diff --git a/core/deployment/src/main/java/org/jboss/shamrock/deployment/BeanArchiveProcessor.java b/core/deployment/src/main/java/org/jboss/shamrock/deployment/BeanArchiveProcessor.java
index 3dda8332f..7df519b9d 100644
--- a/core/deployment/src/main/java/org/jboss/shamrock/deployment/BeanArchiveProcessor.java
+++ b/core/deployment/src/main/java/org/jboss/shamrock/deployment/BeanArchiveProcessor.java
@@ -1,11 +1,17 @@
 package org.jboss.shamrock.deployment;
 
 import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Collection;
+import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Set;
 
 import javax.inject.Inject;
 
+import org.jboss.jandex.AnnotationInstance;
+import org.jboss.jandex.AnnotationTarget.Kind;
 import org.jboss.jandex.CompositeIndex;
+import org.jboss.jandex.DotName;
 import org.jboss.jandex.IndexView;
 
 public class BeanArchiveProcessor implements ResourceProcessor {
@@ -15,14 +21,55 @@ public class BeanArchiveProcessor implements ResourceProcessor {
 
     @Override
     public void process(ArchiveContext archiveContext, ProcessorContext processorContext) throws Exception {
+
+        Set<ApplicationArchive> archives = archiveContext.getAllApplicationArchives();
+
+        // The list is not exhaustive - it merely contains all annotations supported by Arc
+        List<DotName> beanDefiningAnnotations = new ArrayList<>();
+        beanDefiningAnnotations.add(DotName.createSimple("javax.enterprise.context.Dependent"));
+        beanDefiningAnnotations.add(DotName.createSimple("javax.enterprise.context.RequestScoped"));
+        beanDefiningAnnotations.add(DotName.createSimple("javax.enterprise.context.ApplicationScoped"));
+        beanDefiningAnnotations.add(DotName.createSimple("javax.interceptor.Interceptor"));
+        // TODO: we could also add @Inject and @Singleton although these are not officialy included
+
+        // First find annotations annotated with "meta" bean defining annotations
+        List<DotName> metaBeanDefiningAnnotations = Collections.singletonList(DotName.createSimple("javax.enterprise.inject.Stereotype"));
+        for (ApplicationArchive archive : archives) {
+            for (DotName metaAnnotation : metaBeanDefiningAnnotations) {
+                Collection<AnnotationInstance> annotations = archive.getIndex().getAnnotations(metaAnnotation);
+                if (!annotations.isEmpty()) {
+                    for (AnnotationInstance annotationInstance : annotations) {
+                        if (annotationInstance.target().kind() == Kind.CLASS) {
+                            beanDefiningAnnotations.add(annotationInstance.target().asClass().name());
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        DotName extensionName = DotName.createSimple("javax.enterprise.inject.spi.Extension");
+
         List<IndexView> indexes = new ArrayList<>();
-        for(ApplicationArchive archive : archiveContext.getAllApplicationArchives()) {
-            //TODO: this should not really be in core
-            if(archive.getChildPath("META-INF/beans.xml") != null) {
-                indexes.add(archive.getIndex());
-            } else if(archive.getChildPath("WEB-INF/beans.xml") != null) {
-                //TODO: how to handle WEB-INF?
-                indexes.add(archive.getIndex());
+
+        for (ApplicationArchive archive : archives) {
+
+            IndexView index = archive.getIndex();
+
+            // TODO: this should not really be in core
+            if (archive.getChildPath("META-INF/beans.xml") != null) {
+                indexes.add(index);
+            } else if (archive.getChildPath("WEB-INF/beans.xml") != null) {
+                // TODO: how to handle WEB-INF?
+                indexes.add(index);
+            } else {
+                // Implicit bean archive without beans.xml - contains one or more bean classes with a bean defining annotation and no extension
+                if (index.getAllKnownImplementors(extensionName).isEmpty()) {
+                    for (DotName beanDefiningAnnotation : beanDefiningAnnotations) {
+                        if (!index.getAnnotations(beanDefiningAnnotation).isEmpty()) {
+                            indexes.add(index);
+                            break;
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
             }
         }
         beanArchiveIndex.setIndex(CompositeIndex.create(indexes));
@@ -30,7 +77,7 @@ public class BeanArchiveProcessor implements ResourceProcessor {
 
     @Override
     public int getPriority() {
-        //we want this to run early
+        // we want this to run early
         return -1000;
     }
 }