diff --git a/lib/fusesocLib.nix b/lib/fusesocLib.nix
index aef4a89..1d409fe 100644
--- a/lib/fusesocLib.nix
+++ b/lib/fusesocLib.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 {
   lib,
+  fetchFromGitHub,
+  fetchgit,
+  fetchsvn,
+  fetchurl,
   formats,
   fusesoc,
   remarshal,
@@ -126,6 +130,58 @@ rec {
 
   resolveDeps = import ./resolveDeps.nix { inherit lib parseDependency; };
 
+  fetchProvider =
+    core: hash:
+    let
+      inherit (core) provider;
+    in
+    {
+      local = throw "local providers should not be fetched! use coreRoot.";
+      github = fetchFromGitHub {
+        inherit (core) name;
+        owner = provider.user;
+        repo = provider.repo;
+        rev = provider.version;
+        inherit hash;
+      };
+      git = fetchgit {
+        inherit (core) name;
+        url = provider.repo;
+        rev = provider.version;
+        inherit hash;
+      };
+      svn = fetchsvn {
+        inherit (core) name;
+        inherit (provider) url;
+        rev = provider.revision;
+        inherit hash;
+      };
+      url =
+        let
+          fetch = fetchurl {
+            inherit (core) name;
+            inherit (provider) url;
+            inherit hash;
+          };
+        in
+        {
+          tar = fetch;
+          zip = fetch;
+          simple =
+            let
+              fileName = lib.last (lib.splitString "/" provider.url);
+            in
+            runCommand "${core.name}-source" { } ''
+              mkdir -p $out
+              ln -s ${fetch} $out/${fileName}
+            '';
+        }
+        .${provider.filetype}
+          or (throw "Unknown url provider filetype ${provider.filetype} in ${core.name}");
+      opencores = throw "opencores provider not yet implemented";
+    }
+    .${provider.name} or (throw "Unknown provider name: ${provider.name}");
+
   mkCoreSet =
     coreList:
     let
@@ -234,6 +290,7 @@ rec {
 
   importCore = import ./importCore.nix {
     inherit
+      fetchProvider
       formats
       lib
       mkRunners
diff --git a/lib/importCore.nix b/lib/importCore.nix
index e7fa6dc..ba9289f 100644
--- a/lib/importCore.nix
+++ b/lib/importCore.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 {
+  fetchProvider,
   formats,
   lib,
   mkRunners,
@@ -9,17 +10,14 @@
 }:
 lib.extendMkDerivation {
   constructDrv = stdenvNoCC.mkDerivation;
-  excludeDrvArgNames = [
-    "coreRoot"
-    "coreName"
-    "dependencies"
-  ];
+  excludeDrvArgNames = [ ];
   extendDrvArgs =
     finalAttrs:
     {
       coreRoot,
       coreName,
       core ? readYAML "${coreRoot}/${coreName}",
+      providerHash ? "",
       tools ? [ ],
       dependencies ? [ ],
       passthru ? { },
@@ -35,6 +33,11 @@ lib.extendMkDerivation {
           ) (v.files or [ ])
         ) finalAttrs.passthru.core.filesets
       );
+      useProvider =
+        let
+          inherit (finalAttrs.passthru) core;
+        in
+        (builtins.hasAttr "provider" core) && (core.provider.name != "local");
     in
     {
       pname =
@@ -70,18 +73,35 @@ lib.extendMkDerivation {
         "unpackPhase"
         "installPhase"
       ];
-      src = coreRoot;
-      installPhase = lib.concatStringsSep "\n" (
-        (map (file: ''
-          mkdir -p $out/${dirOf file}
-          cp ${file} $out/${file}
-        '') coreFileset)
-        ++ [
-          ''
-            mkdir -p $out/
-            cp ${(formats.yaml { }).generate coreName finalAttrs.passthru.core} $out/${coreName}
-          ''
-        ]
-      );
+      src = if useProvider then fetchProvider finalAttrs.passthru.core providerHash else coreRoot;
+      installPhase =
+        let
+          patchedCore =
+            let
+              inherit (finalAttrs.passthru) core;
+            in
+            if useProvider then
+              core
+              // {
+                provider = {
+                  name = "local";
+                  patches = core.provider.patches or [ ];
+                };
+              }
+            else
+              core;
+        in
+        lib.concatStringsSep "\n" (
+          (map (file: ''
+            mkdir -p $out/${dirOf file}
+            cp ${file} $out/${file}
+          '') coreFileset)
+          ++ [
+            ''
+              mkdir -p $out/
+              cp ${(formats.yaml { }).generate coreName patchedCore} $out/${coreName}
+            ''
+          ]
+        );
     };
 }