diff --git a/agent/agent.go b/agent/agent.go
index d86037e79edeb..46169a0769267 100644
--- a/agent/agent.go
+++ b/agent/agent.go
@@ -270,12 +270,18 @@ func (a *Agent) flusher(shutdown chan struct{}, metricC chan telegraf.Metric) er
 		case <-ticker.C:
 			internal.RandomSleep(a.Config.Agent.FlushJitter.Duration, shutdown)
 			a.flush()
-		case m := <-metricC:
-			for i, o := range a.Config.Outputs {
-				if i == len(a.Config.Outputs)-1 {
-					o.AddMetric(m)
-				} else {
-					o.AddMetric(copyMetric(m))
+		case metric := <-metricC:
+			mS := []telegraf.Metric{metric}
+			for _, filter := range a.Config.Filters {
+				mS = filter.FilterPlugin.Apply(mS...)
+			}
+			for _, m := range mS {
+				for i, o := range a.Config.Outputs {
+					if i == len(a.Config.Outputs)-1 {
+						o.AddMetric(m)
+					} else {
+						o.AddMetric(copyMetric(m))
+					}
 				}
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/filter.go b/filter.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..83e5e2542a367
--- /dev/null
+++ b/filter.go
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+package telegraf
+
+type FilterPlugin interface {
+	// SampleConfig returns the default configuration of the Input
+	SampleConfig() string
+
+	// Description returns a one-sentence description on the Input
+	Description() string
+
+	// Apply the filter to the given metric
+	Apply(in ...Metric) []Metric
+}
diff --git a/internal/config/config.go b/internal/config/config.go
index 30e62789023ec..263107a1de927 100644
--- a/internal/config/config.go
+++ b/internal/config/config.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/internal"
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/internal/models"
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/plugins/filters"
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/plugins/inputs"
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/plugins/outputs"
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/plugins/parsers"
@@ -50,6 +51,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	Agent   *AgentConfig
 	Inputs  []*models.RunningInput
 	Outputs []*models.RunningOutput
+	Filters []*models.RunningFilterPlugin
 }
 
 func NewConfig() *Config {
@@ -64,6 +66,7 @@ func NewConfig() *Config {
 		Tags:          make(map[string]string),
 		Inputs:        make([]*models.RunningInput, 0),
 		Outputs:       make([]*models.RunningOutput, 0),
+		Filters:       make([]*models.RunningFilterPlugin, 0),
 		InputFilters:  make([]string, 0),
 		OutputFilters: make([]string, 0),
 	}
@@ -532,6 +535,24 @@ func (c *Config) LoadConfig(path string) error {
 						pluginName, path)
 				}
 			}
+		case "filter":
+			for pluginName, pluginVal := range subTable.Fields {
+				switch pluginSubTable := pluginVal.(type) {
+				case *ast.Table:
+					if err = c.addFilterPlugin(pluginName, pluginSubTable); err != nil {
+						return fmt.Errorf("Error parsing %s, %s", path, err)
+					}
+				case []*ast.Table:
+					for _, t := range pluginSubTable {
+						if err = c.addFilterPlugin(pluginName, t); err != nil {
+							return fmt.Errorf("Error parsing %s, %s", path, err)
+						}
+					}
+				default:
+					return fmt.Errorf("Unsupported config format: %s, file %s",
+						pluginName, path)
+				}
+			}
 		// Assume it's an input input for legacy config file support if no other
 		// identifiers are present
 		default:
@@ -572,6 +593,32 @@ func parseFile(fpath string) (*ast.Table, error) {
 	return toml.Parse(contents)
 }
 
+func (c *Config) addFilterPlugin(name string, table *ast.Table) error {
+	creator, ok := filters.Filters[name]
+	if !ok {
+		return fmt.Errorf("Undefined but requested filter: %s", name)
+	}
+	filter := creator()
+
+	filterConfig, err := buildFilterPlugin(name, table)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if err := config.UnmarshalTable(table, filter); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	rf := &models.RunningFilterPlugin{
+		Name:         name,
+		FilterPlugin: filter,
+		Config:       filterConfig,
+	}
+
+	c.Filters = append(c.Filters, rf)
+	return nil
+}
+
 func (c *Config) addOutput(name string, table *ast.Table) error {
 	if len(c.OutputFilters) > 0 && !sliceContains(name, c.OutputFilters) {
 		return nil
@@ -652,6 +699,25 @@ func (c *Config) addInput(name string, table *ast.Table) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// buildFilterPlugin TODO doc
+func buildFilterPlugin(name string, tbl *ast.Table) (*models.FilterPluginConfig, error) {
+	conf := &models.FilterPluginConfig{Name: name}
+	unsupportedFields := []string{"pass", "fieldpass", "drop", "fielddrop",
+		"tagexclude", "taginclude"}
+	for _, field := range unsupportedFields {
+		if _, ok := tbl.Fields[field]; ok {
+			// TODO raise error because field is not supported
+		}
+	}
+
+	var err error
+	conf.Filter, err = buildFilter(tbl)
+	if err != nil {
+		return conf, err
+	}
+	return conf, nil
+}
+
 // buildFilter builds a Filter
 // (tagpass/tagdrop/namepass/namedrop/fieldpass/fielddrop) to
 // be inserted into the models.OutputConfig/models.InputConfig
diff --git a/internal/models/running_filter.go b/internal/models/running_filter.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..67397d2ebfdc6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/models/running_filter.go
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+package models
+
+import (
+	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+)
+
+type RunningFilterPlugin struct {
+	Name         string
+	FilterPlugin telegraf.FilterPlugin
+	Config       *FilterPluginConfig
+}
+
+// FilterConfig containing a name and filter
+type FilterPluginConfig struct {
+	Name   string
+	Filter Filter
+}
diff --git a/plugins/filters/all/all.go b/plugins/filters/all/all.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..a3beb17d4f638
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/filters/all/all.go
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+package all
+
+import ()
diff --git a/plugins/filters/registry.go b/plugins/filters/registry.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..53f0174ddc603
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/filters/registry.go
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+package filters
+
+import "github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
+
+type Creator func() telegraf.FilterPlugin
+
+var Filters = map[string]Creator{}
+
+func Add(name string, creator Creator) {
+	Filters[name] = creator
+}