diff --git a/lib/api/actions/shutdown.c b/lib/api/actions/shutdown.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..36e670ebc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/api/actions/shutdown.c
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+/** The "shutdown" API action.
+ *
+ * @author Steffen Vogel <stvogel@eonerc.rwth-aachen.de>
+ * @copyright 2017, Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems, EONERC
+ * @license GNU General Public License (version 3)
+ *
+ * VILLASnode
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ *********************************************************************************/
+
+#include "plugin.h"
+#include "api.h"
+
+static int api_shutdown(struct api_action *h, json_t *args, json_t **resp, struct api_session *s)
+{
+	killme(SIGTERM);
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static struct plugin p = {
+	.name = "shutdown",
+	.description = "stop VILLASnode",
+	.type = PLUGIN_TYPE_API,
+	.api.cb = api_shutdown
+};
+
+REGISTER_PLUGIN(&p)