diff --git a/.github/actions/find/action.yml b/.github/actions/find/action.yml
index fb53d901..3e66cd6b 100644
--- a/.github/actions/find/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/find/action.yml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ inputs:
     required: false
     default: 'false'
   scans:
-    description: 'Stringified JSON array of scans to perform. If not provided, only Axe will be performed'
+    description: "Stringified JSON array of scans to perform. Each entry is either a scan/plugin name (string) or, for a first-party NPM-published plugin, an object with 'name', 'package', and optional 'version'. If not provided, only Axe will be performed"
     required: false
   reduced_motion:
     description: 'Playwright reducedMotion setting: https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-browser#browser-new-page-option-reduced-motion'
diff --git a/.github/actions/find/src/findForUrl.ts b/.github/actions/find/src/findForUrl.ts
index ea4f1e18..6827eeb6 100644
--- a/.github/actions/find/src/findForUrl.ts
+++ b/.github/actions/find/src/findForUrl.ts
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ export async function findForUrl(
     const scansContext = getScansContext()
 
     if (scansContext.shouldRunPlugins) {
-      const plugins = await loadPlugins()
+      const plugins = await loadPlugins(scansContext.npmPlugins)
       for (const plugin of plugins) {
         if (scansContext.scansToPerform.includes(plugin.name)) {
           core.info(`Running plugin: ${plugin.name}`)
diff --git a/.github/actions/find/src/pluginManager/index.ts b/.github/actions/find/src/pluginManager/index.ts
index c6ec5d71..ae197641 100644
--- a/.github/actions/find/src/pluginManager/index.ts
+++ b/.github/actions/find/src/pluginManager/index.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@ import * as path from 'path'
 import {fileURLToPath} from 'url'
 import * as core from '@actions/core'
 import {loadPluginViaJsFile, loadPluginViaTsFile} from './pluginFileLoaders.js'
-import type {Plugin, PluginDefaultParams} from './types.js'
+import {loadPluginViaNpm} from './npmPluginLoader.js'
+import type {NpmPluginRequest, Plugin, PluginDefaultParams} from './types.js'
 
 // Helper to get __dirname equivalent in ES Modules
 const __filename = fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)
@@ -20,12 +21,13 @@ export function getPlugins() {
 }
 let pluginsLoaded = false
 
-export async function loadPlugins() {
+export async function loadPlugins(npmPlugins: NpmPluginRequest[] = []) {
   try {
     if (!pluginsLoaded) {
       core.info('loading plugins')
       await loadBuiltInPlugins()
       await loadCustomPlugins()
+      await loadNpmPlugins(npmPlugins)
     }
   } catch {
     plugins.length = 0
@@ -55,7 +57,7 @@ export async function loadBuiltInPlugins() {
   await loadPluginsFromPath({pluginsPath})
 }
 
-// exported for mocking/testing. not for actual use
+// export to be used for mocking/testing. not for actual use
 export async function loadCustomPlugins() {
   core.info('Loading custom plugins')
   const pluginsPath = path.join(process.cwd(), '.github/scanner-plugins/')
@@ -75,6 +77,53 @@ export async function loadCustomPlugins() {
   await loadPluginsFromPath({pluginsPath, skipBuiltInPlugins: BUILT_IN_PLUGINS})
 }
 
