diff --git a/src/node/plugin.ts b/src/node/plugin.ts
index ce424770..9523782b 100644
--- a/src/node/plugin.ts
+++ b/src/node/plugin.ts
@@ -60,6 +60,8 @@ export class PluginAPI {
       // Add plugin key to each app.
       apps.push(
         ...pluginApps.map((app) => {
+          app = {...app, path: path.join(p.routerPath, app.path || "")}
+          app = {...app, iconPath: path.join(app.path || "", app.iconPath)}
           return {
             ...app,
             plugin: {
@@ -69,7 +71,7 @@ export class PluginAPI {
 
               displayName: p.displayName,
               description: p.description,
-              path: p.path,
+              routerPath: p.routerPath,
             },
           }
         }),
@@ -192,8 +194,8 @@ export class PluginAPI {
     if (!p.description) {
       throw new Error("plugin missing description")
     }
-    if (!p.path) {
-      throw new Error("plugin missing path")
+    if (!p.routerPath) {
+      throw new Error("plugin missing router path")
     }
 
     p.init({
diff --git a/test/plugin.test.ts b/test/plugin.test.ts
index 8c419139..bc13fc80 100644
--- a/test/plugin.test.ts
+++ b/test/plugin.test.ts
@@ -21,7 +21,8 @@ describe("plugin", () => {
           version: "4.0.0",
 
           description: "This app does XYZ.",
-          iconPath: "/icon.svg",
+          iconPath: "/test-plugin/test-app/icon.svg",
+          path: "/test-plugin/test-app",
 
           plugin: {
             name: "test-plugin",
@@ -30,7 +31,7 @@ describe("plugin", () => {
 
             displayName: "Test Plugin",
             description: "Plugin used in code-server tests.",
-            path: "/test-plugin",
+            routerPath: "/test-plugin",
           },
         },
       ],
diff --git a/test/test-plugin/Makefile b/test/test-plugin/Makefile
index fb66dc81..d01aa80a 100644
--- a/test/test-plugin/Makefile
+++ b/test/test-plugin/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 out/index.js: src/index.ts
-	yarn build
+	# Typescript always emits, even on errors.
+	yarn build || rm out/index.js
 
 node_modules: package.json yarn.lock
 	yarn
diff --git a/test/test-plugin/src/index.ts b/test/test-plugin/src/index.ts
index f9f316b4..16120331 100644
--- a/test/test-plugin/src/index.ts
+++ b/test/test-plugin/src/index.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import * as fspath from "path"
 import * as pluginapi from "../../../typings/pluginapi"
 
 export const displayName = "Test Plugin"
-export const path = "/test-plugin"
+export const routerPath = "/test-plugin"
 export const description = "Plugin used in code-server tests."
 
 export function init(config: pluginapi.PluginConfig) {
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ export function applications(): pluginapi.Application[] {
       name: "Test App",
       version: "4.0.0",
       iconPath: "/icon.svg",
+      path: "/test-app",
 
       description: "This app does XYZ.",
     },
diff --git a/typings/pluginapi.d.ts b/typings/pluginapi.d.ts
index 7b61c4ce..dbb985a5 100644
--- a/typings/pluginapi.d.ts
+++ b/typings/pluginapi.d.ts
@@ -45,7 +45,9 @@ import * as express from "express"
  *
  * There is also a /api/applications endpoint to allow programmatic access to all
  * available applications. It could be used to create a custom application dashboard
- * for example.
+ * for example. An important difference with the API is that all application paths
+ * will be absolute (i.e have the plugin path prepended) so that they may be used
+ * directly.
  */
 
 /**
@@ -60,30 +62,30 @@ export interface Plugin {
    *
    * Fetched from package.json.
    */
-  name?: string
+  readonly name?: string
 
   /**
    * The version for the plugin in the overlay.
    *
    * Fetched from package.json.
    */
-  version?: string
+  readonly version?: string
 
   /**
    * Name used in the overlay.
    */
-  displayName: string
+  readonly displayName: string
 
   /**
    * Used in overlay.
    * Should be a full sentence describing the plugin.
    */
-  description: string
+  readonly description: string
 
   /**
    * The path at which the plugin router is to be registered.
    */
-  path: string
+  readonly routerPath: string
 
   /**
    * init is called so that the plugin may initialize itself with the config.