diff --git a/birdhouse/config/jupyterhub/default.env b/birdhouse/config/jupyterhub/default.env
index c949cff84..df9478ee3 100644
--- a/birdhouse/config/jupyterhub/default.env
+++ b/birdhouse/config/jupyterhub/default.env
@@ -43,6 +43,15 @@ export JUPYTER_LOGIN_BANNER_BOTTOM_SECTION=""
 # server for the change to take effect.
 export JUPYTERHUB_README=""
 
+# Additional configuration to be provided by services or components managed by the stack.
+# Any component extending this configuration using this variable *MUST* include it back to allow further
+# components to extend it as well. Also, they *MUST* extend the variable with each new definitions applied on
+# a new line (without indents) to ensure that Python configurations will be executable without syntax error.
+# This variable differs from 'JUPYTERHUB_CONFIG_OVERRIDE' that does not require users to include it back to make
+# its definition extensible by other components. However, 'JUPYTERHUB_CONFIG_OVERRIDE' will still be applied
+# after 'JUPYTERHUB_CONFIG_EXTENDED' to ensure it can override anything as needed after all components were resolved.
+export JUPYTERHUB_CONFIG_EXTENDED=""
+
 # Allow for adding new config or override existing config in
 # config/jupyterhub/jupyterhub_config.py.template.
 export JUPYTERHUB_CONFIG_OVERRIDE=""
@@ -65,6 +74,7 @@ OPTIONAL_VARS="
   \$JUPYTER_LOGIN_BANNER_TOP_SECTION
   \$JUPYTER_LOGIN_BANNER_BOTTOM_SECTION
   \$JUPYTER_LOGIN_TERMS_URL
+  \$JUPYTERHUB_CONFIG_EXTENDED
   \$JUPYTERHUB_CONFIG_OVERRIDE
   \$JUPYTERHUB_DOCKER
   \$JUPYTERHUB_VERSION
diff --git a/birdhouse/config/jupyterhub/jupyterhub_config.py.template b/birdhouse/config/jupyterhub/jupyterhub_config.py.template
index e3f6d5ae7..2327d45ca 100644
--- a/birdhouse/config/jupyterhub/jupyterhub_config.py.template
+++ b/birdhouse/config/jupyterhub/jupyterhub_config.py.template
@@ -187,4 +187,5 @@ blocked_users = {'authtest', '${CATALOG_USERNAME}', 'anonymous'}
 c.Authenticator.blacklist = blocked_users  # v0.9+
 c.Authenticator.blocked_users = blocked_users  # v1.2+
 
+${JUPYTERHUB_CONFIG_EXTENDED}    # noqa
 ${JUPYTERHUB_CONFIG_OVERRIDE}    # noqa
diff --git a/birdhouse/optional-components/jupyterhub-stop-idle/default.env b/birdhouse/optional-components/jupyterhub-stop-idle/default.env
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4428b6bfe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/birdhouse/optional-components/jupyterhub-stop-idle/default.env
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# All env in this default.env can be overridden by env.local.
+
+# All env in this default.env must NOT depend on any other env.  If they do, they
+# must use single quotes to avoid early expansion before overrides in env.local
+# are applied and must be added to the list of DELAYED_EVAL.
+
+# idle timeout of a user jupyterhub server to be shut down automatically (default: 1 day)
+export JUPYTERHUB_STOP_IDLE_TIMEOUT=${JUPYTERHUB_STOP_IDLE_TIMEOUT:-86400}
+
+# maximum age before stoping user servers (includiung active/running ones, regardless of last activity status)
+# if not specified, this will not be defined by the utility
+# (i.e.: users that provide activity status before timeout could run their server indefinitely)
+export JUPYTERHUB_STOP_IDLE_MAX_AGE=
+
+# for details about the configuration, see https://github.com/jupyterhub/jupyterhub-idle-culler
+# WARNING: be careful about indents here, Python code execution depends on it
+export JUPYTERHUB_STOP_IDLE_CONFIG="
+import sys
+
+jupyterhub_stop_idle_timeout = ${JUPYTERHUB_STOP_IDLE_TIMEOUT}
+c.JupyterHub.load_roles = [
+    {
+        'name': 'jupyterhub-idle-culler-role',
+        'scopes': [
+            'list:users',
+            'read:users:activity',
+            'read:servers',
+            'delete:servers',
+        ],
+        'services': ['jupyterhub-idle-culler-service'],
+    }
+]
+jupyterhub_stop_idle_max_age = ${JUPYTERHUB_STOP_IDLE_MAX_AGE:-None}
+jupyterhub_idle_culler_xargs = []
+if jupyterhub_stop_idle_max_age:
+    jupyterhub_idle_culler_xargs = ['--max-age', jupyterhub_stop_idle_max_age]
+c.JupyterHub.services = [
+    {
+        'name': 'jupyterhub-idle-culler-service',
+        'command': [
+            sys.executable,
+            '-m', 'jupyterhub_idle_culler',
+            '--timeout', jupyterhub_stop_idle_timeout,
+        ] + jupyterhub_idle_culler_xargs,
+    }
+]
+# we need to ensure that the activity update interval is lower than the stop-idle timeout
+# otherwise, the updated information will not be available for the utility to do its job
+# however, jupyter has by default 5min intervals, which is usually much lower than 'JUPYTERHUB_STOP_IDLE_TIMEOUT'
+c.JupyterHub.last_activity_interval = int(min(jupyterhub_stop_idle_timeout / 2, 300))
+"
+
+export JUPYTERHUB_CONFIG_EXTENDED="
+${JUPYTERHUB_CONFIG_EXTENDED}
+${JUPYTERHUB_STOP_IDLE_CONFIG}
+"
+
+#export DELAYED_EVAL="
+#  $DELAYED_EVAL
+#  JUPYTERHUB_CONFIG_EXTENDED
+#"
+
+OPTIONAL_VARS="
+  $OPTIONAL_VARS
+  \$JUPYTERHUB_STOP_IDLE_TIMEOUT
+  \$JUPYTERHUB_STOP_IDLE_MAX_AGE
+"
+
+# add any component that this component requires to run
+COMPONENT_DEPENDENCIES="
+  ./config/jupyterhub
+"