diff --git a/include/mstch/mstch.hpp b/include/mstch/mstch.hpp
index 6847528..58d3330 100644
--- a/include/mstch/mstch.hpp
+++ b/include/mstch/mstch.hpp
@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@
 
 namespace mstch {
 
+struct config {
+  static std::function<std::string(const std::string&)> escape;
+};
+
 namespace internal {
 
 template<class N>
diff --git a/src/mstch.cpp b/src/mstch.cpp
index 8851aca..4d84e97 100644
--- a/src/mstch.cpp
+++ b/src/mstch.cpp
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 
 using namespace mstch;
 
+std::function<std::string(const std::string&)> mstch::config::escape;
+
 std::string mstch::render(
     const std::string& tmplt,
     const node& root,
diff --git a/src/utils.cpp b/src/utils.cpp
index 032f89a..1646170 100644
--- a/src/utils.cpp
+++ b/src/utils.cpp
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 #include "utils.hpp"
+#include "mstch/mstch.hpp"
 
 mstch::citer mstch::first_not_ws(mstch::citer begin, mstch::citer end) {
   for (auto it = begin; it != end; ++it)
@@ -17,6 +18,9 @@ mstch::criter mstch::reverse(mstch::citer it) {
 }
 
 std::string mstch::html_escape(const std::string& str) {
+  if (mstch::config::escape)
+    return mstch::config::escape(str);
+  
   std::string out;
   citer start = str.begin();