diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/generators.rb b/railties/lib/rails/generators.rb
index 96742dd2e6..b2f227595d 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails/generators.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/generators.rb
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ module Rails
     }
 
     def self.configure!(config) #:nodoc:
+      api_only! if config.api_only
       no_color! unless config.colorize_logging
       aliases.deep_merge! config.aliases
       options.deep_merge! config.options
@@ -102,6 +103,10 @@ module Rails
       @fallbacks ||= {}
     end
 
+    def self.api_only!
+      hide_namespaces "assets", "helper", "css", "js"
+    end
+
     # Remove the color from output.
     def self.no_color!
       Thor::Base.shell = Thor::Shell::Basic
diff --git a/railties/test/application/generators_test.rb b/railties/test/application/generators_test.rb
index 78ada58ec8..5db4638685 100644
--- a/railties/test/application/generators_test.rb
+++ b/railties/test/application/generators_test.rb
@@ -125,5 +125,20 @@ module ApplicationTests
         assert_equal expected, c.generators.options
       end
     end
+
+    test "api only generators hide assets, helper, js and css namespaces" do
+      add_to_config <<-RUBY
+        config.generators.api_only = true
+      RUBY
+
+      # Initialize the application
+      require "#{app_path}/config/environment"
+      Rails.application.load_generators
+
+      assert Rails::Generators.hidden_namespaces.include?("assets")
+      assert Rails::Generators.hidden_namespaces.include?("helper")
+      assert Rails::Generators.hidden_namespaces.include?("js")
+      assert Rails::Generators.hidden_namespaces.include?("css")
+    end
   end
 end