diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 1079f63b2353..4c234e523be3 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -17,3 +17,6 @@ debian/nu/
 
 # JetBrains' IDE items
 .idea/*
+
+# VSCode's IDE items
+.vscode/*
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index bb97240b86fa..e21eea5ce12a 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -2175,6 +2175,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "quickcheck",
  "quickcheck_macros",
  "rand",
+ "rayon",
  "regex",
  "roxmltree",
  "rusqlite",
@@ -2210,6 +2211,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "bigdecimal",
  "derive-new",
  "getset",
+ "glob",
  "language-reporting",
  "nu-build",
  "nu-source",
diff --git a/crates/nu-cli/Cargo.toml b/crates/nu-cli/Cargo.toml
index 6368b7b815f5..ce33967d6543 100644
--- a/crates/nu-cli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/nu-cli/Cargo.toml
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ which = "3"
 trash = { version = "1.0.0", optional = true }
 clipboard = { version = "0.5", optional = true }
 starship = { version = "0.39.0", optional = true }
+rayon = "1.3.0"
 
 [target.'cfg(unix)'.dependencies]
 users = "0.10.0"
diff --git a/crates/nu-cli/src/cli.rs b/crates/nu-cli/src/cli.rs
index 5d3abb40df1b..82c911288220 100644
--- a/crates/nu-cli/src/cli.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-cli/src/cli.rs
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ use std::iter::Iterator;
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 use std::sync::atomic::Ordering;
 
+use rayon::prelude::*;
+
 fn load_plugin(path: &std::path::Path, context: &mut Context) -> Result<(), ShellError> {
     let mut child = std::process::Command::new(path)
         .stdin(std::process::Stdio::piped())
@@ -132,58 +134,60 @@ pub fn load_plugins(context: &mut Context) -> Result<(), ShellError> {
 
         pattern.push(std::path::Path::new("nu_plugin_[a-z0-9][a-z0-9]*"));
 
-        match glob::glob_with(&pattern.to_string_lossy(), opts) {
-            Err(_) => {}
-            Ok(binaries) => {
-                for bin in binaries.filter_map(Result::ok) {
-                    let bin_name = {
-                        if let Some(name) = bin.file_name() {
-                            match name.to_str() {
-                                Some(raw) => raw,
-                                None => continue,
-                            }
-                        } else {
-                            continue;
+        let plugs: Vec<_> = glob::glob_with(&pattern.to_string_lossy(), opts)?
+            .filter_map(|x| x.ok())
+            .collect();
+
+        let _failures: Vec<_> = plugs
+            .par_iter()
+            .map(|path| {
+                let bin_name = {
+                    if let Some(name) = path.file_name() {
+                        match name.to_str() {
+                            Some(raw) => raw,
+                            None => "",
                         }
-                    };
+                    } else {
+                        ""
+                    }
+                };
 
-                    let is_valid_name = {
-                        #[cfg(windows)]
-                        {
-                            bin_name
-                                .chars()
-                                .all(|c| c.is_ascii_alphanumeric() || c == '_' || c == '.')
-                        }
+                let is_valid_name = {
+                    #[cfg(windows)]
+                    {
+                        bin_name
+                            .chars()
+                            .all(|c| c.is_ascii_alphanumeric() || c == '_' || c == '.')
+                    }
 
-                        #[cfg(not(windows))]
-                        {
-                            bin_name
-                                .chars()
-                                .all(|c| c.is_ascii_alphanumeric() || c == '_')
-                        }
-                    };
+                    #[cfg(not(windows))]
+                    {
+                        bin_name
+                            .chars()
+                            .all(|c| c.is_ascii_alphanumeric() || c == '_')
+                    }
+                };
 
-                    let is_executable = {
-                        #[cfg(windows)]
-                        {
-                            bin_name.ends_with(".exe") || bin_name.ends_with(".bat")
-                        }
+                let is_executable = {
+                    #[cfg(windows)]
+                    {
+                        bin_name.ends_with(".exe") || bin_name.ends_with(".bat")
+                    }
 
-                        #[cfg(not(windows))]
-                        {
-                            true
-                        }
-                    };
+                    #[cfg(not(windows))]
+                    {
+                        true
+                    }
+                };
 
-                    if is_valid_name && is_executable {
-                        trace!("Trying {:?}", bin.display());
+                if is_valid_name && is_executable {
+                    trace!("Trying {:?}", path.display());
 
-                        // we are ok if this plugin load fails
-                        let _ = load_plugin(&bin, context);
-                    }
+                    // we are ok if this plugin load fails
+                    let _ = load_plugin(&path, &mut context.clone());
                 }
-            }
-        }
+            })
+            .collect();
     }
 
     Ok(())
diff --git a/crates/nu-errors/Cargo.toml b/crates/nu-errors/Cargo.toml
index 77dfcffa594f..8dbc74b8bcbf 100644
--- a/crates/nu-errors/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/nu-errors/Cargo.toml
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ getset = "0.1.0"
 serde_yaml = "0.8"
 toml = "0.5.6"
 serde_json = "1.0.51"
+glob = "0.3.0"
 
 [build-dependencies]
 nu-build = { version = "0.13.0", path = "../nu-build" }
diff --git a/crates/nu-errors/src/lib.rs b/crates/nu-errors/src/lib.rs
index 36cd7bc93231..031c93c25229 100644
--- a/crates/nu-errors/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-errors/src/lib.rs
@@ -864,6 +864,12 @@ impl std::convert::From<Box<dyn std::error::Error + Send + Sync>> for ShellError
     }
 }
 
+impl std::convert::From<glob::PatternError> for ShellError {
+    fn from(input: glob::PatternError) -> ShellError {
+        ShellError::untagged_runtime_error(format!("{:?}", input))
+    }
+}
+
 pub trait CoerceInto<U> {
     fn coerce_into(self, operation: impl Into<String>) -> Result<U, ShellError>;
 }