diff --git a/include/mode-private.h b/include/mode-private.h
index fc6d6077..a4b06c74 100644
--- a/include/mode-private.h
+++ b/include/mode-private.h
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 #ifndef ROFI_MODE_PRIVATE_H
 #define ROFI_MODE_PRIVATE_H
 
+#define ABI_VERSION 0x00000001
+
 /**
  * @param data Pointer to #Mode object.
  *
@@ -98,6 +100,8 @@ typedef char* ( *_mode_preprocess_input )( Mode *sw, const char *input );
  */
 struct rofi_mode
 {
+    /** Used for external plugins. */
+    unsigned int abi_version;
     /** Name (max 31 char long) */
     char name[32];
     char cfg_name_key[128];
diff --git a/source/rofi.c b/source/rofi.c
index 3019853d..97ce848c 100644
--- a/source/rofi.c
+++ b/source/rofi.c
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
 
 #include <libgwater-xcb.h>
 
+
 #include "xcb-internal.h"
 #include "xkb-internal.h"
 
@@ -69,6 +70,10 @@
 
 #include "timings.h"
 
+// Plugin abi version.
+// TODO: move this check to mode.c
+#include "mode-private.h"
+
 // Pidfile.
 char       *pidfile   = NULL;
 const char *cache_dir = NULL;
@@ -450,10 +455,16 @@ static int add_mode ( const char * token )
         // Load module.
         GModule *mod = g_module_open ( token, G_MODULE_BIND_LAZY|G_MODULE_BIND_LOCAL );
         if ( mod ) {
-            gpointer m = NULL;
-            if ( g_module_symbol ( mod, "mode", &m) ){
-                modi[num_modi] = m;
-                num_modi++;
+            Mode *m = NULL;
+            if ( g_module_symbol ( mod, "mode", (gpointer *)&m) ){
+                // Simple abi check.
+                if ( m->abi_version != ABI_VERSION ){
+                    fprintf(stderr, "ABI version of plugin does not match: %08X expecting: %08X\n", m->abi_version, ABI_VERSION);
+                    g_module_close ( mod );
+                } else {
+                    modi[num_modi] = m;
+                    num_modi++;
+                }
             } else {
                 fprintf(stderr, "Symbol 'mode' not found in module: %s\n", token);
                 g_module_close ( mod );