diff --git a/docs/config_reference.rst b/docs/config_reference.rst
index d03e882f53..de39df008c 100644
--- a/docs/config_reference.rst
+++ b/docs/config_reference.rst
@@ -323,6 +323,14 @@ System Partition Configuration
    - ``upcrun``: Parallel programs will be launched using the `UPC <https://upc.lbl.gov/>`__ ``upcrun`` command.
    - ``upcxx-run``: Parallel programs will be launched using the `UPC++ <https://bitbucket.org/berkeleylab/upcxx/wiki/Home>`__ ``upcxx-run`` command.
 
+   .. tip::
+
+      .. versionadded:: 4.0.0
+
+        ReFrame also allows you to register your own custom launchers simply by defining them in the configuration.
+        You can follow a small tutorial `here <tutorial_advanced.html#adding-a-custom-launcher-to-a-partition>`__.
+
+
 .. js:attribute:: .systems[].partitions[].access
 
    :required: No
diff --git a/docs/tutorial_advanced.rst b/docs/tutorial_advanced.rst
index f23c7fd143..f56e5cacc9 100644
--- a/docs/tutorial_advanced.rst
+++ b/docs/tutorial_advanced.rst
@@ -576,8 +576,6 @@ The trick here is to replace the parallel launcher with the local one, which pra
 The :func:`~reframe.core.backends.getlauncher` function takes the `registered <config_reference.html#systems-.partitions-.launcher>`__ name of a launcher and returns the class that implements it.
 You then instantiate the launcher and assign to the :attr:`~reframe.core.schedulers.Job.launcher` attribute of the job descriptor.
 
-An alternative to this approach would be to define your own custom parallel launcher and register it with the framework.
-You could then use it as the scheduler of a system partition in the configuration, but this approach is less test-specific.
 
 Adding more parallel launch commands
 ====================================
@@ -628,6 +626,65 @@ Let's see how the generated job script looks like:
 The first three ``srun`` commands are emitted through the :attr:`prerun_cmds` whereas the last one comes from the test's :attr:`executable` attribute.
 
 
+Adding a custom launcher to a partition
+=======================================
+
+.. versionadded:: 4.0.0
+
+An alternative to the approaches above would be to define your own custom parallel launcher and register it with the framework.
+You could then use it as the launcher of a system partition in the configuration and use it in multiple tests.
+
+Each `launcher <regression_test_api.html#reframe.core.launchers.JobLauncher>`__ needs to implement the :func:`~reframe.core.launchers.JobLauncher.command` method and can optionally change the default :func:`~reframe.core.launchers.JobLauncher.run_command` method.
+
+As an example of how easy it is to define a new parallel launcher backend, here is the actual implementation of the ``mpirun`` launcher:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+    from reframe.core.backends import register_launcher
+    from reframe.core.launchers import JobLauncher
+
+
+    @register_launcher('mpirun')
+    class MpirunLauncher(JobLauncher):
+        def command(self, job):
+            return ['mpirun', '-np', str(job.num_tasks)]
+
+
+The :func:`~reframe.core.launchers.JobLauncher.command` returns a list of command tokens that will be combined with any user-supplied `options <regression_test_api.html#reframe.core.launchers.JobLauncher.options>`__ by the :func:`~reframe.core.launchers.JobLauncher.run_command` method to generate the actual launcher command line.
+Notice you can use the ``job`` argument to get job-specific information that will allow you to construct the correct launcher invocation.
+
+If you use a Python-based configuration file, you can define your custom launcher directly inside your config as follows:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   from reframe.core.backends import register_launcher
+   from reframe.core.launchers import JobLaucher
+
+
+   @register_launcher('slrun')
+   class MySmartLauncher(JobLauncher):
+       def command(self, job):
+           return ['slrun', ...]
+
+   site_configuration = {
+       'systems': [
+           {
+               'name': 'my_system',
+               'partitions': [
+                   {
+                       'name': 'my_partition',
+                       'launcher': 'slrun'
+                       ...
+                   }
+               ],
+               ...
+           },
+           ...
+       ],
+       ...
+   }
+
+
 Flexible Regression Tests
 -------------------------
 
diff --git a/reframe/core/launchers/__init__.py b/reframe/core/launchers/__init__.py
index d187c9a74f..f59a1ed362 100644
--- a/reframe/core/launchers/__init__.py
+++ b/reframe/core/launchers/__init__.py
@@ -15,11 +15,11 @@ class JobLauncher(abc.ABC):
     A job launcher is the executable that actually launches a distributed
     program to multiple nodes, e.g., ``mpirun``, ``srun`` etc.
 
-    .. warning::
-
-       Users may not create job launchers directly.
 
     .. note::
+       .. versionchanged:: 4.0.0
+          Users may create job launchers directly.
+
        .. versionchanged:: 2.8
           Job launchers do not get a reference to a job during their
           initialization.
diff --git a/reframe/schemas/config.json b/reframe/schemas/config.json
index b8e1561f9e..5490b55280 100644
--- a/reframe/schemas/config.json
+++ b/reframe/schemas/config.json
@@ -251,12 +251,7 @@
                                     ]
                                 },
                                 "launcher": {
-                                    "type": "string",
-                                    "enum": [
-                                        "alps",  "ibrun", "local", "mpirun",
-                                        "mpiexec", "srun", "srunalloc", "ssh",
-                                        "upcrun", "upcxx-run", "lrun", "lrun-gpu"
-                                    ]
+                                    "type": "string"
                                 },
                                 "access": {
                                     "type": "array",