diff --git a/packages/pyodide-kernel-extension/src/index.ts b/packages/pyodide-kernel-extension/src/index.ts
index 5d801b8b..5c1f33f4 100644
--- a/packages/pyodide-kernel-extension/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/pyodide-kernel-extension/src/index.ts
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ const kernel: JupyterLiteServerPlugin<void> = {
     const pipliteUrls = rawPipUrls.map((pipUrl: string) => URLExt.parse(pipUrl).href);
     const disablePyPIFallback = !!config.disablePyPIFallback;
     const loadPyodideOptions = config.loadPyodideOptions || {};
+    const extraPackagesAndIndexes = config.extraPackagesAndIndexes || [];
 
     for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(loadPyodideOptions)) {
       if (key.endsWith('URL') && typeof value === 'string') {
@@ -99,6 +100,7 @@ const kernel: JupyterLiteServerPlugin<void> = {
           mountDrive,
           loadPyodideOptions,
           contentsManager,
+          extraPackagesAndIndexes,
         });
       },
     });
diff --git a/packages/pyodide-kernel/src/_pypi.ts b/packages/pyodide-kernel/src/_pypi.ts
index cc494544..036ae3b8 100644
--- a/packages/pyodide-kernel/src/_pypi.ts
+++ b/packages/pyodide-kernel/src/_pypi.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 // this file is autogenerated from the wheels described in ../package.json
 export * as allJSONUrl from '../pypi/all.json';
 export * as ipykernelWheelUrl from '../pypi/ipykernel-6.9.2-py3-none-any.whl';
-export * as pipliteWheelUrl from '../pypi/piplite-0.6.0a0-py3-none-any.whl';
-export * as pyodide_kernelWheelUrl from '../pypi/pyodide_kernel-0.6.0a0-py3-none-any.whl';
+export * as pipliteWheelUrl from '../pypi/piplite-0.5.2-py3-none-any.whl';
+export * as pipliteWheelUrl1 from '../pypi/piplite-0.6.0a0-py3-none-any.whl';
+export * as pyodide_kernelWheelUrl from '../pypi/pyodide_kernel-0.5.2-py3-none-any.whl';
+export * as pyodide_kernelWheelUrl1 from '../pypi/pyodide_kernel-0.6.0a0-py3-none-any.whl';
 export * as widgetsnbextensionWheelUrl from '../pypi/widgetsnbextension-3.6.999-py3-none-any.whl';
 export * as widgetsnbextensionWheelUrl1 from '../pypi/widgetsnbextension-4.0.999-py3-none-any.whl';
diff --git a/packages/pyodide-kernel/src/kernel.ts b/packages/pyodide-kernel/src/kernel.ts
index 16036257..5aaa0596 100644
--- a/packages/pyodide-kernel/src/kernel.ts
+++ b/packages/pyodide-kernel/src/kernel.ts
@@ -120,6 +120,7 @@ export class PyodideKernel extends BaseKernel implements IKernel {
       location: this.location,
       mountDrive: options.mountDrive,
       loadPyodideOptions: options.loadPyodideOptions || {},
+      extraPackagesAndIndexes: options.extraPackagesAndIndexes || [],
     };
   }
 
@@ -394,5 +395,6 @@ export namespace PyodideKernel {
      * The Jupyterlite content manager
      */
     contentsManager: Contents.IManager;
+    extraPackagesAndIndexes: Array<{ packages: string[]; indexes: string[] | null }>;
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/pyodide-kernel/src/tokens.ts b/packages/pyodide-kernel/src/tokens.ts
index eaaed75f..7e4f8c77 100644
--- a/packages/pyodide-kernel/src/tokens.ts
+++ b/packages/pyodide-kernel/src/tokens.ts
@@ -90,6 +90,11 @@ export namespace IPyodideWorkerKernel {
      */
     mountDrive: boolean;
 
+    /**
+     * List of extra url/wheel paths to load, and extra associated indexes urls (if not a wheel url)
+     */
+    extraPackagesAndIndexes: Array<{ packages: string[]; indexes: string[] | null }>;
+
     /**
      * additional options to provide to `loadPyodide`
      * @see https://pyodide.org/en/stable/usage/api/js-api.html#globalThis.loadPyodide
diff --git a/packages/pyodide-kernel/src/worker.ts b/packages/pyodide-kernel/src/worker.ts
index 6b6c2208..74c3ccb1 100644
--- a/packages/pyodide-kernel/src/worker.ts
+++ b/packages/pyodide-kernel/src/worker.ts
@@ -102,6 +102,25 @@ export class PyodideRemoteKernel {
         scriptLines.push(`await piplite.install('${pkgName}', keep_going=True)`);
       }
     }
+    const { extraPackagesAndIndexes } = this._options as IPyodideWorkerKernel.IOptions;
+    if (extraPackagesAndIndexes.length > 0) {
+      // note that here pkg can be a package name or a wheel url
+      for (const { packages: pkgs, indexes } of extraPackagesAndIndexes) {
+        let installCmd: string;
+        if (indexes === null) {
+          installCmd = `await piplite.install(${JSON.stringify(pkgs)}, keep_going=True)`;
+        } else {
+          installCmd = `await piplite.install(${JSON.stringify(pkgs)}, index_urls=${JSON.stringify(indexes)}, keep_going=True)`;
+        }
+        console.info('installing via cmd:', installCmd);
+        try {
+          await this._pyodide.runPythonAsync(installCmd);
+          console.info(`Packages installed successfully`);
+        } catch (e) {
+          console.error('Error installing packages', e);
+        }
+      }
+    }
 
     // import the kernel
     scriptLines.push('import pyodide_kernel');