+// First-party packages allowed to be installed and loaded from NPM.
+const FIRST_PARTY_NPM_PLUGINS = ['@github/accessibility-scanner-alt-text-plugin']
+
+// exported for mocking/testing. not for actual use
+export async function loadNpmPlugins(npmPlugins: NpmPluginRequest[]) {
+  if (npmPlugins.length === 0) {
+    return
+  }
+  core.info('Loading NPM plugins')
+
+  for (const request of npmPlugins) {
+    // Only install first-party packages.
+    if (!FIRST_PARTY_NPM_PLUGINS.includes(request.package)) {
+      core.warning(`Skipping NPM plugin '${request.package}' because it is not a first-party package`)
+      continue
+    }
+
+    const plugin = await loadPluginViaNpm(request)
+    if (!plugin) {
+      continue
+    }
+
+    // Validate the package actually exports a usable plugin.
+    if (typeof plugin.name !== 'string' || typeof plugin.default !== 'function') {
+      core.warning(`Skipping NPM plugin '${request.package}' because it does not export a valid plugin`)
+      continue
+    }
+
+    // The requested name (in 'scans') gates invocation, so a mismatch means the plugin would load but never run.
+    if (plugin.name !== request.name) {
+      core.warning(
+        `Skipping NPM plugin '${request.package}' because it exported name '${plugin.name}', which does not match requested name '${request.name}'`,
+      )
+      continue
+    }
+
+    // Built-in and local plugins take precedence over NPM ones of the same name.
+    if (plugins.some(existing => existing.name === plugin.name)) {
+      core.info(`Skipping NPM plugin '${plugin.name}' because a plugin with that name is already loaded`)
+      continue
+    }
+
+    core.info(`Found NPM plugin: ${plugin.name}`)
+    plugins.push(plugin)
+  }
+}
+
 // exported for mocking/testing. not for actual use
 export async function loadPluginsFromPath({
   pluginsPath,
diff --git a/.github/actions/find/src/pluginManager/npmPluginLoader.ts b/.github/actions/find/src/pluginManager/npmPluginLoader.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ce30524b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/actions/find/src/pluginManager/npmPluginLoader.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+import {execFileSync} from 'child_process'
+import * as core from '@actions/core'
+import type {NpmPluginRequest, Plugin} from './types.js'
+
+// Install the package at runtime.
+export function installNpmPackage(spec: string) {
+  execFileSync('npm', ['install', spec, '--no-save', '--no-package-lock', '--ignore-scripts'], {stdio: 'inherit'})
+}
+
+// Install and import a single NPM-published plugin
+export async function loadPluginViaNpm(request: NpmPluginRequest): Promise<Plugin | undefined> {
+  const spec = request.version ? `${request.package}@${request.version}` : request.package
+  try {
+    core.info(`Installing NPM plugin: ${spec}`)
+    installNpmPackage(spec)
+    // Import the bare package specifier as-is; pathToFileURL would mangle it.
+    const imported = await import(request.package)
+    return imported as Plugin
+  } catch (e) {
+    core.warning(`Failed to load NPM plugin '${spec}': ${e}`)
+    return undefined
+  }
+}
diff --git a/.github/actions/find/src/pluginManager/types.ts b/.github/actions/find/src/pluginManager/types.ts
index 8fbb315d..65b82469 100644
--- a/.github/actions/find/src/pluginManager/types.ts
+++ b/.github/actions/find/src/pluginManager/types.ts
@@ -10,3 +10,10 @@ export type Plugin = {
   name: string
   default: (options: PluginDefaultParams) => Promise<void>
 }
+
+// A plugin requested from an NPM package rather than a local folder.
+export type NpmPluginRequest = {
+  name: string
+  package: string
+  version?: string
+}
diff --git a/.github/actions/find/src/scansContextProvider.ts b/.github/actions/find/src/scansContextProvider.ts
index 014c6d58..047f142c 100644
--- a/.github/actions/find/src/scansContextProvider.ts
+++ b/.github/actions/find/src/scansContextProvider.ts
@@ -1,16 +1,46 @@
 import * as core from '@actions/core'
+import type {NpmPluginRequest} from './pluginManager/types.js'
 
 type ScansContext = {
   scansToPerform: Array<string>
+  npmPlugins: NpmPluginRequest[]
   shouldPerformAxeScan: boolean
   shouldRunPlugins: boolean
 }
 let scansContext: ScansContext | undefined
 
+// A scans entry is either a plain name (core engine or local plugin folder) or
+// an object describing an NPM-published plugin to install and load.
+type ScanEntry = string | {name?: unknown; package?: unknown; version?: unknown}
+
 export function getScansContext() {
   if (!scansContext) {
     const scansInput = core.getInput('scans', {required: false})
-    const scansToPerform = JSON.parse(scansInput || '[]')
+    const parsed = JSON.parse(scansInput || '[]')
+    // Fail early with a clear message instead of a cryptic 'not iterable' error later.
+    if (!Array.isArray(parsed)) {
+      throw new Error(`'scans' input must be a JSON array, got: ${scansInput}`)
+    }
+    const rawScans = parsed as ScanEntry[]
+
+    // scansToPerform holds the name of every scan/plugin to run
+    const scansToPerform: string[] = []
+    const npmPlugins: NpmPluginRequest[] = []
+    for (const entry of rawScans) {
+      if (typeof entry === 'string') {
+        scansToPerform.push(entry)
+      } else if (entry && typeof entry.name === 'string' && typeof entry.package === 'string') {
+        scansToPerform.push(entry.name)
+        npmPlugins.push({
+          name: entry.name,
+          package: entry.package,
+          version: typeof entry.version === 'string' ? entry.version : undefined,
+        })
+      } else {
+        core.warning(`Ignoring invalid 'scans' entry: ${JSON.stringify(entry)}`)
+      }
+    }
+
     // - if we don't have a scans input
     //   or we do have a scans input, but it only has 1 item and its 'axe'
     //   then we only want to run 'axe' and not the plugins
@@ -19,6 +49,7 @@ export function getScansContext() {
 
