diff --git a/spec/text-editor-spec.js b/spec/text-editor-spec.js
index eba2c34f7..4a4723da1 100644
--- a/spec/text-editor-spec.js
+++ b/spec/text-editor-spec.js
@@ -6716,6 +6716,20 @@ describe('TextEditor', () => {
         const gutter = editor.addGutter(options)
         expect(editor.getGutters().length).toBe(2)
         expect(editor.getGutters()[1]).toBe(gutter)
+        expect(gutter.kind).toBe('decorated')
+      })
+
+      it('can add a custom line-number gutter', () => {
+        expect(editor.getGutters().length).toBe(1)
+        const options = {
+          name: 'another-gutter',
+          priority: 2,
+          kind: 'line-number'
+        }
+        const gutter = editor.addGutter(options)
+        expect(editor.getGutters().length).toBe(2)
+        expect(editor.getGutters()[1]).toBe(gutter)
+        expect(gutter.kind).toBe('line-number')
       })
 
       it("does not allow a custom gutter with the 'line-number' name.", () => expect(editor.addGutter.bind(editor, {name: 'line-number'})).toThrow())
diff --git a/src/gutter-container.js b/src/gutter-container.js
index 3faece073..220d9f017 100644
--- a/src/gutter-container.js
+++ b/src/gutter-container.js
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ module.exports = class GutterContainer {
 
   // The public interface is Gutter::decorateMarker or TextEditor::decorateMarker.
   addGutterDecoration (gutter, marker, options) {
-    if (gutter.name === 'line-number') {
+    if (gutter.kind === 'line-number') {
       options.type = 'line-number'
     } else {
       options.type = 'gutter'
diff --git a/src/gutter.js b/src/gutter.js
index 3bf7a72ea..6835e698a 100644
--- a/src/gutter.js
+++ b/src/gutter.js
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ module.exports = class Gutter {
     this.name = options && options.name
     this.priority = (options && options.priority != null) ? options.priority : DefaultPriority
     this.visible = (options && options.visible != null) ? options.visible : true
+    this.kind = (options && options.kind != null) ? options.kind : 'decorated'
+    this.labelFn = options && options.labelFn
 
     this.emitter = new Emitter()
   }
diff --git a/src/text-editor.js b/src/text-editor.js
index efa7353e0..bcf20651a 100644
--- a/src/text-editor.js
+++ b/src/text-editor.js
@@ -258,6 +258,7 @@ class TextEditor {
     this.gutterContainer = new GutterContainer(this)
     this.lineNumberGutter = this.gutterContainer.addGutter({
       name: 'line-number',
+      kind: 'line-number',
       priority: 0,
       visible: params.lineNumberGutterVisible
     })
@@ -4211,6 +4212,16 @@ class TextEditor {
   //       window. (default: -100)
   //   * `visible` (optional) {Boolean} specifying whether the gutter is visible
   //       initially after being created. (default: true)
+  //   * `type` (optional) {String} specifying the type of gutter to create. `'decorated'`
+  //       gutters are useful as a destination for decorations created with {Gutter::decorateMarker}.
+  //       `'line-number'` gutters
+  //   * `labelFn` (optional) {Function} called by a `'line-number'` gutter to generate the label for each line number
+  //       element. Should return a {String} that will be used to label the corresponding line.
+  //     * `lineData` an {Object} containing information about each line to label.
+  //       * `bufferRow` {Number} indicating the zero-indexed buffer index of this line.
+  //       * `screenRow` {Number} indicating the zero-indexed screen index.
+  //       * `foldable` {Boolean} that is `true` if a fold may be created here.
+  //       * `softWrapped` {Boolean} if this screen row is the soft-wrapped continuation of the same buffer row.
   //
   // Returns the newly-created {Gutter}.
   addGutter (options) {