diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/lib/plugin-api.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/lib/plugin-api.js.es6
index f5d66d738a6..5a700db5f2a 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/lib/plugin-api.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/lib/plugin-api.js.es6
@@ -16,7 +16,29 @@ export function decorateCooked(container, cb) {
   decorate(container.lookupFactory('view:user-stream'), 'didInsertElement', cb);
 }
 
-// Will be backported so plugins in the new format will not raise errors
-export function withPluginApi(version) {
+// This is backported so plugins in the new format will not raise errors
+//
+// To upgrade your plugin for backwards compatibility, you can add code in this
+// form:
+//
+//   function newApiCode(api) {
+//     // api.xyz();
+//   }
+//
+//   function oldCode() {
+//     // your pre-PluginAPI code goes here. You will be able to delete this
+//     // code once the `PluginAPI` has been rolled out to all versions of
+//     // Discourse you want to support.
+//   }
+//
+//   // `newApiCode` will use API version 0.1, if no API support then
+//   // `oldCode` will be called
+//   withPluginApi('0.1', newApiCode, { noApi: oldCode });
+//
+export function withPluginApi(version, apiCodeCallback, opts) {
   console.warn(`Plugin API v${version} is not supported`);
+
+  if (opts && opts.noApi) {
+    return opts.noApi();
+  }
 }