     scansContext = {
       scansToPerform,
+      npmPlugins,
       // - if no 'scans' input is provided, we default to the existing behavior
       //   (only axe scan) for backwards compatability.
       // - we can enforce using the 'scans' input in a future major release and
diff --git a/.github/actions/find/tests/findForUrl.test.ts b/.github/actions/find/tests/findForUrl.test.ts
index 54244885..dd48dd81 100644
--- a/.github/actions/find/tests/findForUrl.test.ts
+++ b/.github/actions/find/tests/findForUrl.test.ts
@@ -116,6 +116,17 @@ describe('findForUrl', () => {
       expect(loadedPlugins[0].default).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
       expect(loadedPlugins[1].default).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(0)
     })
+
+    it('forwards object-form NPM plugin entries to loadPlugins', async () => {
+      loadedPlugins = []
+      actionInput = JSON.stringify([{name: 'alt-text-scan', package: '@github/accessibility-scanner-alt-text-plugin'}])
+      clearAll()
+
+      await findForUrl('test.com')
+      expect(pluginManager.loadPlugins).toHaveBeenCalledWith([
+        {name: 'alt-text-scan', package: '@github/accessibility-scanner-alt-text-plugin', version: undefined},
+      ])
+    })
   })
 
   describe('axe finding categorization', () => {
diff --git a/.github/actions/find/tests/npmPluginLoader.test.ts b/.github/actions/find/tests/npmPluginLoader.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..30a6560b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/actions/find/tests/npmPluginLoader.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+import {describe, it, expect, vi, beforeEach} from 'vitest'
+
+import * as childProcess from 'child_process'
+import * as core from '@actions/core'
+import * as pluginManager from '../src/pluginManager/index.js'
+import * as npmPluginLoader from '../src/pluginManager/npmPluginLoader.js'
+import type {Plugin} from '../src/pluginManager/types.js'
+
+vi.mock('child_process', {spy: true})
+vi.mock('@actions/core', {spy: true})
+vi.mock('../src/pluginManager/npmPluginLoader.js', {spy: true})
+
+const ALLOWED = '@github/accessibility-scanner-alt-text-plugin'
+
+describe('npmPluginLoader', () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    vi.restoreAllMocks()
+    vi.clearAllMocks()
+  })
+
+  describe('installNpmPackage', () => {
+    it('installs with --no-save, --no-package-lock and --ignore-scripts', () => {
+      const execSpy = vi.spyOn(childProcess, 'execFileSync').mockImplementation(() => Buffer.from(''))
+      npmPluginLoader.installNpmPackage('some-pkg@1.0.0')
+      expect(execSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+        'npm',
+        ['install', 'some-pkg@1.0.0', '--no-save', '--no-package-lock', '--ignore-scripts'],
+        {
+          stdio: 'inherit',
+        },
+      )
+    })
+  })
+
+  describe('loadPluginViaNpm', () => {
+    it('pins the version in the install spec', async () => {
+      const execSpy = vi.spyOn(childProcess, 'execFileSync').mockImplementation(() => Buffer.from(''))
+      await npmPluginLoader.loadPluginViaNpm({name: 'p', package: 'nonexistent-pkg-xyz', version: '2.3.4'})
+      expect(execSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+        'npm',
+        ['install', 'nonexistent-pkg-xyz@2.3.4', '--no-save', '--no-package-lock', '--ignore-scripts'],
+        {stdio: 'inherit'},
+      )
+    })
+
+    it('returns undefined and warns when loading fails', async () => {
+      vi.spyOn(childProcess, 'execFileSync').mockImplementation(() => Buffer.from(''))
+      const warnSpy = vi.spyOn(core, 'warning').mockImplementation(() => {})
+      const plugin = await npmPluginLoader.loadPluginViaNpm({name: 'p', package: 'nonexistent-pkg-xyz'})
+      expect(plugin).toBeUndefined()
+      expect(warnSpy).toHaveBeenCalled()
+    })
+  })
+})
+
+describe('loadNpmPlugins', () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    vi.restoreAllMocks()
+    vi.clearAllMocks()
+    pluginManager.clearCache()
+  })
+
+  it('loads a plugin from a first-party package', async () => {
+    vi.spyOn(npmPluginLoader, 'loadPluginViaNpm').mockResolvedValue({name: 'alt-text-scan', default: vi.fn()})
