ *
+ * Copyright:   Copyright (c) 1999-2017 by The D Language Foundation, All Rights Reserved
+ * Authors:     $(LINK2 http://www.digitalmars.com, Walter Bright)
+ * License:     $(LINK2 http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt, Boost License 1.0)
+ * Source:      $(LINK2 https://github.com/dlang/dmd/blob/master/src/dmd/id.d, _id.d)
+ */
+module dmd.frontend;
+
+// Online documentation: https://dlang.org/phobos/dmd_frontend.html
+
+/**
+Initializes the DMD compiler
+*/
+void initDMD()
+{
+    import dmd.dmodule : Module;
+    import dmd.globals : global;
+    import dmd.id : Id;
+    import dmd.mtype : Type;
+    import dmd.target : Target;
+    import dmd.expression : Expression;
+    import dmd.objc : Objc;
+    import dmd.builtin : builtin_init;
+
+    global._init;
+
+    version(linux)
+        global.params.isLinux = 1;
+    else version(OSX)
+        global.params.isOSX = 1;
+    else version(FreeBSD)
+        global.params.isFreeBSD = 1;
+    else version(Windows)
+        global.params.isWindows = 1;
+    else version(Solaris)
+        global.params.isSolaris = 1;
+    else version(OpenBSD)
+        global.params.isOpenBSD = 1;
+    else
+        static assert(0, "OS not supported yet.");
+
+    Type._init();
+    Id.initialize();
+    Module._init();
+    Target._init();
+    Expression._init();
+    Objc._init();
+    builtin_init();
+}
+
diff --git a/test/dub_package/frontend.d b/test/dub_package/frontend.d
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..2f8e26e318
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/dub_package/frontend.d
@@ -0,0 +1,162 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env dub
+/+dub.sdl:
+dependency "dmd" path="../.."
++/
+import std.stdio;
+
+// add import paths
+void addImports(T)(T path)
+{
+    import dmd.globals : global;
+    import dmd.arraytypes : Strings;
+
+    stderr.writefln("addImport: %s", path);
+
+    Strings* res = new Strings();
+    foreach (p; path)
+    {
+        import std.string : toStringz;
+        Strings* a = new Strings();
+        a.push(p.toStringz);
+        res.append(a);
+    }
+    global.path = res;
+}
+
+// finds a dmd.conf and parses it for import paths
+auto findImportPaths()
+{
+    import std.file : exists, getcwd;
+    import std.string : fromStringz, toStringz;
+    import std.path : buildPath, buildNormalizedPath, dirName;
+    import std.process : env = environment, execute;
+    import dmd.dinifile : findConfFile;
+    import dmd.errors : fatal;
+    import std.algorithm, std.range, std.regex;
+
+    auto dmdEnv = env.get("DMD", "dmd");
+    auto whichDMD = execute(["which", dmdEnv]);
+    if (whichDMD.status != 0)
+    {
+        stderr.writeln("Can't find DMD.");
+        fatal;
+    }
+
+    immutable dmdFilePath = whichDMD.output;
+    string iniFile;
+
+    if (dmdEnv.canFind("ldmd"))
+    {
+        immutable ldcConfig = "ldc2.conf";
+        immutable binDir = dmdFilePath.dirName;
+        // https://wiki.dlang.org/Using_LDC
+        auto ldcConfigs = [
+            getcwd.buildPath(ldcConfig),
+            binDir.buildPath(ldcConfig),
+            binDir.dirName.buildPath("etc", ldcConfig),
+            "~/.ldc".buildPath(ldcConfig),
+            binDir.buildPath("etc", ldcConfig),
+            binDir.buildPath("etc", "ldc", ldcConfig),
+            "/etc".buildPath(ldcConfig),
+            "/etc/ldc".buildPath(ldcConfig),
+        ].filter!exists;
+        assert(!ldcConfigs.empty, "No ldc2.conf found");
+        iniFile = ldcConfigs.front;
+    }
+    else
+    {
+        auto f = findConfFile(dmdFilePath.toStringz, "dmd.conf");
+        iniFile = f.fromStringz.idup;
+        assert(iniFile.exists, "No dmd.conf found.");
+    }
+
+    return File(iniFile, "r")
+        .byLineCopy
+        .map!(l => l.matchAll(`-I[^ "]+`.regex)
+                    .joiner
+                    .map!(a => a.drop(2)
+                                .replace("%@P%", dmdFilePath.dirName)
+                                .replace("%%ldcbinarypath%%", dmdFilePath.dirName)))
+        .joiner
+        .array
+        .sort
+        .uniq
+        .map!buildNormalizedPath;
+}
+
+// test frontend
+void main()
+{
+    import dmd.astcodegen : ASTCodegen;
+    import dmd.dmodule : Module;
+    import dmd.globals : global, Loc;
+    import dmd.frontend : initDMD;
+    import dmd.parse : Parser;
+    import dmd.statement : Identifier;
+    import dmd.tokens : TOKeof;
+    import dmd.id : Id;
+
+    initDMD;
+    findImportPaths.addImports;
+
+    auto parse(Module m, string code)
+    {
+        scope p = new Parser!ASTCodegen(m, code, false);
+        p.nextToken; // skip the initial token
+        auto members = p.parseModule;
+        assert(!p.errors, "Parsing error occurred.");
+        return members;
+    }
+
+    Identifier id = Identifier.idPool("test");
+    auto m = new Module("test.d", id, 0, 0);
+    m.members = parse(m, q{
+        void foo()
+        {
+            foreach (i; 0..10) {}
+        }
+    });
+
+    void semantic()
+    {
+        import dmd.dsymbolsem : dsymbolSemantic;
+        import dmd.semantic : semantic2, semantic3;
+
+        m.importedFrom = m;
+        m.importAll(null);
+        m.dsymbolSemantic(null);
+        m.semantic2(null);
+        m.semantic3(null);
+    }
+    semantic();
+
+    auto prettyPrint()
+    {
+        import dmd.root.outbuffer: OutBuffer;
+        import dmd.hdrgen : HdrGenState, PrettyPrintVisitor;
+
+        OutBuffer buf = { doindent: 1 };
+        HdrGenState hgs = { fullDump: 1 };
+        scope PrettyPrintVisitor ppv = new PrettyPrintVisitor(&buf, &hgs);
+        m.accept(ppv);
+        return buf;
+    }
+    auto buf = prettyPrint();
+
+    auto expected =q{import object;
+void foo()
+{
+    {
+        int __key3 = 0;
+        int __limit4 = 10;
+        for (; __key3 < __limit4; __key3 += 1)
+        {
+            int i = __key3;
+        }
+    }
+}
+};
+    import std.string : replace, fromStringz;
+    auto generated = buf.extractData.fromStringz.replace("\t", "    ");
+    assert(expected == generated, generated);
+}