diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 17e13aca..5a02afc7 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 cachey
 dask
+distributed
 fastapi
 numcodecs
 numpy
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index ec6978d5..4856e26a 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -52,6 +52,8 @@
             'zarr = xpublish.plugins.included.zarr:ZarrPlugin',
             'module_version = xpublish.plugins.included.module_version:ModuleVersionPlugin',
             'plugin_info = xpublish.plugins.included.plugin_info:PluginInfoPlugin',
+            # 'dask_client = xpublish.plugins.included.dask_client:DaskClientPlugin',
+            # 'dask_local_cluster = xpublish.plugins.included.dask_local_cluster:DaskLocalClusterPlugin',
         ]
     },
 )
diff --git a/xpublish/plugins/hooks.py b/xpublish/plugins/hooks.py
index e59d1aa8..5ebca0c0 100644
--- a/xpublish/plugins/hooks.py
+++ b/xpublish/plugins/hooks.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import cachey  # type: ignore
 import pluggy  # type: ignore
 import xarray as xr
+from dask import distributed
 from fastapi import APIRouter
 from pydantic import BaseModel, Field
 
@@ -40,6 +41,8 @@ class Dependencies(BaseModel):
     plugin_manager: Callable[..., pluggy.PluginManager] = Field(
         get_plugin_manager, description='The plugin manager itself, allowing for maximum creativity'
     )
+    dask_sync_client: Callable[..., distributed.Client]
+    dask_async_client: Callable[..., distributed.Client]
 
     def __hash__(self):
         """Dependency functions aren't easy to hash"""
@@ -111,11 +114,11 @@ def dataset_router(self, deps: Dependencies) -> APIRouter:  # type: ignore
         """
 
     @hookspec
-    def get_datasets(self) -> Iterable[str]:  # type: ignore
+    def get_datasets(self, deps: Dependencies) -> Iterable[str]:  # type: ignore
         """Return an iterable of dataset ids that the plugin can provide"""
 
     @hookspec(firstresult=True)
-    def get_dataset(self, dataset_id: str) -> Optional[xr.Dataset]:  # type: ignore
+    def get_dataset(self, dataset_id: str, deps: Dependencies) -> Optional[xr.Dataset]:  # type: ignore
         """Return a dataset by requested dataset_id.
 
         If the plugin does not have the dataset, return None
@@ -124,3 +127,15 @@ def get_dataset(self, dataset_id: str) -> Optional[xr.Dataset]:  # type: ignore
     @hookspec
     def register_hookspec(self):  # type: ignore
         """Return additional hookspec class to register with the plugin manager"""
+
+    @hookspec(firstresult=True)
+    def get_dask_cluster(self) -> distributed.SpecCluster:
+        """Return the active dask cluster"""
+
+    @hookspec(firstresult=True)
+    def get_dask_sync_client(self, cluster: distributed.SpecCluster) -> distributed.Client:
+        """Return a synchronous Dask client"""
+
+    @hookspec(firstresult=True)
+    def get_dask_async_client(self, cluster: distributed.SpecCluster) -> distributed.Client:
+        """Return an async Dask client"""
diff --git a/xpublish/plugins/included/dask_client.py b/xpublish/plugins/included/dask_client.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9c172046
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xpublish/plugins/included/dask_client.py
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+"""
+Default Dask clients
+"""
+from dask import distributed
+from pydantic import Field
+
+from .. import Plugin, hookimpl
+
+
+class DaskClientPlugin(Plugin):
+    name = 'dask_client'
+
+    sync_kwargs: dict = Field(
+        default_factory=dict, description='Keyword arguments for syncronous Dask distributed.Client'
+    )
+    async_kwargs: dict = Field(
+        default_factory=dict,
+        description='Keyword arguments for asyncronous Dask distributed.Client',
+    )
+
+    @hookimpl(trylast=True)
+    def get_dask_sync_client(self, cluster: distributed.SpecCluster):
+        client = distributed.Client(cluster, **self.sync_kwargs)
+
+        return client
+
+    @hookimpl(trylast=True)
+    def get_dask_async_client(self, cluster: distributed.SpecCluster):
+        client = distributed.Client(cluster, asynchronous=True, **self.async_kwargs)
+
+        return client
diff --git a/xpublish/plugins/included/dask_local_cluster.py b/xpublish/plugins/included/dask_local_cluster.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..117d8176
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xpublish/plugins/included/dask_local_cluster.py
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+"""
+Default Dask local cluster
+"""
+from dask import distributed
+
+from .. import Plugin, hookimpl
+
+
+class DaskLocalClusterPlugin(Plugin):
+    name = 'dask_local_cluster'
+
+    @hookimpl(trylast=True)
+    def get_dask_cluster(self):
+        """Creates a local Dask cluster"""
+        try:
+            return self._cluster
+        except AttributeError:
+            cluster = distributed.LocalCluster()
+            self._cluster = cluster
+            return cluster
diff --git a/xpublish/rest.py b/xpublish/rest.py
index 65f8581e..7c80b4a3 100644
--- a/xpublish/rest.py
+++ b/xpublish/rest.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 import pluggy
 import uvicorn
 import xarray as xr
+from dask import distributed
 from fastapi import APIRouter, FastAPI, HTTPException
 
