diff --git a/Android.bp b/Android.bp
index eefa149e9..c627fdc62 100644
--- a/Android.bp
+++ b/Android.bp
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ bootstrap_go_package {
     ],
     srcs: [
         "android/androidmk.go",
+        "android/apex.go",
         "android/api_levels.go",
         "android/arch.go",
         "android/config.go",
diff --git a/android/apex.go b/android/apex.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..dae88cecc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/android/apex.go
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+// Copyright 2018 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package android
+
+// ApexModule is the interface that a module type is expected to implement if
+// the module has to be built differently depending on whether the module
+// is destined for an apex or not (installed to one of the regular partitions).
+//
+// Native shared libraries are one such module type; when it is built for an
+// APEX, it should depend only on stable interfaces such as NDK, stable AIDL,
+// or C APIs from other APEXs.
+//
+// A module implementing this interface will be mutated into multiple
+// variations by the apex mutator if it is directly or indirectly included
+// in one or more APEXs. Specifically, if a module is included in apex.foo and
+// apex.bar then three apex variants are created: platform, apex.foo and
+// apex.bar. The platform variant is for the regular partitions
+// (e.g., /system or /vendor, etc.) while the other two are for the APEXs,
+// respectively.
+type ApexModule interface {
+	Module
+	apexModuleBase() *ApexModuleBase
+
+	// Marks that this module should be built for the APEX of the specified name
+	BuildForApex(apexName string)
+
+	// Tests whether this module will be built for the platform or not (= APEXs)
+	IsForPlatform() bool
+
+	// Returns the name of APEX that this module will be built for. Empty string
+	// is returned when 'IsForPlatform() == true'. Note that a module can be
+	// included to multiple APEXs, in which case, the module is mutated into
+	// multiple modules each of which for an APEX. This method returns the
+	// name of the APEX that a variant module is for.
+	ApexName() string
+
+	// Tests if this module can have APEX variants. APEX variants are
+	// created only for the modules that returns true here. This is useful
+	// for not creating APEX variants for shared libraries such as NDK stubs.
+	CanHaveApexVariants() bool
+
+	// Tests if this module can be installed to APEX as a file. For example,
+	// this would return true for shared libs while return false for static
+	// libs.
+	IsInstallableToApex() bool
+}
+
+type ApexProperties struct {
+	ApexName string `blueprint:"mutated"`
+}
+
+// Provides default implementation for the ApexModule interface. APEX-aware
+// modules are expected to include this struct and call InitApexModule().
+type ApexModuleBase struct {
+	ApexProperties ApexProperties
+
+	canHaveApexVariants bool
+}
+
+func (m *ApexModuleBase) apexModuleBase() *ApexModuleBase {
+	return m
+}
+
+func (m *ApexModuleBase) BuildForApex(apexName string) {
+	m.ApexProperties.ApexName = apexName
+}
+
+func (m *ApexModuleBase) IsForPlatform() bool {
+	return m.ApexProperties.ApexName == ""
+}
+
+func (m *ApexModuleBase) ApexName() string {
+	return m.ApexProperties.ApexName
+}
+
+func (m *ApexModuleBase) CanHaveApexVariants() bool {
+	return m.canHaveApexVariants
+}
+
+func (m *ApexModuleBase) IsInstallableToApex() bool {
+	// should be overriden if needed
+	return false
+}
+
+func InitApexModule(m ApexModule) {
+	base := m.apexModuleBase()
+	base.canHaveApexVariants = true
+
+	m.AddProperties(&base.ApexProperties)
+}
diff --git a/cc/androidmk.go b/cc/androidmk.go
index 5daacb7e4..324b5bc38 100644
--- a/cc/androidmk.go
+++ b/cc/androidmk.go
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ func (c *Module) subAndroidMk(data *android.AndroidMkData, obj interface{}) {
 }
 
 func (c *Module) AndroidMk() android.AndroidMkData {
-	if c.Properties.HideFromMake {
+	if c.Properties.HideFromMake || !c.IsForPlatform() {
 		return android.AndroidMkData{
 			Disabled: true,
 		}
diff --git a/cc/cc.go b/cc/cc.go
index 5f3baeacc..6320b9c36 100644
--- a/cc/cc.go
+++ b/cc/cc.go
@@ -320,6 +320,7 @@ var (
 type Module struct {
 	android.ModuleBase
 	android.DefaultableModuleBase
+	android.ApexModuleBase
 
 	Properties       BaseProperties
 	VendorProperties VendorProperties
@@ -416,6 +417,8 @@ func (c *Module) Init() android.Module {
 
 	android.InitDefaultableModule(c)
 
+	android.InitApexModule(c)
+
 	return c
 }
 
@@ -794,7 +797,7 @@ func (c *Module) GenerateAndroidBuildActions(actx android.ModuleContext) {
 		c.outputFile = android.OptionalPathForPath(outputFile)
 	}
 
-	if c.installer != nil && !c.Properties.PreventInstall && c.outputFile.Valid() {
+	if c.installer != nil && !c.Properties.PreventInstall && c.IsForPlatform() && c.outputFile.Valid() {
 		c.installer.install(ctx, c.outputFile.Path())
 		if ctx.Failed() {
 			return
@@ -1511,12 +1514,24 @@ func (c *Module) getMakeLinkType() string {
 	}
 }
 
+// Overrides ApexModule.IsInstallabeToApex()
+// Only shared libraries are installable to APEX.
+func (c *Module) IsInstallableToApex() bool {
+	if shared, ok := c.linker.(interface {
+		shared() bool
+	}); ok {
+		return shared.shared()
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
 //
 // Defaults
 //
 type Defaults struct {
 	android.ModuleBase
 	android.DefaultsModuleBase
+	android.ApexModuleBase
 }
 
 func (*Defaults) GenerateAndroidBuildActions(ctx android.ModuleContext) {
@@ -1558,6 +1573,7 @@ func DefaultsFactory(props ...interface{}) android.Module {
 	)
 
 	android.InitDefaultsModule(module)
+	android.InitApexModule(module)
 
 	return module
 }