diff --git a/mrun/mrun.go b/mrun/mrun.go
index 3811d02..adb23f8 100644
--- a/mrun/mrun.go
+++ b/mrun/mrun.go
@@ -94,3 +94,103 @@ func Wait(ctx mctx.Context, cancelCh <-chan struct{}) error {
 
 	return nil
 }
+
+type ctxEventKeyWrap struct {
+	key interface{}
+}
+
+// Hook describes a function which can be registered to trigger on an event via
+// the OnEvent function.
+type Hook func(mctx.Context) error
+
+// OnEvent registers a Hook under a typed key. The Hook will be called when
+// TriggerEvent is called with that same key. Multiple Hooks can be registered
+// for the same key, and will be called sequentially when triggered.
+//
+// OnEvent registers Hooks onto the root of the given Context. Therefore, Hooks
+// will be triggered in the global order they were registered (i.e. if a Hook is
+// registered on a Context, then one registered on a child of that Context, then
+// another on the original Context again, the three Hooks will be triggered in
+// the order: parent, child, parent).
+//
+// Hooks will be called with whatever Context is passed into TriggerEvent.
+func OnEvent(ctx mctx.Context, key interface{}, hook Hook) {
+	ctx = mctx.Root(ctx)
+	mctx.GetSetMutableValue(ctx, false, ctxEventKeyWrap{key}, func(v interface{}) interface{} {
+		hooks, _ := v.([]Hook)
+		return append(hooks, hook)
+	})
+}
+
+// TriggerEvent causes all Hooks registered with OnEvent under the given key to
+// be called sequentially, using the given Context as their input. The given
+// Context does not need to be the root Context (see OnEvent).
+//
+// If any Hook returns an error no further Hooks will be called and that error
+// will be returned.
+//
+// TriggerEvent causes all Hooks which were called to be de-registered. If an
+// error caused execution to stop prematurely then any Hooks which were not
+// called will remain registered.
+func TriggerEvent(ctx mctx.Context, key interface{}) error {
+	rootCtx := mctx.Root(ctx)
+	var err error
+	mctx.GetSetMutableValue(rootCtx, false, ctxEventKeyWrap{key}, func(i interface{}) interface{} {
+		hooks, _ := i.([]Hook)
+		for _, hook := range hooks {
+			hooks = hooks[1:]
+
+			// err here is the var outside GetSetMutableValue, we lift it out
+			if err = hook(ctx); err != nil {
+				break
+			}
+		}
+
+		// if there was an error then we want to keep all the hooks which
+		// weren't called. If there wasn't we want to reset the value to nil so
+		// the slice doesn't grow unbounded.
+		if err != nil {
+			return hooks
+		}
+		return nil
+	})
+	return err
+}
+
+type builtinEvent int
+
+const (
+	start builtinEvent = iota
+	stop
+)
+
+// OnStart registers the given Hook to run when Start is called. This is a
+// special case of OnEvent.
+//
+// As a convention Hooks running on the start event should block only as long as
+// it takes to ensure that whatever is running can do so successfully. For
+// short-lived tasks this isn't a problem, but long-lived tasks (e.g. a web
+// server) will want to use the Hook only to initialize, and spawn off a
+// go-routine to do their actual work. Long-lived tasks should set themselves up
+// to stop on the stop event (see OnStop).
+func OnStart(ctx mctx.Context, hook Hook) {
+	OnEvent(ctx, start, hook)
+}
+
+// Start runs all Hooks registered using OnStart. This is a special case of
+// TriggerEvent.
+func Start(ctx mctx.Context) error {
+	return TriggerEvent(ctx, start)
+}
+
+// OnStop registers the given Hook to run when Stop is called. This is a special
+// case of OnEvent.
+func OnStop(ctx mctx.Context, hook Hook) {
+	OnEvent(ctx, stop, hook)
+}
+
+// Stop runs all Hooks registered using OnStop. This is a special case of
+// TriggerEvent.
+func Stop(ctx mctx.Context) error {
+	return TriggerEvent(ctx, stop)
+}
diff --git a/mrun/mrun_test.go b/mrun/mrun_test.go
index 70981e3..a2bbc3c 100644
--- a/mrun/mrun_test.go
+++ b/mrun/mrun_test.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/mediocregopher/mediocre-go-lib/mctx"
+	"github.com/mediocregopher/mediocre-go-lib/mtest/massert"
 )
 
 func TestThreadWait(t *T) {
@@ -140,3 +141,48 @@ func TestThreadWait(t *T) {
 		})
 	})
 }
+
+func TestEvent(t *T) {
+	ch := make(chan int, 10)
+	ctx := mctx.New()
+	ctxChild := mctx.ChildOf(ctx, "child")
+
+	mkHook := func(i int) Hook {
+		return func(mctx.Context) error {
+			ch <- i
+			return nil
+		}
+	}
+
+	OnEvent(ctx, 0, mkHook(0))
+	OnEvent(ctxChild, 0, mkHook(1))
+	OnEvent(ctx, 0, mkHook(2))
+
+	bogusErr := errors.New("bogus error")
+	OnEvent(ctxChild, 0, func(mctx.Context) error { return bogusErr })
+
+	OnEvent(ctx, 0, mkHook(3))
+	OnEvent(ctx, 0, mkHook(4))
+
+	massert.Fatal(t, massert.All(
+		massert.Equal(bogusErr, TriggerEvent(ctx, 0)),
+		massert.Equal(0, <-ch),
+		massert.Equal(1, <-ch),
+		massert.Equal(2, <-ch),
+	))
+
+	// after the error the 3 and 4 Hooks should still be registered, but not
+	// called yet.
+
+	select {
+	case <-ch:
+		t.Fatal("Hooks should not have been called yet")
+	default:
+	}
+
+	massert.Fatal(t, massert.All(
+		massert.Nil(TriggerEvent(ctx, 0)),
+		massert.Equal(3, <-ch),
+		massert.Equal(4, <-ch),
+	))
+}