diff --git a/backends/sqlite/CMakeLists.txt b/backends/sqlite/CMakeLists.txt
index ce8aaa3..412dc02 100644
--- a/backends/sqlite/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/backends/sqlite/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 set(HEADER
   include/sqlite_connection.hpp
   include/sqlite_error.hpp
+  include/sqlite_dialect.hpp
 )
 
 set(SOURCES
   src/sqlite_connection.cpp
   src/sqlite_error.cpp
+  src/sqlite_dialect.cpp
 )
 
 add_library(matador-sqlite SHARED ${SOURCES} ${HEADER})
diff --git a/backends/sqlite/include/sqlite_dialect.hpp b/backends/sqlite/include/sqlite_dialect.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..61e065c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backends/sqlite/include/sqlite_dialect.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+#ifndef QUERY_SQLITE_DIALECT_HPP
+#define QUERY_SQLITE_DIALECT_HPP
+
+#include "matador/sql/dialect.hpp"
+
+namespace matador::backends::sqlite {
+
+}
+
+extern "C" [[maybe_unused]] const matador::sql::dialect* get_dialect();
+
+#endif //QUERY_SQLITE_DIALECT_HPP
diff --git a/backends/sqlite/src/sqlite_dialect.cpp b/backends/sqlite/src/sqlite_dialect.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ed6fc48
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backends/sqlite/src/sqlite_dialect.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#include "sqlite_dialect.hpp"
+
+[[maybe_unused]] const matador::sql::dialect* get_dialect() {
+  using namespace matador::sql;
+  static dialect d {{
+             { dialect::token_t::BEGIN, "BEGIN TRANSACTION"},
+             { dialect::token_t::COMMIT, "COMMIT TRANSACTION"},
+             { dialect::token_t::ROLLBACK, "ROLLBACK TRANSACTION"}
+  }};
+  return &d;
+}
diff --git a/include/matador/sql/backend_provider.hpp b/include/matador/sql/backend_provider.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dc07e70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/matador/sql/backend_provider.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+#ifndef QUERY_BACKEND_PROVIDER_HPP
+#define QUERY_BACKEND_PROVIDER_HPP
+
+#include "matador/utils/library.hpp"
+
+#include <string>
+#include <unordered_map>
+
+namespace matador::sql {
+
+class connection_impl;
+class dialect;
+
+class backend_provider
+{
+public:
+  explicit backend_provider(std::string backends_path);
+
+  connection_impl* create_connection(const std::string &connection_type);
+  const dialect& connection_dialect(const std::string &connection_type);
+
+private:
+  struct backend_context {
+    backend_context(const std::string &connection_type,
+                    const std::string &backends_path);
+    ~backend_context();
+
+    typedef connection_impl*(*create_func)();
+    typedef void (*destroy_func)(connection_impl*);
+    typedef const dialect*(*dialect_func)();
+
+    create_func create_connection{};
+    destroy_func destroy_connection{};
+    dialect_func get_dialect{};
+    utils::library lib;
+  };
+private:
+  using backends_t = std::unordered_map<std::string, backend_context>;
+  backends_t backends_;
+  std::string backends_path_;
+};
+}
+#endif //QUERY_BACKEND_PROVIDER_HPP
diff --git a/include/matador/sql/dialect.hpp b/include/matador/sql/dialect.hpp
index c3de605..c5ec78d 100644
--- a/include/matador/sql/dialect.hpp
+++ b/include/matador/sql/dialect.hpp
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 
 namespace matador::sql {
 
-class [[nodiscard]] dialect
+class dialect
 {
 public:
   enum class token_t : uint8_t
@@ -59,7 +59,15 @@ public:
     ESCAPE_CLOSING_BRACKET  /**< The escape quotes differ; escape the closing one */
   };
 
+  using token_to_string_map = std::unordered_map<token_t, std::string>;
+  using data_type_to_string_map = std::unordered_map<data_type_t, std::string>;
+
 public:
+  dialect() = default;
+  dialect(const token_to_string_map &token_replace_map, const data_type_to_string_map &data_type_replace_map);
+  explicit dialect(const data_type_to_string_map &data_type_replace_map);
+  explicit dialect(const token_to_string_map &token_replace_map);
+
   const std::string& token_at(token_t token) const;
   const std::string& data_type_at(data_type_t type) const;
 
