diff --git a/src/extension-support/tw-extension-api-common.js b/src/extension-support/tw-extension-api-common.js
index 1f5928fbc0f..82e706de98f 100644
--- a/src/extension-support/tw-extension-api-common.js
+++ b/src/extension-support/tw-extension-api-common.js
@@ -3,13 +3,15 @@ const BlockType = require('./block-type');
 const BlockShape = require('./tw-block-shape');
 const TargetType = require('./target-type');
 const Cast = require('../util/cast');
+const external = require('./tw-external');
 
 const Scratch = {
     ArgumentType,
     BlockType,
     BlockShape,
     TargetType,
-    Cast
+    Cast,
+    external
 };
 
 module.exports = Scratch;
diff --git a/src/extension-support/tw-external.js b/src/extension-support/tw-external.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..de7b3a9ad47
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/extension-support/tw-external.js
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+/**
+ * @param {string} url
+ * @returns {void} if URL is supported
+ * @throws if URL is unsupported
+ */
+const checkURL = url => {
+    // URL might be a very long data: URL, so try to avoid fully parsing it if we can.
+    // The notable requirement here is that the URL must be an absolute URL, not something
+    // relative to where the extension is loaded from or where the extension is running.
+    // This ensures that the same extension file will always load resources from the same
+    // place, regardless of how it is running or packaged or whatever else.
+    if (
+        !url.startsWith('http:') &&
+        !url.startsWith('https:') &&
+        !url.startsWith('data:') &&
+        !url.startsWith('blob:')
+    ) {
+        throw new Error(`Unsupported URL: ${url}`);
+    }
+};
+
+const external = {};
+
+/**
+ * @param {string} url
+ * @template T
+ * @returns {Promise<T>}
+ */
+external.importModule = url => {
+    checkURL(url);
+    // Need to specify webpackIgnore so that webpack compiles this directly to a call to import()
+    // instead of trying making it try to use the webpack import system.
+    return import(/* webpackIgnore: true */ url);
+};
+
+/**
+ * @param {string} url
+ * @returns {Promise<Response>}
+ */
+external.fetch = async url => {
+    checkURL(url);
+    const res = await fetch(url);
+    if (!res.ok) {
+        throw new Error(`HTTP ${res.status} fetching ${url}`);
+    }
+    return res;
+};
+
+/**
+ * @param {string} url
+ * @returns {Promise<string>}
+ */
+external.dataURL = async url => {
+    const res = await external.fetch(url);
+    const blob = await res.blob();
+    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+        const fr = new FileReader();
+        fr.onload = () => resolve(fr.result);
+        fr.onerror = () => reject(fr.error);
+        fr.readAsDataURL(blob);
+    });
+};
+
+/**
+ * @param {string} url
+ * @returns {Promise<Blob>}
+ */
+external.blob = async url => {
+    const res = await external.fetch(url);
+    return res.blob();
+};
+
+/**
+ * @param {string} url
+ * @param {string} returnExpression
+ * @template T
+ * @returns {Promise<T>}
+ */
+external.evalAndReturn = async (url, returnExpression) => {
+    const res = await external.fetch(url);
+    const text = await res.text();
+    const js = `${text};return ${returnExpression}`;
+    const fn = new Function(js);
+    return fn();
+};
+
+module.exports = external;
diff --git a/test/unit/tw_extension_api_common.js b/test/unit/tw_extension_api_common.js
index 051fcf134fc..cbb1d6bbfa5 100644
--- a/test/unit/tw_extension_api_common.js
+++ b/test/unit/tw_extension_api_common.js
@@ -32,3 +32,13 @@ test('Cast', t => {
     t.equal(ScratchCommon.Cast.toListIndex('1.5', 10, false), 1);
     t.end();
 });
+
+test('external', t => {
+    // has more tests in separate file, mostly just making sure that external exists at all
+    ScratchCommon.external.fetch('data:text/plain;,test').then(r => {
+        r.text().then(text => {
+            t.equal(text, 'test');
+            t.end();
+        });
+    });
+});
diff --git a/test/unit/tw_external.js b/test/unit/tw_external.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..745c694bcdc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/tw_external.js
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+const external = require('../../src/extension-support/tw-external');
+const {test} = require('tap');
+
+test('importModule', t => {
+    external.importModule('data:text/javascript;,export%20default%201').then(mod => {
+        t.equal(mod.default, 1);
+        t.end();
+    });
+});
+
+test('fetch', t => {
+    external.fetch('data:text/plain;,test').then(res => {
+        res.text().then(text => {
+            t.equal(text, 'test');
+            t.end();
+        });
+    });
+});
+
+test('dataURL', t => {
+    global.FileReader = class {
+        readAsDataURL (blob) {
+            blob.arrayBuffer().then(arrayBuffer => {
+                const base64 = Buffer.from(arrayBuffer).toString('base64');
+                this.result = `data:${blob.type};base64,${base64}`;
+                this.onload();
+            });
+        }
+    };
+
+    external.dataURL('data:text/plain;,doesthiswork').then(dataURL => {
+        t.equal(dataURL, `data:text/plain;base64,${btoa('doesthiswork')}`);
+        t.end();
+    });
+});
+
+test('blob', t => {
+    external.blob('data:text/plain;,test').then(blob => {
+        blob.text().then(blobText => {
+            t.equal(blobText, 'test');
+            t.end();
+        });
+    });
+});
+
+test('evalAndReturn', t => {
+    external.evalAndReturn('data:text/plain;,var%20x=20', 'x').then(result => {
+        t.equal(result, 20);
+        t.end();
+    });
+});
+
+test('relative URL throws', t => {
+    external.fetch('./test.js').catch(err => {
+        t.equal(err.message, `Unsupported URL: ./test.js`);
+        t.end();
+    });
+});