In briefly playing around, I couldn't figure out a way to use the INSTALLED_APPS tuple to extend the module path. I just don't have that sort of kung-fu with python and manipulating modules.
The one thing I came up with instead is creating a new SETTING called "EXTENSION_APPS_DIR". This would be be a tuple of module names that contain APPS that could be referenced via django.apps whether they are installed or not. Then a django\apps directory could be created with just an __init__.py file that contains this code: for a in settings.EXTENSION_APPS_DIR: try: module = __import__(a, '', '', ['']) __path__.extend(module.__path__) except ImportError: pass del a The ENTENSION_APPS_DIR would look something like this: EXTENSION_APPS_DIR = ("myproject.apps", "ellington") any thoughts? should I make a ticket? -ian