+    await pluginManager.loadNpmPlugins([{name: 'alt-text-scan', package: ALLOWED}])
+    expect(pluginManager.getPlugins().map(plugin => plugin.name)).toContain('alt-text-scan')
+  })
+
+  it('skips and warns when a package is not first-party', async () => {
+    const loadSpy = vi.spyOn(npmPluginLoader, 'loadPluginViaNpm').mockResolvedValue(undefined)
+    const warnSpy = vi.spyOn(core, 'warning').mockImplementation(() => {})
+    await pluginManager.loadNpmPlugins([{name: 'evil', package: 'evil-pkg'}])
+    expect(loadSpy).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+    expect(warnSpy).toHaveBeenCalled()
+    expect(pluginManager.getPlugins().length).toBe(0)
+  })
+
+  it('skips a package that does not export a valid plugin', async () => {
+    vi.spyOn(npmPluginLoader, 'loadPluginViaNpm').mockResolvedValue({name: 'bad'} as unknown as Plugin)
+    const warnSpy = vi.spyOn(core, 'warning').mockImplementation(() => {})
+    await pluginManager.loadNpmPlugins([{name: 'bad', package: ALLOWED}])
+    expect(warnSpy).toHaveBeenCalled()
+    expect(pluginManager.getPlugins().length).toBe(0)
+  })
+
+  it('skips an NPM plugin whose exported name does not match the requested name', async () => {
+    vi.spyOn(npmPluginLoader, 'loadPluginViaNpm').mockResolvedValue({name: 'actual-name', default: vi.fn()})
+    const warnSpy = vi.spyOn(core, 'warning').mockImplementation(() => {})
+    await pluginManager.loadNpmPlugins([{name: 'requested-name', package: ALLOWED}])
+    expect(warnSpy).toHaveBeenCalled()
+    expect(pluginManager.getPlugins().length).toBe(0)
+  })
+
+  it('skips an NPM plugin whose name collides with an already-loaded plugin', async () => {
+    pluginManager.getPlugins().push({name: 'dup', default: vi.fn()})
+    vi.spyOn(npmPluginLoader, 'loadPluginViaNpm').mockResolvedValue({name: 'dup', default: vi.fn()})
+    await pluginManager.loadNpmPlugins([{name: 'dup', package: ALLOWED}])
+    expect(pluginManager.getPlugins().filter(plugin => plugin.name === 'dup').length).toBe(1)
+  })
+})
diff --git a/PLUGINS.md b/PLUGINS.md
index 7f3058fa..f65ac0ef 100644
--- a/PLUGINS.md
+++ b/PLUGINS.md
@@ -43,6 +43,36 @@ jobs:
           # ... the rest of the workflow setup
 ```
 
+## Loading plugins from NPM packages
+
+In addition to local plugins under `./.github/scanner-plugins`, the scanner can install and load plugins published as NPM packages. This avoids having to vendor a plugin's source into your repo.
+
+To use an NPM plugin, pass an object (instead of a plain string) in the `scans` input with the following fields:
+
+- `name` — the plugin name exported by the package (used to match against `scans`, same as local plugins).
+- `package` — the NPM package name to install.
+- `version` — (optional) a version or dist-tag to pin. If omitted, the latest version is installed.
+
+Only the set of first-party packages may be loaded from NPM. Any other package is skipped with a warning.
+
+```yaml
+jobs:
+  accessibility_scanner:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
+      - uses: github/accessibility-scanner@v3
+        with:
+          scans: |
+            ["axe", {"name": "alt-text-scan", "package": "@github/accessibility-scanner-alt-text-plugin", "version": "1.0.0"}]
+```
+
+Notes:
+
+- Packages are installed at runtime with `npm install --ignore-scripts`, so install/postinstall scripts in the package will not run. Pin a `version` to avoid silently picking up future releases.
+- If an NPM plugin shares a name with a built-in or local plugin, the built-in/local plugin wins and the NPM one is skipped.
+- Plugin configuration works the same as local plugins: place a config-only folder at `./.github/scanner-plugins/<name>/config.json` in your repo (the plugin reads its config relative to the repo you run the workflow from).
+
 ## Things to look out for
 
 - Plugin names should be unique. If multiple plugins have the same name, and the `scans` input array contains this name, all the plugins with that name _will_ run. However, this is not advised because if you want to turn off one plugin, you'll have to go back and change that plugin name.