diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5b3b05a..2b38251 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -331,6 +331,21 @@ Group frontend:
   livereload
 ```
 
+User config file
+----------------
+
+If a .guard.rb is found in your home directory, it will be appended to
+the Guardfile.  This can be used for tasks you want guard to handle but
+other users probably don't.  For example, indexing your source tree with
+[Ctags](http://ctags.sourceforge.net):
+
+``` ruby
+guard 'shell' do
+  watch(%r{^(?:app|lib)/.+\.rb$}) { `ctags -R` }
+end
+
+```
+
 Create a new guard
 ------------------
 
diff --git a/lib/guard/dsl.rb b/lib/guard/dsl.rb
index cba1b20..4f85edd 100644
--- a/lib/guard/dsl.rb
+++ b/lib/guard/dsl.rb
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ module Guard
         options.is_a?(Hash) or raise ArgumentError.new("evaluate_guardfile not passed a Hash!")
 
         @@options = options.dup
-        instance_eval_guardfile(fetch_guardfile_contents)
+        fetch_guardfile_contents
+        instance_eval_guardfile(guardfile_contents_with_user_config)
 
         UI.error "No guards found in Guardfile, please add at least one." if !::Guard.guards.nil? && ::Guard.guards.empty?
       end
@@ -72,14 +73,17 @@ module Guard
           UI.error "The command file(#{@@options[:guardfile]}) seems to be empty."
           exit 1
         end
-
-        guardfile_contents
       end
 
       def guardfile_contents
         @@options ? @@options[:guardfile_contents] : ""
       end
 
+      def guardfile_contents_with_user_config
+        config = File.read(user_config_path) if File.exist?(user_config_path)
+        [guardfile_contents, config].join("\n")
+      end
+
       def guardfile_path
         @@options ? @@options[:guardfile_path] : ""
       end
@@ -102,6 +106,10 @@ module Guard
         File.expand_path(File.join("~", ".Guardfile"))
       end
 
+      def user_config_path
+        File.expand_path(File.join("~", ".guard.rb"))
+      end
+
     end
 
     def group(name, &guard_definition)
diff --git a/spec/guard/dsl_describer_spec.rb b/spec/guard/dsl_describer_spec.rb
index c66367d..eaaa03d 100644
--- a/spec/guard/dsl_describer_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/guard/dsl_describer_spec.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
 require 'spec_helper'
 
 describe Guard::DslDescriber do
-  before(:each) { ::Guard.stub!(:guards).and_return([mock('Guard')]) }
+  before(:each) do
+    ::Guard.stub!(:guards).and_return([mock('Guard')])
+    user_config_path = File.expand_path(File.join('~', '.guard.rb'))
+    File.stub(:exist?).with(user_config_path) { false }
+  end
   subject { described_class }
 
 
diff --git a/spec/guard/dsl_spec.rb b/spec/guard/dsl_spec.rb
index 1de89aa..0e70f5a 100644
--- a/spec/guard/dsl_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/guard/dsl_spec.rb
@@ -5,12 +5,18 @@ describe Guard::Dsl do
   before(:each) do
     @local_guardfile_path = File.join(Dir.pwd, 'Guardfile')
     @home_guardfile_path  = File.expand_path(File.join("~", ".Guardfile"))
+    @user_config_path     = File.expand_path(File.join("~", ".guard.rb"))
     ::Guard.stub!(:options).and_return(:debug => true)
     ::Guard.stub!(:guards).and_return([mock('Guard')])
   end
 
+  def self.disable_user_config
+    before(:each) { File.stub(:exist?).with(@user_config_path) { false } }
+  end
+
   describe "it should select the correct data source for Guardfile" do
     before(:each) { ::Guard::Dsl.stub!(:instance_eval_guardfile) }
+    disable_user_config
 
     it "should use a string for initializing" do
       Guard::UI.should_not_receive(:error)
@@ -51,6 +57,15 @@ describe Guard::Dsl do
       lambda { subject.evaluate_guardfile(:guardfile => '/abc/Guardfile') }.should_not raise_error
       subject.guardfile_contents.should == "guard :foo"
     end
+
+    it 'should append the user config file if present' do
+      fake_guardfile('/abc/Guardfile', "guard :foo")
+      fake_guardfile(@user_config_path, "guard :bar")
+      Guard::UI.should_not_receive(:error)
+      lambda { subject.evaluate_guardfile(:guardfile => '/abc/Guardfile') }.should_not raise_error
+        subject.guardfile_contents_with_user_config.should == "guard :foo\nguard :bar"
+    end
+
   end
 
   it "displays an error message when no Guardfile is found" do
@@ -68,6 +83,7 @@ describe Guard::Dsl do
 
   describe "correctly reads data from its valid data source" do
     before(:each) { ::Guard::Dsl.stub!(:instance_eval_guardfile) }
+    disable_user_config
 
     it "reads correctly from a string" do
       lambda { subject.evaluate_guardfile(:guardfile_contents => valid_guardfile_string) }.should_not raise_error
@@ -200,6 +216,8 @@ describe Guard::Dsl do
   end
 
   describe "#group" do
+    disable_user_config
+
     it "evaluates only the specified string group" do
       ::Guard.should_receive(:add_guard).with(:pow, [], { :group => :default })
       ::Guard.should_receive(:add_guard).with(:test, [], { :group => :w })
@@ -242,6 +260,8 @@ describe Guard::Dsl do
   end
 
   describe "#guard" do
+    disable_user_config
+
     it "loads a guard specified as a quoted string from the DSL" do
       ::Guard.should_receive(:add_guard).with(:test, [], { :group => :default })
 
@@ -274,6 +294,8 @@ describe Guard::Dsl do
   end
 
   describe "#watch" do
+    disable_user_config
+
     it "should receive watchers when specified" do
       guardfile_with_watchers = "guard 'test' do
                                    watch('a') { 'b' }