diff --git a/encoder.go b/encoder.go
index 2444d34..2406137 100644
--- a/encoder.go
+++ b/encoder.go
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/golang/protobuf/protoc-gen-go/descriptor"
 	"github.com/golang/protobuf/protoc-gen-go/plugin"
+
+	pgghelpers "github.com/moul/protoc-gen-gotemplate/helpers"
 )
 
 type GenericTemplateBasedEncoder struct {
@@ -122,7 +124,7 @@ func (e *GenericTemplateBasedEncoder) genAst(templateFilename string) (*Ast, err
 		Enum:           e.enum,
 	}
 	buffer := new(bytes.Buffer)
-	tmpl, err := template.New("").Funcs(ProtoHelpersFuncMap).Parse(templateFilename)
+	tmpl, err := template.New("").Funcs(pgghelpers.ProtoHelpersFuncMap).Parse(templateFilename)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -137,7 +139,7 @@ func (e *GenericTemplateBasedEncoder) buildContent(templateFilename string) (str
 	// initialize template engine
 	fullPath := filepath.Join(e.templateDir, templateFilename)
 	templateName := filepath.Base(fullPath)
-	tmpl, err := template.New(templateName).Funcs(ProtoHelpersFuncMap).ParseFiles(fullPath)
+	tmpl, err := template.New(templateName).Funcs(pgghelpers.ProtoHelpersFuncMap).ParseFiles(fullPath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", "", err
 	}
diff --git a/helpers.go b/helpers/helpers.go
similarity index 98%
rename from helpers.go
rename to helpers/helpers.go
index 9ba34c8..d25194f 100644
--- a/helpers.go
+++ b/helpers/helpers.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-package main
+package pgghelpers
 
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
@@ -17,6 +17,14 @@ import (
 
 var jsReservedRe *regexp.Regexp = regexp.MustCompile(`(^|[^A-Za-z])(do|if|in|for|let|new|try|var|case|else|enum|eval|false|null|this|true|void|with|break|catch|class|const|super|throw|while|yield|delete|export|import|public|return|static|switch|typeof|default|extends|finally|package|private|continue|debugger|function|arguments|interface|protected|implements|instanceof)($|[^A-Za-z])`)
 
+var (
+	registry *ggdescriptor.Registry // some helpers need access to registry
+)
+
+func SetRegistry(reg *ggdescriptor.Registry) {
+	registry = reg
+}
+
 var ProtoHelpersFuncMap = template.FuncMap{
 	"string": func(i interface {
 		String() string
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 8ea27d8..618ce84 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/golang/protobuf/protoc-gen-go/generator"
 	"github.com/golang/protobuf/protoc-gen-go/plugin"
 	ggdescriptor "github.com/grpc-ecosystem/grpc-gateway/protoc-gen-grpc-gateway/descriptor"
+
+	pgghelpers "github.com/moul/protoc-gen-gotemplate/helpers"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -101,6 +103,7 @@ func main() {
 
 	if singlePackageMode {
 		registry = ggdescriptor.NewRegistry()
+		pgghelpers.SetRegistry(registry)
 		if err := registry.Load(g.Request); err != nil {
 			g.Error(err, "registry: failed to load the request")
 		}