diff --git a/packages/explorer/package.json b/packages/explorer/package.json
index 710f6fb1c27c..66b68930285f 100644
--- a/packages/explorer/package.json
+++ b/packages/explorer/package.json
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@
   "copyright.owner": "IBM Corp.",
   "license": "MIT",
   "dependencies": {
+    "@loopback/context": "^0.12.5",
+    "@loopback/core": "^0.11.5",
+    "@loopback/dist-util": "^0.3.6",
     "@types/express": "^4.16.0",
     "ejs": "^2.6.1",
     "serve-static": "^1.13.2",
@@ -29,8 +32,8 @@
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "@loopback/build": "^0.7.1",
-    "@loopback/dist-util": "^0.3.6",
     "@loopback/testlab": "^0.11.5",
+    "@loopback/rest": "^0.19.6",
     "@types/ejs": "^2.6.0",
     "@types/node": "^10.1.1",
     "@types/serve-static": "^1.13.2",
diff --git a/packages/explorer/src/explorer.component.ts b/packages/explorer/src/explorer.component.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..f75c357e9cbb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/explorer/src/explorer.component.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+// Copyright IBM Corp. 2018. All Rights Reserved.
+// Node module: @loopback/explorer
+// This file is licensed under the MIT License.
+// License text available at https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
+
+import {inject, Setter, Provider} from '@loopback/context';
+import {Component, ProviderMap} from '@loopback/core';
+import {ApiExplorerUIOptions, apiExplorerUI} from './explorer';
+import {Handler} from 'express';
+import {ExplorerBindings} from './keys';
+
+export class ExplorerProvider implements Provider<Handler> {
+  constructor(
+    @inject(ExplorerBindings.CONFIG, {optional: true})
+    private config: ApiExplorerUIOptions,
+  ) {}
+
+  value() {
+    return apiExplorerUI(this.config);
+  }
+}
+
+export class ExplorerComponent implements Component {
+  providers?: ProviderMap;
+  constructor() {
+    this.providers = {
+      [ExplorerBindings.HANDLER.key]: ExplorerProvider,
+    };
+  }
+}
diff --git a/packages/explorer/src/index.ts b/packages/explorer/src/index.ts
index b5570c86dc1a..845bef34e20c 100644
--- a/packages/explorer/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/explorer/src/index.ts
@@ -4,3 +4,5 @@
 // License text available at https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
 
 export * from './explorer';
+export * from './keys';
+export * from './explorer.component';
diff --git a/packages/explorer/src/keys.ts b/packages/explorer/src/keys.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..1d98d8677b11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/explorer/src/keys.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+// Copyright IBM Corp. 2018. All Rights Reserved.
+// Node module: @loopback/explorer
+// This file is licensed under the MIT License.
+// License text available at https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
+
+import {BindingKey} from '@loopback/context';
+import {RequestHandler} from 'express';
+import {ApiExplorerUIOptions} from './explorer';
+
+/**
+ * Binding keys used by this component.
+ */
+export namespace ExplorerBindings {
+  export const HANDLER = BindingKey.create<RequestHandler>('explorer.handler');
+
+  export const CONFIG = BindingKey.create<ApiExplorerUIOptions | undefined>(
+    'explorer.config',
+  );
+}
diff --git a/packages/explorer/test/integration/explorer.integration.ts b/packages/explorer/test/integration/explorer.integration.ts
index 665db4019e45..c300544aa5ea 100644
--- a/packages/explorer/test/integration/explorer.integration.ts
+++ b/packages/explorer/test/integration/explorer.integration.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 // License text available at https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
 
 import {createClientForHandler} from '@loopback/testlab';
-import {apiExplorerUI} from '../../src/explorer';
+import {apiExplorerUI} from '../../';
 import * as express from 'express';
 import * as path from 'path';
 
