diff --git a/src/plugins/kibana/index.js b/src/plugins/kibana/index.js
index 1d8d45addf033..afc9de83de9bd 100644
--- a/src/plugins/kibana/index.js
+++ b/src/plugins/kibana/index.js
@@ -21,20 +21,6 @@ module.exports = function (kibana) {
           'fieldFormats'
         ],
 
-        autoload: kibana.autoload.require.concat(
-          'plugins/kibana/discover',
-          'plugins/kibana/visualize',
-          'plugins/kibana/dashboard',
-          'plugins/kibana/settings',
-          'plugins/kibana/settings/sections',
-          'plugins/kibana/doc',
-          'plugins/kibana/settings/sections',
-          'ui/vislib',
-          'ui/agg_response',
-          'ui/agg_types',
-          'leaflet'
-        ),
-
         injectVars: function (server, options) {
           let config = server.config();
 
diff --git a/src/plugins/kibana/public/kibana.js b/src/plugins/kibana/public/kibana.js
index 98572723bf654..2d059cc972c81 100644
--- a/src/plugins/kibana/public/kibana.js
+++ b/src/plugins/kibana/public/kibana.js
@@ -1,12 +1,20 @@
+// autoloading
+require('ui/autoload/all');
+
+// preloading (for faster webpack builds)
 require('plugins/kibana/discover/index');
 require('plugins/kibana/visualize/index');
 require('plugins/kibana/dashboard/index');
 require('plugins/kibana/settings/index');
-require('plugins/kibana/doc/index');
+require('plugins/kibana/settings/sections');
+require('plugins/kibana/doc');
+require('ui/vislib');
+require('ui/agg_response');
+require('ui/agg_types');
 require('ui/timepicker');
+require('leaflet');
 
 var moment = require('moment-timezone');
-
 var chrome = require('ui/chrome');
 var routes = require('ui/routes');
 var modules = require('ui/modules');
diff --git a/src/plugins/statusPage/index.js b/src/plugins/statusPage/index.js
index 49f139afd46b0..1807813438ab9 100644
--- a/src/plugins/statusPage/index.js
+++ b/src/plugins/statusPage/index.js
@@ -5,13 +5,7 @@ module.exports = function (kibana) {
         title: 'Server Status',
         main: 'plugins/statusPage/statusPage',
         hidden: true,
-        url: '/status',
-
-        autoload: [].concat(
-          kibana.autoload.styles,
-          'ui/chrome',
-          'angular'
-        )
+        url: '/status'
       }
     }
   });
diff --git a/src/plugins/statusPage/public/statusPage.js b/src/plugins/statusPage/public/statusPage.js
index 6189ec0832581..38fc86a24a80a 100644
--- a/src/plugins/statusPage/public/statusPage.js
+++ b/src/plugins/statusPage/public/statusPage.js
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ var $ = require('jquery');
 var _ = require('lodash');
 var notify = require('ui/notify');
 
+require('ui/autoload/styles');
 require('plugins/statusPage/statusPageMetric');
 require('plugins/statusPage/statusPage.less');
 
diff --git a/src/server/plugins/PluginApi.js b/src/server/plugins/PluginApi.js
index 068f0deca190f..68dd0524fe860 100644
--- a/src/server/plugins/PluginApi.js
+++ b/src/server/plugins/PluginApi.js
@@ -7,11 +7,25 @@ module.exports = class PluginApi {
     this.config = kibana.config;
     this.rootDir = kibana.rootDir;
     this.package = require(join(pluginPath, 'package.json'));
-    this.autoload = require('../../ui/autoload');
     this.Plugin = Plugin.scoped(kibana, pluginPath, this.package);
   }
 
   get uiExports() {
     throw new Error('plugin.uiExports is not defined until initialize phase');
   }
+
+  get autoload() {
+    console.warn(
+      `${this.package.id} accessed the autoload lists which are no longer available via the Plugin API.` +
+      'Use the `ui/autoload/*` modules instead.'
+    );
+
+    return {
+      directives: [],
+      filters: [],
+      styles: [],
+      modules: [],
+      require: []
+    };
+  }
 };
diff --git a/src/ui/UiApp.js b/src/ui/UiApp.js
index 4e6fcaa36ef80..cd5ffce9fedd3 100644
--- a/src/ui/UiApp.js
+++ b/src/ui/UiApp.js
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 var _ = require('lodash');
 var { join } = require('path');
-var autoload = require('./autoload');
 
 class UiApp {
   constructor(uiExports, spec) {
@@ -17,10 +16,16 @@ class UiApp {
     this.description = this.spec.description;
     this.icon = this.spec.icon;
     this.hidden = this.spec.hidden;
-    this.autoloadOverrides = this.spec.autoload;
     this.templateName = this.spec.templateName || 'ui_app';
     this.url = `${spec.urlBasePath || ''}${this.spec.url || `/app/${this.id}`}`;
 
+    if (this.spec.autoload) {
+      console.warn(
+        `"autoload" (used by ${this.id} app) is no longer a valid app configuration directive.` +
+        'Use the \`ui/autoload/*\` modules instead.'
+      );
+    }
+
     // once this resolves, no reason to run it again
     this.getModules = _.once(this.getModules);
 
