diff --git a/rewrite-core/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/config/CompositeRefactorVisitor.java b/rewrite-core/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/config/CompositeRefactorVisitor.java
index 41ac28df956..84d2e1098b8 100644
--- a/rewrite-core/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/config/CompositeRefactorVisitor.java
+++ b/rewrite-core/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/config/CompositeRefactorVisitor.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 import org.openrewrite.SourceVisitor;
 import org.openrewrite.Tree;
 
+import java.awt.*;
 import java.util.List;
 
 public class CompositeRefactorVisitor extends SourceVisitor<Tree> {
@@ -50,7 +51,9 @@ CompositeRefactorVisitor setName(String name) {
 
     public Class<?> getVisitorType() {
         return delegates.stream().findAny()
-                .map(Object::getClass)
+                .map(d -> d instanceof CompositeRefactorVisitor ?
+                        ((CompositeRefactorVisitor) d).getVisitorType() :
+                        d.getClass())
                 .orElse(null);
     }
 
@@ -60,7 +63,7 @@ public String getName() {
 
     @Override
     public Tree visitTree(Tree tree) {
-        if(tree instanceof SourceFile) {
+        if (tree instanceof SourceFile) {
             Refactor<Tree> refactor = new Refactor<>(tree);
             return refactor.visit(delegates).fix().getFixed();
         }
@@ -68,8 +71,17 @@ public Tree visitTree(Tree tree) {
         return super.visitTree(tree);
     }
 
+    void extendsFrom(CompositeRefactorVisitor delegate) {
+        delegates.add(0, delegate);
+        andThen().add(0, delegate);
+    }
+
     @Override
     public Tree defaultTo(Tree t) {
-        return delegates.stream().findAny().map(v -> v.defaultTo(t)).orElse(null);
+        return delegates.stream().findAny()
+                .map(d -> d instanceof CompositeRefactorVisitor ?
+                        ((CompositeRefactorVisitor) d).defaultTo(t) :
+                        d.defaultTo(t))
+                .orElse(null);
     }
 }
diff --git a/rewrite-core/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/config/YamlResourceLoader.java b/rewrite-core/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/config/YamlResourceLoader.java
index af8c2225f42..6234fcd1cf3 100644
--- a/rewrite-core/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/config/YamlResourceLoader.java
+++ b/rewrite-core/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/config/YamlResourceLoader.java
@@ -39,31 +39,37 @@ public class YamlResourceLoader implements ProfileConfigurationLoader, SourceVis
             .disable(DeserializationFeature.FAIL_ON_UNKNOWN_PROPERTIES);
 
     private final Map<String, ProfileConfiguration> profiles = new HashMap<>();
-    private final Collection<SourceVisitor<?>> visitors = new ArrayList<>();
+    private final Collection<CompositeRefactorVisitor> visitors = new ArrayList<>();
+    private final Map<CompositeRefactorVisitor, String> visitorExtensions = new HashMap<>();
 
     public YamlResourceLoader(InputStream yamlInput) throws UncheckedIOException {
         try {
-            Yaml yaml = new Yaml();
-            for (Object resource : yaml.loadAll(yamlInput)) {
-                if (resource instanceof Map) {
-                    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked") Map<String, Object> resourceMap = (Map<String, Object>) resource;
-                    String type = resourceMap.getOrDefault("type", "invalid").toString();
-                    switch(type) {
-                        case "beta.openrewrite.org/v1/visitor":
-                            mapVisitor(resourceMap);
-                            break;
-                        case "beta.openrewrite.org/v1/profile":
-                            mapProfile(resourceMap);
-                            break;
+            try {
+                Yaml yaml = new Yaml();
+                for (Object resource : yaml.loadAll(yamlInput)) {
+                    if (resource instanceof Map) {
+                        @SuppressWarnings("unchecked") Map<String, Object> resourceMap = (Map<String, Object>) resource;
+                        String type = resourceMap.getOrDefault("type", "invalid").toString();
+                        switch (type) {
+                            case "beta.openrewrite.org/v1/visitor":
+                                mapVisitor(resourceMap);
+                                break;
+                            case "beta.openrewrite.org/v1/profile":
+                                mapProfile(resourceMap);
+                                break;
+                        }
                     }
                 }
-            }
-        } finally {
-            try {
+
+                for (Map.Entry<CompositeRefactorVisitor, String> extendingVisitor : visitorExtensions.entrySet()) {
+                    visitors.stream().filter(v -> v.getName().equals(extendingVisitor.getValue())).findAny()
+                            .ifPresent(v -> extendingVisitor.getKey().extendsFrom(v));
+                }
+            } finally {
                 yamlInput.close();
-            } catch (IOException e) {
-                throw new UncheckedIOException(e);
             }
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            throw new UncheckedIOException(e);
         }
     }
 
@@ -108,7 +114,13 @@ private void mapVisitor(Map<String, Object> visitorMap) {
             }
         }
 
-        this.visitors.add(new CompositeRefactorVisitor(visitorMap.get("name").toString(), subVisitors));
+        CompositeRefactorVisitor visitor = new CompositeRefactorVisitor(visitorMap.get("name").toString(), subVisitors);
+
+        if (visitorMap.containsKey("extends")) {
+            visitorExtensions.put(visitor, visitorMap.get("extends").toString());
+        }
+
+        this.visitors.add(visitor);
     }
 
     private Class<?> visitorClass(String name) throws ClassNotFoundException {
@@ -136,8 +148,9 @@ public Collection<ProfileConfiguration> loadProfiles() {
         return profiles.values();
     }
 
+    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
     @Override
     public Collection<SourceVisitor<?>> loadVisitors() {
-        return visitors;
+        return (Collection<SourceVisitor<?>>) (Collection) visitors;
     }
 }