diff --git a/src/main/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/core/bootup/BootupClassPathSearch.java b/src/main/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/core/bootup/BootupClassPathSearch.java
index 749fda4b9..1731b8a8c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/core/bootup/BootupClassPathSearch.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/core/bootup/BootupClassPathSearch.java
@@ -16,8 +16,6 @@ public class BootupClassPathSearch {
 
   private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(BootupClassPathSearch.class);
 
-  private static final String EBEAN_MF = "META-INF/ebean.mf";
-
   private final List<String> packages;
 
   private final List<ClassPathScanner> scanners;
@@ -33,8 +31,11 @@ public class BootupClassPathSearch {
 
   private BootupClassPathSearch(ServerConfig serverConfig) {
 
-    // find packages defined in META-INF/ebean.mf resources
-    Set<String> mfPackages = ManifestReader.readManifests(serverConfig.getClassLoadConfig().getClassLoader(), EBEAN_MF);
+    // find packages defined in ebean.mf resources
+    Set<String> mfPackages = ManifestReader.create(serverConfig.getClassLoadConfig().getClassLoader())
+      .read("META-INF/ebean.mf")
+      .read("ebean.mf")
+      .entityPackages();
 
     this.packages = DistillPackages.distill(serverConfig.getPackages(), mfPackages);
     this.scanners = ClassPathScanners.find(serverConfig);
diff --git a/src/main/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/core/bootup/ManifestReader.java b/src/main/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/core/bootup/ManifestReader.java
index edef4d594..c4c1982b0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/core/bootup/ManifestReader.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/core/bootup/ManifestReader.java
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
 package io.ebeaninternal.server.core.bootup;
 
+import io.ebean.util.StringHelper;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
-import io.ebean.util.StringHelper;
-
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.net.URL;
@@ -24,11 +23,32 @@ class ManifestReader {
 
   private final Set<String> packageSet = new HashSet<>();
 
+  private final ClassLoader classLoader;
+
+  /**
+   * Create with a classLoader to use to read the ebean.mf resources.
+   */
+  static ManifestReader create(ClassLoader classLoader) {
+    return new ManifestReader(classLoader);
+  }
+
+  private ManifestReader(ClassLoader classLoader) {
+    this.classLoader = classLoader;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Read the packages from ebean.mf manifest files found as resources.
    */
-  static Set<String> readManifests(ClassLoader classLoader, String resourcePath) {
-    return new ManifestReader().read(classLoader, resourcePath);
+  ManifestReader read(String resourcePath) {
+    read(classLoader, resourcePath);
+    return this;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Return all the entityPackages read.
+   */
+  Set<String> entityPackages() {
+    return packageSet;
   }
 
   /**
@@ -47,7 +67,7 @@ class ManifestReader {
         }
       }
     } catch (IOException e) {
-      logger.warn("Error reading META-INF/ebean.mf manifest resources", e);
+      logger.warn("Error reading " + resourcePath + " manifest resources", e);
     }
     return packageSet;
   }
@@ -61,14 +81,15 @@ class ManifestReader {
   }
 
   /**
-   * Read the packages from the manifest.
+   * Read the entity packages from the manifest.
    */
   private void read(Manifest manifest) throws IOException {
 
     Attributes attributes = manifest.getMainAttributes();
-    String packages = attributes.getValue("packages");
-    if (packages != null) {
-      add(packages);
+    String agentOnlyUse = attributes.getValue("agent-use-only");
+    if (agentOnlyUse == null || !"true".equalsIgnoreCase(agentOnlyUse.trim())) {
+      add(attributes.getValue("packages"));
+      add(attributes.getValue("entity-packages"));
     }
   }
 
@@ -76,6 +97,8 @@ class ManifestReader {
    * Collect each individual package splitting by delimiters.
    */
   private void add(String packages) {
-    Collections.addAll(packageSet, StringHelper.splitNames(packages));
+    if (packages != null) {
+      Collections.addAll(packageSet, StringHelper.splitNames(packages));
+    }
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/test/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/core/bootup/ManifestReaderTest.java b/src/test/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/core/bootup/ManifestReaderTest.java
index 88e1ef05f..4f1063c7d 100644
--- a/src/test/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/core/bootup/ManifestReaderTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/core/bootup/ManifestReaderTest.java
@@ -22,9 +22,32 @@ public class ManifestReaderTest {
     assertThat(packageSet).contains("com.foo.domain", "com.bar.domain");
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void readEntityPackages() throws Exception {
+
+    Set<String> packageSet = readMf("META-INF/test/test-entity-packages.mf");
+    assertThat(packageSet).contains("com.baz", "org.bax.domain");
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void readCombined() throws Exception {
+
+    Set<String> packageSet = readMf("META-INF/test/test-combined.mf");
+    assertThat(packageSet).contains("com.foo.domain", "com.bar.domain", "com.baz.domain");
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void readAgentOnlyUse() throws Exception {
+
+    Set<String> packageSet = readMf("META-INF/test/test-agent-only-use.mf");
+    assertThat(packageSet).isEmpty();
+  }
+
   private Set<String> readMf(String path) {
     ClassLoader classLoader = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader();
-    return ManifestReader.readManifests(classLoader, path);
+    return ManifestReader.create(classLoader)
+      .read(path)
+      .entityPackages();
   }
 
 }
diff --git a/src/test/resources/META-INF/test/test-agent-only-use.mf b/src/test/resources/META-INF/test/test-agent-only-use.mf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..10d61d586
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/META-INF/test/test-agent-only-use.mf
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+entity-packages:  com.baz, org.bax.domain
+agent-use-only: true
diff --git a/src/test/resources/META-INF/test/test-combined.mf b/src/test/resources/META-INF/test/test-combined.mf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..562b27f68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/META-INF/test/test-combined.mf
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+packages:  com.foo.domain, com.bar.domain
+entity-packages:  com.baz.domain
diff --git a/src/test/resources/META-INF/test/test-entity-packages.mf b/src/test/resources/META-INF/test/test-entity-packages.mf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..db8070dac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/META-INF/test/test-entity-packages.mf
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+entity-packages:  com.baz, org.bax.domain
diff --git a/src/test/resources/ebean.mf b/src/test/resources/ebean.mf
index 769eb471b..ea8892b6f 100644
--- a/src/test/resources/ebean.mf
+++ b/src/test/resources/ebean.mf
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+agent-use-only: true
 entity-packages: org,misc
 transactional-packages: org
 querybean-packages: none