 from .dependencies import get_cache, get_dataset, get_dataset_ids, get_plugin_manager
@@ -113,7 +114,7 @@ def get_datasets_from_plugins(self) -> List[str]:
         """
         dataset_ids = list(self._datasets)
 
-        for plugin_dataset_ids in self.pm.hook.get_datasets():
+        for plugin_dataset_ids in self.pm.hook.get_datasets(deps=self.dependencies()):
             dataset_ids.extend(plugin_dataset_ids)
 
         return dataset_ids
@@ -132,7 +133,7 @@ def get_dataset_from_plugins(self, dataset_id: str) -> xr.Dataset:
         Raises:
             FastAPI.HTTPException: When a dataset is not found a 404 error is returned.
         """
-        dataset = self.pm.hook.get_dataset(dataset_id=dataset_id)
+        dataset = self.pm.hook.get_dataset(dataset_id=dataset_id, deps=self.dependencies())
 
         if dataset:
             return dataset
@@ -231,6 +232,33 @@ def plugins(self) -> Dict[str, Plugin]:
         """Returns the loaded plugins"""
         return dict(self.pm.list_name_plugin())
 
+    def dask_cluster(self) -> distributed.SpecCluster:
+        """Currently active Dask cluster"""
+        try:
+            return self._dask_cluster
+        except AttributeError:
+            self._dask_cluster = self.pm.hook.get_dask_cluster()
+
+        return self._dask_cluster
+
+    def dask_sync_client(self) -> distributed.Client:
+        """Syncronous Dask client"""
+        try:
+            return self._dask_sync_client
+        except AttributeError:
+            self._dask_sync_client = self.pm.hook.get_dask_sync_client(cluster=self.dask_cluster())
+
+        return self._dask_client
+
+    def dask_async_client(self) -> distributed.Client:
+        """Asyncronous Dask client"""
+        try:
+            return self._dask_async_client
+        except AttributeError:
+            self._dask_async_client = self.pm.hook.get_dask_async_client()
+
+        return self._dask_async_client
+
     def _init_routers(self, dataset_routers: Optional[APIRouter]):
         """Setup plugin and dataset routers. Needs to run after dataset and plugin setup"""
         app_routers, plugin_dataset_routers = self.plugin_routers()
@@ -276,6 +304,8 @@ def dependencies(self) -> Dependencies:
             cache=lambda: self.cache,
             plugins=lambda: self.plugins,
             plugin_manager=lambda: self.pm,
+            dask_sync_client=self.dask_sync_client,
+            dask_async_client=self.dask_async_client,
         )
 
         return deps