@@ -124,8 +132,6 @@ public:
   const std::vector<std::string>& columns() const;
 
 private:
-  using token_to_string_map = std::unordered_map<token_t, std::string>;
-
   std::vector<std::string> host_vars_;
   std::vector<std::string> columns_;
 
@@ -167,7 +173,6 @@ private:
     {token_t::NONE, ""}
   };
 
-  using data_type_to_string_map = std::unordered_map<data_type_t, std::string>;
   data_type_to_string_map data_types_ {
     {data_type_t::type_char, "TINYINT"},
     {data_type_t::type_short, "SMALLINT"},
diff --git a/include/matador/utils/os.hpp b/include/matador/utils/os.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..645dacf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/matador/utils/os.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#ifndef QUERY_OS_HPP
+#define QUERY_OS_HPP
+
+#include <string>
+
+namespace matador::utils::os {
+
+std::string getenv(const char* name);
+
+[[maybe_unused]] std::string getenv(const std::string &name);
+
+}
+
+#endif //QUERY_OS_HPP
diff --git a/main.cpp b/main.cpp
index 66df86e..c7c4e36 100644
--- a/main.cpp
+++ b/main.cpp
@@ -1,21 +1,17 @@
-#include <matador/sql/dialect.hpp>
-#include <matador/sql/query_builder.hpp>
-#include <matador/sql/types.hpp>
-
+#include <cstdlib>
 #include <iostream>
-
-using namespace matador;
+#include <string>
 
 int main() {
-  sql::dialect d;
-
-  sql::query_builder query(d);
-
-  std::cout << query.create().table("person", {
-    { "id", sql::data_type_traits<unsigned long>::builtin_type() },
-    { "name", sql::data_type_traits<std::string>::builtin_type(255), 255 },
-    { "id", sql::data_type_traits<unsigned long>::builtin_type() }
-  }).compile();
+  const std::string env_var {"MATADOR_BACKENDS_PATH"};
 
+//  char var[1024];
+//  size_t len{};
+//  const auto error = getenv_s(&len, var, 1024, env_var.c_str());
+//  if (error > 0) {
+//    std::cout << "error: unknown env var " << env_var << "\n";
+//  } else {
+//    std::cout << "env var: " << var << "\n";
+//  }
   return 0;
 }
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index c9d8316..8850590 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ set(SQL_SOURCES
   sql/record.cpp
   sql/connection_info.cpp
   sql/connection_impl.cpp
-  sql/session.cpp)
+  sql/session.cpp
+  sql/backend_provider.cpp)
 
 set(SQL_HEADER
   ../include/matador/sql/dialect.hpp
@@ -27,19 +28,22 @@ set(SQL_HEADER
   ../include/matador/sql/connection_impl.hpp
   ../include/matador/sql/connection_info.hpp
   ../include/matador/sql/connection_pool.hpp
-  ../include/matador/sql/session.hpp)
+  ../include/matador/sql/session.hpp
+  ../include/matador/sql/backend_provider.hpp)
 
 set(UTILS_HEADER
   ../include/matador/utils/field_attributes.hpp
   ../include/matador/utils/string.hpp
   ../include/matador/utils/constraints.hpp
-  ../include/matador/utils/library.hpp)
+  ../include/matador/utils/library.hpp
+  ../include/matador/utils/os.hpp)
 
 set(UTILS_SOURCES
   utils/field_attributes.cpp
   utils/string.cpp
   sql/condition.cpp
-  utils/library.cpp)
+  utils/library.cpp
+  utils/os.cpp)
 
