Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for providing pluggable model elements. A modeling application is provided that is operable to allow custom model elements to be loaded. Custom behavior can be associated with the custom model element types in a modular fashion that allows custom behaviors to be plugged in. The modeling application interacts with an artifact mapper to automatically synchronize a particular model in the modeling application with an underlying one or more artifacts represented by the particular model. Events are intercepted between model elements and underlying artifacts that the model elements represent. As events are intercepted, one or more appropriate provider plug-ins are called to perform one or more associated actions. A user who toggles between a modeling application and an artifact source application is provided with a seamless viewing experience because the model elements and underlying artifacts are kept up to date with each other.