diff --git a/IPython/html/base/handlers.py b/IPython/html/base/handlers.py
index 03070c0..56772f9 100644
--- a/IPython/html/base/handlers.py
+++ b/IPython/html/base/handlers.py
@@ -159,6 +159,10 @@ class IPythonHandler(AuthenticatedHandler):
         return self.settings['session_manager']
     
     @property
+    def kernel_spec_manager(self):
+        return self.settings['kernel_spec_manager']
+
+    @property
     def project_dir(self):
         return self.notebook_manager.notebook_dir
     
diff --git a/IPython/html/notebookapp.py b/IPython/html/notebookapp.py
index fc08f6b..c36d901 100644
--- a/IPython/html/notebookapp.py
+++ b/IPython/html/notebookapp.py
@@ -67,12 +67,13 @@ from IPython.core.application import (
 )
 from IPython.core.profiledir import ProfileDir
 from IPython.kernel import KernelManager
+from IPython.kernel.kernelspec import KernelSpecManager
 from IPython.kernel.zmq.session import default_secure, Session
 from IPython.nbformat.sign import NotebookNotary
 from IPython.utils.importstring import import_item
 from IPython.utils import submodule
 from IPython.utils.traitlets import (
-    Dict, Unicode, Integer, List, Bool, Bytes,
+    Dict, Unicode, Integer, List, Bool, Bytes, Instance,
     DottedObjectName, TraitError,
 )
 from IPython.utils import py3compat
@@ -118,19 +119,21 @@ def load_handlers(name):
 class NotebookWebApplication(web.Application):
 
     def __init__(self, ipython_app, kernel_manager, notebook_manager,
-                 cluster_manager, session_manager, log, base_url,
-                 settings_overrides, jinja_env_options):
+                 cluster_manager, session_manager, kernel_spec_manager, log,
+                 base_url, settings_overrides, jinja_env_options):
 
         settings = self.init_settings(
             ipython_app, kernel_manager, notebook_manager, cluster_manager,
-            session_manager, log, base_url, settings_overrides, jinja_env_options)
+            session_manager, kernel_spec_manager, log, base_url,
+            settings_overrides, jinja_env_options)
         handlers = self.init_handlers(settings)
 
         super(NotebookWebApplication, self).__init__(handlers, **settings)
 
     def init_settings(self, ipython_app, kernel_manager, notebook_manager,
-                      cluster_manager, session_manager, log, base_url,
-                      settings_overrides, jinja_env_options=None):
+                      cluster_manager, session_manager, kernel_spec_manager,
+                      log, base_url, settings_overrides,
+                      jinja_env_options=None):
         # Python < 2.6.5 doesn't accept unicode keys in f(**kwargs), and
         # base_url will always be unicode, which will in turn
         # make the patterns unicode, and ultimately result in unicode
@@ -162,6 +165,7 @@ class NotebookWebApplication(web.Application):
             notebook_manager=notebook_manager,
             cluster_manager=cluster_manager,
             session_manager=session_manager,
+            kernel_spec_manager=kernel_spec_manager,
 
             # IPython stuff
             nbextensions_path = ipython_app.nbextensions_path,
@@ -188,6 +192,7 @@ class NotebookWebApplication(web.Application):
         handlers.extend(load_handlers('services.clusters.handlers'))
         handlers.extend(load_handlers('services.sessions.handlers'))
         handlers.extend(load_handlers('services.nbconvert.handlers'))
+        handlers.extend(load_handlers('services.kernelspecs.handlers'))
         # FIXME: /files/ should be handled by the Contents service when it exists
         nbm = settings['notebook_manager']
         if hasattr(nbm, 'notebook_dir'):
@@ -510,6 +515,11 @@ class NotebookApp(BaseIPythonApplication):
         help='The cluster manager class to use.'
     )
 