diff --git a/packages/explorer/test/integration/rest.integration.ts b/packages/explorer/test/integration/rest.integration.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..8e3a5f1dd3ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/explorer/test/integration/rest.integration.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+// Copyright IBM Corp. 2018. All Rights Reserved.
+// Node module: @loopback/explorer
+// This file is licensed under the MIT License.
+// License text available at https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
+import {createClientForHandler} from '@loopback/testlab';
+import {RestServerConfig, RestComponent, RestServer} from '@loopback/rest';
+import {Application} from '@loopback/core';
+import {ExplorerComponent, ExplorerBindings} from '../..';
+
+describe('API Explorer for REST Server', () => {
+  let server: RestServer;
+
+  before(async () => {
+    server = await givenAServer({
+      rest: {},
+    });
+
+    // FIXME: How do we configure the API Explorer UI?
+    server.bind(ExplorerBindings.CONFIG).to({});
+
+    // FIXME: Should the ExplorerComponent contribute a handler or route?
+    const handler = await server.get(ExplorerBindings.HANDLER);
+
+    // FIXME: How to register routes to the rest server by phase or order
+    // FIXME: Should REST server automatically mounts the route based on registration
+    // via bindings such as `rest.server.routes`?
+    server.staticRouter.use('/explorer', handler);
+  });
+
+  it('exposes "GET /explorer"', async () => {
+    await createClientForHandler(server.requestHandler)
+      .get('/explorer')
+      .expect(200, /\<title\>LoopBack API Explorer<\/title\>/)
+      .expect('content-type', /text\/html.*/);
+  });
+});
+
+async function givenAServer(options?: {rest: RestServerConfig}) {
+  const app = new Application(options);
+  app.component(RestComponent);
+  // FIXME: Can we mount the ExplorerComponent to a given server?
+  app.component(ExplorerComponent);
+  const server = await app.getServer(RestServer);
+  return server;
+}
diff --git a/packages/rest/src/rest.server.ts b/packages/rest/src/rest.server.ts
index 492f145c4a02..038c3b38b630 100644
--- a/packages/rest/src/rest.server.ts
+++ b/packages/rest/src/rest.server.ts
@@ -202,11 +202,24 @@ export class RestServer extends Context implements Server, HttpServerLike {
       maxAge: 86400,
       credentials: true,
     };
+    // Set up CORS
     this._expressApp.use(cors(corsOptions));
 
     // Place the assets router here before controllers
     this._setupRouterForStaticAssets();
 
+    const mapping = this.config.openApiSpec!.endpointMapping!;
+    // Serving OpenAPI spec
+    for (const p in mapping) {
+      this._expressApp.use(p, (req, res) =>
+        this._serveOpenApiSpec(req, res, mapping[p]),
+      );
+    }
+
+    this._expressApp.get(['/swagger-ui', '/api-explorer'], (req, res) =>
+      this._redirectToSwaggerUI(req, res),
+    );
+
     // Mount our router & request handler
     this._expressApp.use((req, res, next) => {
       this._handleHttpRequest(req, res).catch(next);
@@ -232,25 +245,6 @@ export class RestServer extends Context implements Server, HttpServerLike {
   }
 
   protected _handleHttpRequest(request: Request, response: Response) {
-    const mapping = this.config.openApiSpec!.endpointMapping!;
-    if (request.method === 'GET' && request.url && request.url in mapping) {
-      // NOTE(bajtos) Regular routes are handled through Sequence.
-      // IMO, this built-in endpoint should not run through a Sequence,
-      // because it's not part of the application API itself.
-      // E.g. if the app implements access/audit logs, I don't want
-      // this endpoint to trigger a log entry. If the server implements
-      // content-negotiation to support XML clients, I don't want the OpenAPI
-      // spec to be converted into an XML response.
-      const form = mapping[request.url];
-      return this._serveOpenApiSpec(request, response, form);
-    }
-    if (
-      request.method === 'GET' &&
-      request.url &&
-      request.url === '/swagger-ui'
-    ) {
-      return this._redirectToSwaggerUI(request, response);
-    }
     return this.httpHandler.handleRequest(request, response);
   }
 
@@ -396,7 +390,7 @@ export class RestServer extends Context implements Server, HttpServerLike {
     // 127.0.0.1
     let host =
       (request.get('x-forwarded-host') || '').split(',')[0] ||
-      request.headers.host!.replace(/:[0-9]+$/, '');
+      request.headers.host!.replace(/:([0-9]+)$/, '');
     let port =
       (request.get('x-forwarded-port') || '').split(',')[0] ||
       this.config.port ||
@@ -561,6 +555,10 @@ export class RestServer extends Context implements Server, HttpServerLike {
     this._routerForStaticAssets.use(path, express.static(rootDir, options));
   }
 
+  get staticRouter() {
+    return this._routerForStaticAssets;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Set the OpenAPI specification that defines the REST API schema for this
    * server. All routes, parameter definitions and return types will be defined
@@ -758,13 +756,14 @@ export interface OpenApiSpecOptions {
 
 export interface ApiExplorerOptions {
   /**
-   * The url for hosted API explorer UI
+   * The url for API explorer UI
    * default to https://loopback.io/api-explorer
    */
   url?: string;
   /**
-   * URL for the API explorer served over plain http to deal with mixed content
-   * security imposed by browsers as the spec is exposed over `http` by default.
+   * URL for the externally hosted API explorer UI API explorer served over
+   * plain http to deal with mixed content security imposed by browsers as the
+   * spec is exposed over `http` by default.
    * https://github.com/strongloop/loopback-next/issues/1603
    */
   urlForHttp?: string;