 add_library(matador STATIC ${SQL_SOURCES} ${SQL_HEADER} ${UTILS_SOURCES} ${UTILS_HEADER})
 target_include_directories(matador PUBLIC ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/include)
diff --git a/src/sql/backend_provider.cpp b/src/sql/backend_provider.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9160e2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/sql/backend_provider.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+#include "matador/sql/backend_provider.hpp"
+
+#include <cstdint>
+#include <stdexcept>
+#include <utility>
+
+namespace matador::sql {
+backend_provider::backend_provider(std::string backends_path)
+: backends_path_(std::move(backends_path)) {}
+
+connection_impl *backend_provider::create_connection(const std::string &connection_type)
+{
+  auto it = backends_.find(connection_type);
+  if (it == backends_.end()) {
+    it = backends_.emplace(connection_type, backend_context{connection_type, backends_path_}).first;
+  }
+  return (*it->second.create_connection)();
+}
+
+const dialect &backend_provider::connection_dialect(const std::string &connection_type)
+{
+  auto it = backends_.find(connection_type);
+  if (it == backends_.end()) {
+    it = backends_.emplace(connection_type, backend_context{connection_type, backends_path_}).first;
+  }
+  return *(*it->second.get_dialect)();
+}
+
+backend_provider::backend_context::backend_context(const std::string &connection_type,
+                                                   const std::string &backends_path)
+{
+  if (!lib.load(backends_path + "matador-" + connection_type)) {
+    throw std::runtime_error("couldn't load library '" + connection_type + "'");
+  }
+
+  create_connection = reinterpret_cast<create_func>(reinterpret_cast<std::uintptr_t>(lib.function("create_database")));
+  destroy_connection = reinterpret_cast<destroy_func>(reinterpret_cast<std::uintptr_t>(lib.function("destroy_database")));
+  get_dialect = reinterpret_cast<dialect_func >(reinterpret_cast<std::uintptr_t>(lib.function("get_dialect")));
+}
+
+backend_provider::backend_context::~backend_context()
+{
+  lib.unload();
+}
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/sql/dialect.cpp b/src/sql/dialect.cpp
index ae7f194..666d4e5 100644
--- a/src/sql/dialect.cpp
+++ b/src/sql/dialect.cpp
@@ -3,6 +3,26 @@
 #include "matador/utils/string.hpp"
 
 namespace matador::sql {
+
+dialect::dialect(const dialect::token_to_string_map &token_replace_map, const dialect::data_type_to_string_map &data_type_replace_map)
+{
+  for (const auto &token : token_replace_map) {
+    tokens_[token.first] = token.second;
+  }
+
+  for (const auto &data_type : data_type_replace_map) {
+    data_types_[data_type.first] = data_type.second;
+  }
+}
+
+dialect::dialect(const dialect::data_type_to_string_map &data_type_replace_map)
+: dialect({}, data_type_replace_map)
+{}
+
+dialect::dialect(const dialect::token_to_string_map &token_replace_map)
+: dialect(token_replace_map, {})
+{}
+
 const std::string& dialect::token_at(dialect::token_t token) const
 {
   return tokens_.at(token);
diff --git a/src/utils/os.cpp b/src/utils/os.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..561f50b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utils/os.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+#include "matador/utils/os.hpp"
+
+#include <stdexcept>
+
+namespace matador::utils::os {
+
+std::string getenv(const char *name) {
+#ifdef _WIN32
+  char var[1024];
+  size_t len{};
+  const auto error = getenv_s(&len, var, 1024, name);
+  if (error > 0) {
+    throw std::logic_error("failed to get environment variable");
+  };
+  return var;
+#else
+  return ::getenv(name);
+#endif
+}
+
+[[maybe_unused]] std::string getenv(const std::string &name) {
+  return getenv(name.c_str());
+}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/CMakeLists.txt b/test/CMakeLists.txt
index 4d5bf8e..b7610dc 100644
--- a/test/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/test/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@ add_executable(tests builder.cpp
   session.cpp
   record.cpp
   connection_pool.cpp
-  query.cpp)
-target_link_libraries(tests PRIVATE Catch2::Catch2WithMain matador)
+  query.cpp
+  backend_provider.cpp)
+target_link_libraries(tests PRIVATE
+  Catch2::Catch2WithMain
+  matador
+  ${CMAKE_DL_LIBS}
+  ${SQLite3_LIBRARIES})
 target_include_directories(tests PUBLIC $<BUILD_INTERFACE:${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}>/include)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/backend_provider.cpp b/test/backend_provider.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cbd6e67
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/backend_provider.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+#include <catch2/catch_test_macros.hpp>
+
+#include "matador/sql/backend_provider.hpp"
+
+#include "matador/utils/os.hpp"
+
+using namespace matador::sql;
+
+TEST_CASE("Load backend", "[backend provider]") {
+  auto path = matador::utils::os::getenv("MATADOR_BACKENDS_PATH");
+  if (path.back() != '\\') {
+    path.push_back('\\');
+  }
+
+  REQUIRE(!path.empty());
+
+  backend_provider provider(path);
+
+  const auto &d = provider.connection_dialect("sqlite");
+}
\ No newline at end of file