@@ -30,7 +35,6 @@ class UiApp {
 
   getModules() {
     return _.chain([
-      this.autoloadOverrides || autoload.require,
       this.uiExports.find(_.get(this, 'spec.uses', [])),
       this.uiExports.find(['chromeNavControls']),
     ])
diff --git a/src/ui/appEntryTemplate.js b/src/ui/appEntryTemplate.js
index 714de7ba07fce..3900409eb6564 100644
--- a/src/ui/appEntryTemplate.js
+++ b/src/ui/appEntryTemplate.js
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ ${pluginSlug}
  *
  */
 
-require('ui/chrome')
+require('ui/chrome');
 ${requires}
 require('ui/chrome').bootstrap(/* xoxo */);
 
diff --git a/src/ui/autoload.js b/src/ui/autoload.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 79ee476fd67b1..0000000000000
--- a/src/ui/autoload.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,82 +0,0 @@
-var _ = require('lodash');
-var resolve = require('path').resolve;
-var basename = require('path').basename;
-var readdir = require('fs').readdirSync;
-
-var utils = require('requirefrom')('src/utils');
-var fromRoot = utils('fromRoot');
-
-function scan(type) {
-  var dir = fromRoot('src/ui/public', type);
-
-  return _.chain(readdir(dir))
-  .reject(function (name) {
-    return name[0] === '.' || name[0] === '_';
-  })
-  .map(function (filename) {
-    var path = resolve(dir, filename);
-    var name = basename(filename, '.js');
-    return `ui/${type}/${name}`;
-  })
-  .value();
-}
-
-function findStyles() {
-  var base = ['ui/styles/theme.less', 'ui/styles/base.less'];
-  var exclude = ['ui/styles/mixins.less', 'ui/styles/variables.less'];
-  var found = scan('styles', true);
-
-  return _.difference(_.union(base, found), exclude);
-}
-
-exports.reload = function () {
-  exports.directives = scan('directives');
-  exports.filters = scan('filters');
-  exports.styles = findStyles();
-  exports.modules = [
-    'angular',
-    'ui/chrome',
-    'ui/chrome/context',
-    'ui/bind',
-    'ui/bound_to_config_obj',
-    'ui/config',
-    'ui/courier',
-    'ui/debounce',
-    'ui/doc_title',
-    'ui/elastic_textarea',
-    'ui/es',
-    'ui/events',
-    'ui/fancy_forms',
-    'ui/filter_bar',
-    'ui/filter_manager',
-    'ui/index_patterns',
-    'ui/listen',
-    'ui/notify',
-    'ui/parse_query',
-    'ui/persisted_log',
-    'ui/private',
-    'ui/promises',
-    'ui/safe_confirm',
-    'ui/state_management/app_state',
-    'ui/state_management/global_state',
-    'ui/storage',
-    'ui/stringify/register',
-    'ui/styleCompile',
-    'ui/timefilter',
-    'ui/timepicker', // TODO: remove this for 5.0
-    'ui/tooltip',
-    'ui/typeahead',
-    'ui/url',
-    'ui/validateDateInterval',
-    'ui/watch_multi'
-  ];
-
-  exports.require = _.flatten([
-    exports.directives,
-    exports.filters,
-    exports.styles,
-    exports.modules
-  ]);
-};
-
-exports.reload();
diff --git a/src/ui/public/autoload/all.js b/src/ui/public/autoload/all.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..c5a906d63aabf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ui/public/autoload/all.js
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+require('./modules');
+require('./directives');
+require('./filters');
+require('./styles');
diff --git a/src/ui/public/autoload/directives.js b/src/ui/public/autoload/directives.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..3908c3e116de1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ui/public/autoload/directives.js
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+const context = require.context('../directives', false, /[\/\\](?!\.|_)[^\/\\]+\.js/);
+context.keys().forEach(key => context(key));
diff --git a/src/ui/public/autoload/filters.js b/src/ui/public/autoload/filters.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..583d1dcead072
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ui/public/autoload/filters.js
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+const context = require.context('../filters', false, /[\/\\](?!\.|_)[^\/\\]+\.js/);
+context.keys().forEach(key => context(key));
diff --git a/src/ui/public/autoload/modules.js b/src/ui/public/autoload/modules.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..533f05236d2c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ui/public/autoload/modules.js
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+require('angular');
+require('ui/chrome');
+require('ui/chrome/context');
+require('ui/bind');
+require('ui/bound_to_config_obj');
+require('ui/config');
+require('ui/courier');
+require('ui/debounce');
+require('ui/doc_title');
+require('ui/elastic_textarea');
+require('ui/es');
+require('ui/events');
+require('ui/fancy_forms');
+require('ui/filter_bar');
+require('ui/filter_manager');
+require('ui/index_patterns');
+require('ui/listen');
+require('ui/notify');
+require('ui/parse_query');
+require('ui/persisted_log');
+require('ui/private');
+require('ui/promises');
+require('ui/safe_confirm');
+require('ui/state_management/app_state');
+require('ui/state_management/global_state');
+require('ui/storage');
+require('ui/stringify/register');
+require('ui/styleCompile');
+require('ui/timefilter');
+require('ui/tooltip');
+require('ui/typeahead');
+require('ui/url');
+require('ui/validateDateInterval');
+require('ui/watch_multi');
diff --git a/src/ui/public/autoload/styles.js b/src/ui/public/autoload/styles.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..040094a9ce921
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ui/public/autoload/styles.js
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+const context = require.context('../styles', false, /[\/\\](?!mixins|variables|_|\.)[^\/\\]+\.less/);
+context.keys().forEach(key => context(key));