diff --git a/repo2html b/repo2html
index 285fb38..7d22649 100755
--- a/repo2html
+++ b/repo2html
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ msgfmt="${msgfmt:-./msgfmt}"
 # make configuration available to all scripts
 export title desc copyright license msgfmt url_root path_tpl path path_root \
   html_external_css html_footer html_index_footer html_commit_footer \
-  html_ext
+  html_ext html_pre_index
 
 # clear the cachefile (TODO: we could maintain cache files from previous runs if
 # we offer a flag that opts out of reprocessing previously processed commits)
diff --git a/tpl/index b/tpl/index
index eb3920b..57d7f36 100755
--- a/tpl/index
+++ b/tpl/index
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ cat <<EOH
       <h1 class="title">$title</h1>
       <h2 class="desc">$desc</h2>
     </header>
+    $html_pre_index
 EOH
 
 # generate index and populate statistical vars