diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_controller.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_controller.rb
index 7c10fcbb8a17046d8c11c9158371e2089cd0278f..b8624fd1bab81c235bdbc3d6575704297cdaf9a2 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_controller.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_controller.rb
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ module ActionController
 
   autoload :Base
   autoload :Caching
+  autoload :HTTP
   autoload :Metal
   autoload :Middleware
 
diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_controller/base.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/base.rb
index 6ce78f34b5d47a427bb3303736a110cb0b23c3d5..71425cd54282e9f3ab6efd2b9d88ee4f64876e2f 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_controller/base.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/base.rb
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ module ActionController
   class Base < Metal
     abstract!
 
-    # Shortcut helper that returns all the ActionController modules except the ones passed in the argument:
+    # Shortcut helper that returns all the ActionController::Base modules except the ones passed in the argument:
     #
     #   class MetalController
     #     ActionController::Base.without_modules(:ParamsWrapper, :Streaming).each do |left|
diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_controller/http.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/http.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..252a652cd96d86754c77b34e98dfddb72e605838
--- /dev/null
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/http.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+require "action_controller/log_subscriber"
+
+module ActionController
+  # HTTP Controller is a lightweight version of <tt>ActionController::Base</tt>,
+  # created for applications that don't require all functionality that a complete
+  # \Rails controller provides, allowing you to create faster controllers. The
+  # main scenario where HTTP Controllers could be used is API only applications.
+  #
+  # An HTTP Controller is different from a normal controller in the sense that
+  # by default it doesn't include a number of features that are usually required
+  # by browser access only: layouts and templates rendering, cookies, sessions,
+  # flash, assets, and so on. This makes the entire controller stack thinner and
+  # faster, suitable for API applications. It doesn't mean you won't have such
+  # features if you need them: they're all available for you to include in
+  # your application, they're just not part of the default HTTP Controller stack.
+  #
+  # By default, only the ApplicationController in a \Rails application inherits
+  # from <tt>ActionController::HTTP</tt>. All other controllers in turn inherit
+  # from ApplicationController.
+  #
+  # A sample controller could look like this:
+  #
+  #   class PostsController < ApplicationController
+  #     def index
+  #       @posts = Post.all
+  #       render json: @posts
+  #     end
+  #   end
+  #
+  # Request, response and parameters objects all work the exact same way as
+  # <tt>ActionController::Base</tt>.
+  #
+  # == Renders
+  #
+  # The default HTTP Controller stack includes all renderers, which means you
+  # can use <tt>render :json</tt> and brothers freely in your controllers. Keep
+  # in mind that templates are not going to be rendered, so you need to ensure
+  # your controller is calling either <tt>render</tt> or <tt>redirect</tt> in
+  # all actions.
+  #
+  #   def show
+  #     @post = Post.find(params[:id])
+  #     render json: @post
+  #   end
+  #
+  # == Redirects
+  #
+  # Redirects are used to move from one action to another. You can use the
+  # <tt>redirect</tt> method in your controllers in the same way as
+  # <tt>ActionController::Base</tt>. For example:
+  #
+  #   def create
+  #     redirect_to root_url and return if not_authorized?
+  #     # do stuff here
+  #   end
+  #
+  # == Adding new behavior
+  #
+  # In some scenarios you may want to add back some functionality provided by
+  # <tt>ActionController::Base</tt> that is not present by default in
+  # <tt>ActionController::HTTP</tt>, for instance <tt>MimeResponds</tt>. This
+  # module gives you the <tt>respond_to</tt> and <tt>respond_with</tt> methods.
+  # Adding it is quite simple, you just need to include the module in a specific
+  # controller or in <tt>ApplicationController</tt> in case you want it
+  # available to your entire app:
+  #
+  #   class ApplicationController < ActionController::HTTP
+  #     include ActionController::MimeResponds
+  #   end
+  #
+  #   class PostsController < ApplicationController
+  #     respond_to :json, :xml
+  #
+  #     def index
+  #       @posts = Post.all
+  #       respond_with @posts
+  #     end
+  #   end
+  #
+  # Quite straightforward. Make sure to check <tt>ActionController::Base</tt>
+  # available modules if you want to include any other functionality that is
+  # not provided by <tt>ActionController::HTTP</tt> out of the box.
+  class HTTP < Metal
+    abstract!
+
+    # Shortcut helper that returns all the ActionController::HTTP modules except the ones passed in the argument:
+    #
+    #   class MetalController
+    #     ActionController::HTTP.without_modules(:ParamsWrapper, :Streaming).each do |left|
+    #       include left
+    #     end
+    #   end
+    #
+    # This gives better control over what you want to exclude and makes it easier
+    # to create a bare controller class, instead of listing the modules required manually.
+    def self.without_modules(*modules)
+      modules = modules.map do |m|
+        m.is_a?(Symbol) ? ActionController.const_get(m) : m
+      end
+
+      MODULES - modules
+    end
+
+    MODULES = [
+      HideActions,
+      UrlFor,
+      Redirecting,
+      Rendering,
+      Renderers::All,
+      ConditionalGet,
+      RackDelegation,
+
+      ForceSSL,
+      DataStreaming,
+
+      # Before callbacks should also be executed the earliest as possible, so
+      # also include them at the bottom.
+      AbstractController::Callbacks,
+
+      # Append rescue at the bottom to wrap as much as possible.
+      Rescue,
+
+      # Add instrumentations hooks at the bottom, to ensure they instrument
+      # all the methods properly.
+      Instrumentation
+    ]
+
+    MODULES.each do |mod|
+      include mod
+    end
+
+    ActiveSupport.run_load_hooks(:action_controller, self)
+  end
+end
diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal/force_ssl.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal/force_ssl.rb
index a1e40fc4e0319bedbddc94f53d29870cce390982..ac12cbb625566c099d5679064885ba2655e15614 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal/force_ssl.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/metal/force_ssl.rb
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ def force_ssl(options = {})
             redirect_options = {:protocol => 'https://', :status => :moved_permanently}
             redirect_options.merge!(:host => host) if host
             redirect_options.merge!(:params => request.query_parameters)
-            flash.keep
+            flash.keep if respond_to?(:flash)
             redirect_to redirect_options
           end
         end
diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_controller/railtie.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/railtie.rb
index 3e170d7872c4bf28d1d766669528a591d1cba0c4..5e837ca6e193c3a29dd66b595ab80921a7464e9a 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_controller/railtie.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/railtie.rb
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ class Railtie < Rails::Railtie #:nodoc:
     end
 
