diff --git a/docs/api/index.md b/docs/api/index.md
index b30e3aca5..1b1773307 100644
--- a/docs/api/index.md
+++ b/docs/api/index.md
@@ -212,6 +212,68 @@ Note:
 - Many properties on `ctx` are defined using getters, setters, and `Object.defineProperty()`. You can only edit these properties (not recommended) by using `Object.defineProperty()` on `app.context`. See https://github.com/koajs/koa/issues/652.
 - Mounted apps currently use their parent's `ctx` and settings. Thus, mounted apps are really just groups of middleware.
 
+## Events
+
+  Koa application is an instance of `EventEmitter` and emits following events to allow hooks into lifecycle.
+  All these events (except `error`) have `ctx` as first parameter:
+
+### Event: 'request'
+
+  Emitted each time there is a request, with `ctx` as parameter, before passing to any middleware.
+  May be a good place for per-request context mutation, when needed, for example:
+
+  ```js
+  app.on('request', ctx => {
+    ctx.state.start = Date.now();
+    // or something more advanced
+    if(!ctx.get('DNT')) ctx.state = new Proxy({})
+  })
+  ```
+
+### Event: 'respond'
+
+  Emitted after passing all middleware, but before sending the response to network.
+  May be used when some action required to be latest after all middleware processing, for example:
+
+  ```js
+  app.on('respond', ctx => {
+    if (ctx.state.start) ctx.set('X-Response-Time', Date.now() - ctx.state.start)
+  })
+  ```
+
+  Note: `respond` event may not be emitted in case of premature socket close (due to a middleware timeout, for example).
+
+### Event: 'responded'
+
+  Emitted when the response stream is finished. Good place to cleanup any resources attached to `ctx.state` for example:
+
+  ```js
+  app.on('responded', ctx => {
+    if (ctx.state.dataStream) ctx.state.dataStream.destroy();
+  })
+  ```
+
+  More advanced example, use events to detect that server is idling for some time:
+
+  ```js
+    const server = app.listen();
+    const IDLE_INTERVAL = 2 * server.timeout;
+    const onIdle = () => { console.warn(`Server is idle for ${IDLE_INTERVAL / 1000} seconds!`); }
+    let idleInterval = setInterval(onIdle, IDLE_INTERVAL);
+    app
+      .on('request', () => {
+        clearInterval(idleInterval);
+      })
+      .on('responded', () => {
+        clearInterval(idleInterval);
+        idleInterval = setInterval(onIdle, IDLE_INTERVAL);
+      })
+  ```
+
+### Event: 'error'
+
+  See **Error Handling** below.
+
 ## Error Handling
 
   By default outputs all errors to stderr unless `app.silent` is `true`.
diff --git a/lib/application.js b/lib/application.js
index e01019796..7cbe50faf 100644
--- a/lib/application.js
+++ b/lib/application.js
@@ -162,9 +162,23 @@ module.exports = class Application extends Emitter {
   handleRequest(ctx, fnMiddleware) {
     const res = ctx.res;
     res.statusCode = 404;
-    const onerror = err => ctx.onerror(err);
-    const handleResponse = () => respond(ctx);
+
+    const responding = Symbol('responding');
+    this.once(responding, () => this.emit('respond', ctx));
+
+    const onerror = err => {
+      if (null != err) {
+        ctx.onerror(err);
+        this.emit(responding);
+      }
+    };
+    const handleResponse = () => {
+      this.emit(responding);
+      respond(ctx);
+    };
+    this.emit('request', ctx);
     onFinished(res, onerror);
+    onFinished(ctx.socket, () => { this.emit('responded', ctx); });
     return fnMiddleware(ctx).then(handleResponse).catch(onerror);
   }
 
diff --git a/test/application/events.js b/test/application/events.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ffa1fd69b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/application/events.js
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+
+'use strict';
+
+const assert = require('assert');
+const Koa = require('../..');
+const request = require('supertest');
+
+describe('app emits events', () => {
+  it('should emit request, respond and responded once and in correct order', async() => {
+    const app = new Koa();
+    const emitted = [];
+    ['request', 'respond', 'responded', 'error', 'customEvent'].forEach(event => app.on(event, () => emitted.push(event)));
+
+    app.use((ctx, next) => {
+      emitted.push('fistMiddleWare');
+      ctx.body = 'hello!';
+      return next();
+    });
+
+    app.use((ctx, next) => {
+      ctx.app.emit('customEvent');
+      return next();
+    });
+
+    app.use(ctx => {
+      emitted.push('lastMiddleware');
+    });
+
+    const server = app.listen();
+
+    let onceEvents = 0;
+    ['request', 'respond', 'responded'].forEach(event =>
+      app.once(event, ctx => {
+        assert.strictEqual(ctx.app, app);
+        onceEvents++;
+      })
+    );
+
+    await request(server)
+      .get('/')
+      .expect(200);
+
+    assert.deepStrictEqual(emitted, ['request', 'fistMiddleWare', 'customEvent', 'lastMiddleware', 'respond', 'responded']);
+    assert.strictEqual(onceEvents, 3);
+  });
+
+  it('should emit error event on middleware throw', async() => {
+    const app = new Koa();
+    const emitted = [];
+    ['request', 'respond', 'responded', 'error'].forEach(event => app.on(event, () => emitted.push(event)));
+
+    app.use((ctx, next) => {
+      throw new TypeError('Hello Koa!');
+    });
+
+    const server = app.listen();
+
+    let onceEvents = 0;
+    app.once('error', (err, ctx) => {
+      assert.ok(err instanceof TypeError);
+      assert.strictEqual(ctx.app, app);
+      onceEvents++;
+    });
+
+    await request(server)
+      .get('/')
+      .expect(500);
+
+    assert.deepStrictEqual(emitted, ['request', 'error', 'respond', 'responded']);
+    assert.strictEqual(onceEvents, 1);
+  });
+
+  it('should emit correct events on middleware timeout', async() => {
+    const app = new Koa();
+    const emitted = [];
+    ['request', 'respond', 'responded', 'error', 'timeout'].forEach(event => app.on(event, () => emitted.push(event)));
+
+    app.use(async(ctx, next) => {
+      await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 2000));
+      ctx.body = 'Timeout';
+    });
+
+    const server = app.listen();
+    server.setTimeout(1000, socket => { app.emit('timeout'); socket.end('HTTP/1.1 408 Request Timeout\r\n\r\n'); });
+
+    await request(server)
+      .get('/')
+      .expect(408);
+
+    assert.deepStrictEqual(emitted, ['request', 'responded', 'timeout']);
+  });
+});