diff --git a/src/commands.cc b/src/commands.cc
index 8ab2810a..f369c9de 100644
--- a/src/commands.cc
+++ b/src/commands.cc
@@ -609,35 +609,6 @@ void exec_commands_in_file(const CommandParameters& params,
     CommandManager::instance().execute(file_content, context);
 }
 
-void exec_commands_in_runtime_file(const CommandParameters& params,
-                                   Context& context)
-{
-    if (params.size() != 1)
-        throw wrong_argument_count();
-
-    const String& filename = params[0];
-    char buffer[2048];
-#if defined(__linux__)
-    ssize_t res = readlink("/proc/self/exe", buffer, 2048 - (int)filename.length());
-    assert(res != -1);
-    buffer[res] = '\0';
-#elif defined(__APPLE__)
-    uint32_t bufsize = 2048 - (int)filename.length();
-    _NSGetExecutablePath(buffer, &bufsize);
-    char* canonical_path = realpath(buffer, NULL);
-    strncpy(buffer, canonical_path, 2048 - (int)filename.length());
-    free(canonical_path);
-#else
-# error "finding executable path is not implemented on this platform"
-#endif
-    char* ptr = strrchr(buffer, '/');
-    if (ptr)
-    {
-        strcpy(ptr+1, filename.c_str());
-        exec_commands_in_file(CommandParameters(buffer), context);
-    }
-}
-
 void set_option(OptionManager& option_manager, const CommandParameters& params,
                 Context& context)
 {
@@ -849,7 +820,6 @@ void register_commands()
     cm.register_command("hook", add_hook);
 
     cm.register_command("source", exec_commands_in_file, filename_completer);
-    cm.register_command("runtime", exec_commands_in_runtime_file);
 
     cm.register_command("exec", exec_string);
     cm.register_command("menu", menu);
diff --git a/src/kakrc b/src/kakrc
index a33210af..75ed1c7b 100644
--- a/src/kakrc
+++ b/src/kakrc
@@ -1,11 +1,4 @@
 hook global WinCreate .* %{ addhl regex \h+(?=\n) 0:default,red }
 hook global WinCreate .* %{ addhl number_lines }
 
-runtime rc/cpp.kak
-runtime rc/kakrc.kak
-runtime rc/asciidoc.kak
-runtime rc/git.kak
-runtime rc/global.kak
-runtime rc/diff.kak
-runtime rc/make.kak
-runtime rc/grep.kak
+%sh{ for rcfile in ${kak_runtime}/rc/*; do echo "try %{ source '${rcfile}' } catch %{ }"; done }
diff --git a/src/main.cc b/src/main.cc
index 8dd9e30b..b19ddd58 100644
--- a/src/main.cc
+++ b/src/main.cc
@@ -302,6 +302,28 @@ void select_to_next_char(Context& context)
    });
 }
 
+String runtime_directory()
+{
+    char buffer[2048];
+#if defined(__linux__)
+    ssize_t res = readlink("/proc/self/exe", buffer, 2048);
+    assert(res != -1);
+    buffer[res] = '\0';
+#elif defined(__APPLE__)
+    uint32_t bufsize = 2048;
+    _NSGetExecutablePath(buffer, &bufsize);
+    char* canonical_path = realpath(buffer, NULL);
+    strncpy(buffer, canonical_path, 2048);
+    free(canonical_path);
+#else
+# error "finding executable path is not implemented on this platform"
+#endif
+    char* ptr = strrchr(buffer, '/');
+    if (not ptr)
+        throw runtime_error("unable do determine runtime directory");
+    return String(buffer, ptr);
+}
+
 std::unordered_map<Key, std::function<void (Context& context)>> keymap =
 {
     { { Key::Modifiers::None, 'h' }, [](Context& context) { context.editor().move_selections({  0, -std::max(context.numeric_param(),1) }); } },
@@ -424,6 +446,9 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
     shell_manager.register_env_var("selection",
                                    [](const String& name, const Context& context)
                                    { return context.window().selections_content().back(); });
+    shell_manager.register_env_var("runtime",
+                                   [](const String& name, const Context& context)
+                                   { return runtime_directory(); });
     shell_manager.register_env_var("opt_.+",
                                    [](const String& name, const Context& context)
                                    { return context.option_manager()[name.substr(4)].as_string(); });
@@ -446,7 +471,8 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
         try
         {
             Context initialisation_context;
-            command_manager.execute("runtime kakrc", initialisation_context);
+            command_manager.execute("source " + runtime_directory() + "/kakrc",
+                                    initialisation_context);
         }
         catch (Kakoune::runtime_error& error)
         {