     initializer "action_controller.initialize_framework_caches" do
-      ActiveSupport.on_load(:action_controller) { self.cache_store ||= Rails.cache }
+      ActiveSupport.on_load(:action_controller) { self.cache_store ||= Rails.cache if respond_to?(:cache_store) }
     end
 
     initializer "action_controller.assets_config", :group => :all do |app|
@@ -37,8 +37,15 @@ class Railtie < Rails::Railtie #:nodoc:
       ActiveSupport.on_load(:action_controller) do
         include app.routes.mounted_helpers
         extend ::AbstractController::Railties::RoutesHelpers.with(app.routes)
-        extend ::ActionController::Railties::Paths.with(app)
-        options.each { |k,v| send("#{k}=", v) }
+        extend ::ActionController::Railties::Paths.with(app) if respond_to?(:helpers_path)
+        options.each do |k,v|
+          k = "#{k}="
+          if respond_to?(k)
+            send(k, v)
+          elsif !Base.respond_to?(k)
+            raise "Invalid option key: #{k}"
+          end
+        end
       end
     end
 
diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_controller/railties/paths.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/railties/paths.rb
index bbe63149ad42f888c06602e3efe4eca9ebe95c3e..7e79b036edaf7b44778d859d3caac6f0886f1d2f 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_controller/railties/paths.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_controller/railties/paths.rb
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ def self.with(app)
             else
               paths = app.helpers_paths
             end
-
             klass.helpers_path = paths
 
             if klass.superclass == ActionController::Base && ActionController::Base.include_all_helpers
diff --git a/actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb b/actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb
index 84732085f086dacf135c4d876a18122660669b6b..078229efd287742c25042ba7e6e2f84e8fdc235a 100644
--- a/actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb
+++ b/actionpack/lib/action_dispatch/http/response.rb
@@ -51,12 +51,13 @@ class Response
     # If a character set has been defined for this response (see charset=) then
     # the character set information will also be included in the content type
     # information.
-    attr_accessor :charset, :content_type
+    attr_accessor :charset
+    attr_reader   :content_type
 
     CONTENT_TYPE = "Content-Type".freeze
     SET_COOKIE   = "Set-Cookie".freeze
     LOCATION     = "Location".freeze
- 
+
     cattr_accessor(:default_charset) { "utf-8" }
 
     include Rack::Response::Helpers
@@ -83,6 +84,10 @@ def status=(status)
       @status = Rack::Utils.status_code(status)
     end
 
+    def content_type=(content_type)
+      @content_type = content_type.to_s
+    end
+
     # The response code of the request
     def response_code
       @status
diff --git a/actionpack/test/abstract_unit.rb b/actionpack/test/abstract_unit.rb
index b1a5356ddd82291d90e77a190637992d30b9e41f..a05a816b712ab5ebe369d830b4cff387639a6793 100644
--- a/actionpack/test/abstract_unit.rb
+++ b/actionpack/test/abstract_unit.rb
@@ -293,6 +293,10 @@ def self.test_routes(&block)
     end
   end
 