+    kernel_spec_manager = Instance(KernelSpecManager)
+
+    def _kernel_spec_manager_default(self):
+        return KernelSpecManager(ipython_dir=self.ipython_dir)
+
     trust_xheaders = Bool(False, config=True,
         help=("Whether to trust or not X-Scheme/X-Forwarded-Proto and X-Real-Ip/X-Forwarded-For headers"
               "sent by the upstream reverse proxy. Necessary if the proxy handles SSL")
@@ -616,7 +626,7 @@ class NotebookApp(BaseIPythonApplication):
         """initialize tornado webapp and httpserver"""
         self.web_app = NotebookWebApplication(
             self, self.kernel_manager, self.notebook_manager, 
-            self.cluster_manager, self.session_manager,
+            self.cluster_manager, self.session_manager, self.kernel_spec_manager,
             self.log, self.base_url, self.webapp_settings,
             self.jinja_environment_options
         )
diff --git a/IPython/html/services/kernelspecs/__init__.py b/IPython/html/services/kernelspecs/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/IPython/html/services/kernelspecs/__init__.py
diff --git a/IPython/html/services/kernelspecs/handlers.py b/IPython/html/services/kernelspecs/handlers.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1840cf4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/IPython/html/services/kernelspecs/handlers.py
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+"""Tornado handlers for kernel specifications."""
+
+# Copyright (c) IPython Development Team.
+# Distributed under the terms of the Modified BSD License.
+
+import logging
+from tornado import web
+
+from zmq.utils import jsonapi
+
+from ...base.handlers import IPythonHandler, json_errors, path_regex
+
+
+class MainKernelSpecHandler(IPythonHandler):
+    SUPPORTED_METHODS = ('GET',)
+
+    @web.authenticated
+    @json_errors
+    def get(self):
+        ksm = self.kernel_spec_manager
+        results = []
+        for kernel_name in ksm.find_kernel_specs():
+            results.append(dict(name=kernel_name,
+                display_name=ksm.get_kernel_spec(kernel_name).display_name))
+
+        self.set_header("Content-Type", 'application/json')
+        self.finish(jsonapi.dumps(results))
+
+
+class KernelSpecHandler(IPythonHandler):
+    SUPPORTED_METHODS = ('GET',)
+
+    @web.authenticated
+    @json_errors
+    def get(self, kernel_name):
+        ksm = self.kernel_spec_manager
+        kernelspec = ksm.get_kernel_spec(kernel_name)
+        self.set_header("Content-Type", 'application/json')
+        self.finish(kernelspec.to_json())
+
+
+class KernelSpecResourceHandler(web.StaticFileHandler, IPythonHandler):
+    SUPPORTED_METHODS = ('GET', 'HEAD')
+
+    def initialize(self):
+        web.StaticFileHandler.initialize(self, path='')
+
+    def get(self, kernel_name, path, include_body=True):
+        ksm = self.kernel_spec_manager
+        self.root = ksm.get_kernel_spec(kernel_name).resource_dir
+        self.log.warn("Set root: %s", self.root)
+        return web.StaticFileHandler.get(self, path, include_body=include_body)
+    
+#    @classmethod
+#    def get_absolute_path(cls, root, path):
+#        res = web.StaticFileHandler.get_absolute_path(cls, root, path)
+#        self.log.warn("Full path: %s", res)
+#        return res
+    
+    def head(self, kernel_name, path):
+        self.get(kernel_name, path, include_body=False)
+
+
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# URL to handler mappings
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+_kernel_name_regex = r"(?P<kernel_name>\w+)"
+
+default_handlers = [
+    (r"/api/kernelspecs", MainKernelSpecHandler),
+    (r"/api/kernelspecs/%s" % _kernel_name_regex, KernelSpecHandler),
+    (r"/api/kernelspecs/%s/(?P<path>.*)" % _kernel_name_regex, KernelSpecResourceHandler),
+]
diff --git a/IPython/kernel/kernelspec.py b/IPython/kernel/kernelspec.py
index 0db302c..1028b66 100644
--- a/IPython/kernel/kernelspec.py
+++ b/IPython/kernel/kernelspec.py
@@ -48,6 +48,14 @@ class KernelSpec(HasTraits):
             kernel_dict = json.load(f)
         return cls(resource_dir=resource_dir, **kernel_dict)
 
+    def to_json(self):
+        return json.dumps(dict(argv=self.argv,
+                               env=self.env,
+                               display_name=self.display_name,
+                               language=self.language,
+                               codemirror_mode=self.codemirror_mode,
+                             ))
+
 def _is_kernel_dir(path):
     """Is ``path`` a kernel directory?"""
     return os.path.isdir(path) and os.path.isfile(pjoin(path, 'kernel.json'))