+  class HTTP
+    include SharedTestRoutes.url_helpers
+  end
+
   class TestCase
     include ActionDispatch::TestProcess
 
diff --git a/actionpack/test/controller/http/action_methods_test.rb b/actionpack/test/controller/http/action_methods_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..20bb53aca26c16bbdc3c9da317193057f5a74b13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/actionpack/test/controller/http/action_methods_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+require 'abstract_unit'
+
+class ActionMethodsHTTPController < ActionController::HTTP
+  def one; end
+  def two; end
+  hide_action :two
+end
+
+class ActionMethodsHTTPTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
+  def setup
+    @controller = ActionMethodsHTTPController.new
+  end
+
+  def test_action_methods
+    assert_equal Set.new(%w(one)),
+                 @controller.class.action_methods,
+                 "#{@controller.controller_path} should not be empty!"
+  end
+end
diff --git a/actionpack/test/controller/http/conditional_get_test.rb b/actionpack/test/controller/http/conditional_get_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..70d5ef296fcf035d34ce8f3140621ae98999794e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/actionpack/test/controller/http/conditional_get_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+require 'abstract_unit'
+
+class ConditionalGetHTTPController < ActionController::HTTP
+  before_filter :handle_last_modified_and_etags, :only => :two
+
+  def one
+    if stale?(:last_modified => Time.now.utc.beginning_of_day, :etag => [:foo, 123])
+      render :text => "Hi!"
+    end
+  end
+
+  def two
+    render :text => "Hi!"
+  end
+
+  private
+
+  def handle_last_modified_and_etags
+    fresh_when(:last_modified => Time.now.utc.beginning_of_day, :etag => [ :foo, 123 ])
+  end
+end
+
+class ConditionalGetHTTPTest < ActionController::TestCase
+  tests ConditionalGetHTTPController
+
+  def setup
+    @last_modified = Time.now.utc.beginning_of_day.httpdate
+  end
+
+  def test_request_with_bang_gets_last_modified
+    get :two
+    assert_equal @last_modified, @response.headers['Last-Modified']
+    assert_response :success
+  end
+
+  def test_request_with_bang_obeys_last_modified
+    @request.if_modified_since = @last_modified
+    get :two
+    assert_response :not_modified
+  end
+
+  def test_last_modified_works_with_less_than_too
+    @request.if_modified_since = 5.years.ago.httpdate
+    get :two
+    assert_response :success
+  end
+
+  def test_request_not_modified
+    @request.if_modified_since = @last_modified
+    get :one
+    assert_equal 304, @response.status.to_i
+    assert_blank @response.body
+    assert_equal @last_modified, @response.headers['Last-Modified']
+  end
+end
diff --git a/actionpack/test/controller/http/data_streaming_test.rb b/actionpack/test/controller/http/data_streaming_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..67457b25b01d936435d9ea6650140ed59faa37a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/actionpack/test/controller/http/data_streaming_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+require 'abstract_unit'
+
+module TestHTTPFileUtils
+  def file_name() File.basename(__FILE__) end
+  def file_path() File.expand_path(__FILE__) end
+  def file_data() @data ||= File.open(file_path, 'rb') { |f| f.read } end
+end
+
+class DataStreamingHTTPController < ActionController::HTTP
+  include TestHTTPFileUtils
+
+  def one; end
+  def two
+    send_data(file_data, {})
+  end
+end
+
+class DataStreamingHTTPTest < ActionController::TestCase
+  include TestHTTPFileUtils
+  tests DataStreamingHTTPController
+
+  def test_data
+    response = process('two')
+    assert_kind_of String, response.body
+    assert_equal file_data, response.body
+  end
+end
diff --git a/actionpack/test/controller/http/force_ssl_test.rb b/actionpack/test/controller/http/force_ssl_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..479ede6b78af4f33303d789ae9578ed2a4bd7c19
--- /dev/null
+++ b/actionpack/test/controller/http/force_ssl_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+require 'abstract_unit'
+
+class ForceSSLHTTPController < ActionController::HTTP
+  force_ssl
+
+  def one; end
+  def two
+    head :ok
+  end
+end
+
+class ForceSSLHTTPTest < ActionController::TestCase
+  tests ForceSSLHTTPController
+
+  def test_banana_redirects_to_https
+    get :two
+    assert_response 301
+    assert_equal "https://test.host/force_sslhttp/two", redirect_to_url
+  end
+end
diff --git a/actionpack/test/controller/http/redirect_to_test.rb b/actionpack/test/controller/http/redirect_to_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..c410910baeb79476d98ebc6ce6f7db342a8ef98b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/actionpack/test/controller/http/redirect_to_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+require 'abstract_unit'
+
+class RedirectToHTTPController < ActionController::HTTP
+  def one
+    redirect_to :action => "two"
+  end
+
+  def two; end
+end
+
+class RedirectToHTTPTest < ActionController::TestCase
+  tests RedirectToHTTPController
+
+  def test_redirect_to
+    get :one
+    assert_response :redirect
+    assert_equal "http://test.host/redirect_to_http/two", redirect_to_url
+  end
+end
diff --git a/actionpack/test/controller/http/renderers_test.rb b/actionpack/test/controller/http/renderers_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..a28f226a944f741fb240648c579c2ec0462a2083
--- /dev/null
+++ b/actionpack/test/controller/http/renderers_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+require 'abstract_unit'
+
+class Model
+  def to_json(options = {})
+    { :a => 'b' }.to_json(options)
+  end
+
+  def to_xml(options = {})
+    { :a => 'b' }.to_xml(options)
+  end
+end
+
+class RenderersHTTPController < ActionController::HTTP
+  def one
+    render :json => Model.new
+  end
+
+  def two
+    render :xml => Model.new
+  end
+end
+
+class RenderersHTTPTest < ActionController::TestCase
+  tests RenderersHTTPController
+
+  def test_render_json
+    get :one
+    assert_response :success
+    assert_equal({ :a => 'b' }.to_json, @response.body)
+  end
+
+  def test_render_xml
+    get :two
+    assert_response :success
+    assert_equal({ :a => 'b' }.to_xml, @response.body)
+  end
+end
diff --git a/actionpack/test/controller/http/url_for_test.rb b/actionpack/test/controller/http/url_for_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..fba24011a22988d09c3a1ebf6cf7afc61ed49619
--- /dev/null
+++ b/actionpack/test/controller/http/url_for_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+require 'abstract_unit'
+
+class UrlForHTTPController < ActionController::HTTP
+  def one; end
+  def two; end
+end
+
+class UrlForHTTPTest < ActionController::TestCase
+  tests UrlForHTTPController
+
+  def setup
+    super
+    @request.host = 'www.example.com'
+  end
+
+  def test_url_for
+    get :one
+    assert_equal "http://www.example.com/url_for_http/one", @controller.url_for
+  end
+end
diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/templates/config/initializers/wrap_parameters.rb.tt b/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/templates/config/initializers/wrap_parameters.rb.tt
index 4356f142829a7123b1e1e5916710684ac337ad6a..19cbf0e4f113d151b5b7f14770bb9b27af982c9b 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/templates/config/initializers/wrap_parameters.rb.tt
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/generators/rails/app/templates/config/initializers/wrap_parameters.rb.tt
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
 # Enable parameter wrapping for JSON. You can disable this by setting :format to an empty array.
 ActiveSupport.on_load(:action_controller) do
-  wrap_parameters format: [:json]
+  wrap_parameters format: [:json] if respond_to?(:wrap_parameters)
 end
 
 <%- unless options.skip_active_record? -%>
diff --git a/railties/test/application/initializers/frameworks_test.rb b/railties/test/application/initializers/frameworks_test.rb
index a08e5b2374b9fc41469991d852c1d9fdfc1be2cd..cb321f0dd43f4d0f0116226134d0a84b17ee091d 100644
--- a/railties/test/application/initializers/frameworks_test.rb
+++ b/railties/test/application/initializers/frameworks_test.rb
@@ -130,6 +130,33 @@ def from_bar_helper
       assert_equal "false", last_response.body
     end
 
+    test "action_controller http initializes successfully" do
+      app_file "app/controllers/application_controller.rb", <<-RUBY
+        class ApplicationController < ActionController::HTTP
+        end
+      RUBY
+
+      app_file "app/controllers/omg_controller.rb", <<-RUBY
+        class OmgController < ApplicationController
+          def show
+            render :json => { :omg => 'omg' }
+          end
+        end
+      RUBY
+
+      app_file "config/routes.rb", <<-RUBY
+        AppTemplate::Application.routes.draw do
+          match "/:controller(/:action)"
+        end
+      RUBY
+
+      require 'rack/test'
+      extend Rack::Test::Methods
+
+      get '/omg/show'
+      assert_equal '{"omg":"omg"}', last_response.body
+    end
+
     # AD
     test "action_dispatch extensions are applied to ActionDispatch" do
       add_to_config "config.action_dispatch.tld_length = 2"