diff --git a/include/tree_sitter/compiler.h b/include/tree_sitter/compiler.h
index 93678b86..29303cb6 100644
--- a/include/tree_sitter/compiler.h
+++ b/include/tree_sitter/compiler.h
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ namespace tree_sitter {
         rule_ptr str(const std::string &value);
         rule_ptr err(const rule_ptr &rule);
         rule_ptr prec(int precedence, rule_ptr rule);
+        rule_ptr token(rule_ptr rule);
     }
 
     class Grammar {
diff --git a/spec/compiler/build_tables/item_set_transitions_spec.cc b/spec/compiler/build_tables/item_set_transitions_spec.cc
index 3ec84e1e..0b494280 100644
--- a/spec/compiler/build_tables/item_set_transitions_spec.cc
+++ b/spec/compiler/build_tables/item_set_transitions_spec.cc
@@ -34,14 +34,14 @@ describe("syntactic item set transitions", [&]() {
         { "A", blank() },
         { "B", i_token(21) },
     }, {});
-    
+
     it("computes the closure of the new item sets", [&]() {
         ParseItemSet set1({
             ParseItem(Symbol(0), seq({ i_token(22), i_sym(1) }), 3, Symbol(23, SymbolOptionToken)),
         });
-        
+
         SymTransitions sym_transitions;
-        
+
         AssertThat(sym_transitions(set1, grammar), Equals(map<Symbol, ParseItemSet>({
             { Symbol(22, SymbolOptionToken), ParseItemSet({
                 ParseItem(Symbol(0), i_sym(1), 4, Symbol(23, SymbolOptionToken)),
diff --git a/spec/compiler/prepare_grammar/extract_tokens_spec.cc b/spec/compiler/prepare_grammar/extract_tokens_spec.cc
index 58f4442b..42c3f6dd 100644
--- a/spec/compiler/prepare_grammar/extract_tokens_spec.cc
+++ b/spec/compiler/prepare_grammar/extract_tokens_spec.cc
@@ -36,6 +36,22 @@ describe("extracting tokens from a grammar", []() {
         })));
     });
 
+    it("moves other rules marked as tokens into the lexical grammar", [&]() {
+        pair<PreparedGrammar, PreparedGrammar> result = extract_tokens(PreparedGrammar({
+            { "rule0", seq({
+                token(choice({ str("a"), str("b") })),
+                i_sym(0) }) }
+        }, {}));
+
+        AssertThat(result.first, Equals(PreparedGrammar({
+            { "rule0", seq({ i_aux_token(0), i_sym(0) }) }
+        }, {})));
+
+        AssertThat(result.second, Equals(PreparedGrammar({}, {
+            { "token0", token(choice({ str("a"), str("b") })) },
+        })));
+    });
+
     it("does not extract blanks into tokens", [&]() {
         pair<PreparedGrammar, PreparedGrammar> result = extract_tokens(PreparedGrammar({
             { "rule1", choice({ i_sym(0), blank() }) },
@@ -66,6 +82,7 @@ describe("extracting tokens from a grammar", []() {
         auto result = extract_tokens(PreparedGrammar({
             { "rule0", i_sym(1) },
             { "rule1", pattern("a|b") },
+            { "rule2", token(seq({ str("a"), str("b") })) },
         }, {}));
 
         AssertThat(result.first, Equals(PreparedGrammar({
@@ -74,6 +91,7 @@ describe("extracting tokens from a grammar", []() {
 
         AssertThat(result.second, Equals(PreparedGrammar({
             { "rule1", pattern("a|b") },
+            { "rule2", token(seq({ str("a"), str("b") })) },
         }, {})));
     });
 
diff --git a/src/compiler/build_tables/get_metadata.cc b/src/compiler/build_tables/get_metadata.cc
index f1fbfd25..c1b4d175 100644
--- a/src/compiler/build_tables/get_metadata.cc
+++ b/src/compiler/build_tables/get_metadata.cc
@@ -8,8 +8,7 @@ namespace tree_sitter {
                 rules::MetadataKey metadata_key;
 
                 int apply_to(const rules::Metadata *rule) {
-                    auto pair = rule->value.find(metadata_key);
-                    return (pair != rule->value.end()) ? pair->second : 0;
+                    return rule->value_for(metadata_key);
                 }
 
             public:
diff --git a/src/compiler/prepare_grammar/extract_tokens.cc b/src/compiler/prepare_grammar/extract_tokens.cc
index 01103bcf..c4df2a29 100644
--- a/src/compiler/prepare_grammar/extract_tokens.cc
+++ b/src/compiler/prepare_grammar/extract_tokens.cc
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 #include "compiler/rules/blank.h"
 #include "compiler/rules/symbol.h"
 #include "compiler/rules/string.h"
+#include "compiler/rules/metadata.h"
 #include "compiler/rules/pattern.h"
 
 namespace tree_sitter {
@@ -28,6 +29,7 @@ namespace tree_sitter {
         class IsToken : public rules::RuleFn<bool> {
             bool apply_to(const rules::String *rule) { return true; }
             bool apply_to(const rules::Pattern *rule) { return true; }
+            bool apply_to(const rules::Metadata *rule) { return rule->value_for(rules::IS_TOKEN); }
         };
 
         class SymbolInliner : public rules::IdentityRuleFn {
@@ -69,16 +71,28 @@ namespace tree_sitter {
                 return index;
             }
 
+            rule_ptr apply_to_token(const rules::rule_ptr rule) {
+                size_t index = add_token(rule);
+                return make_shared<rules::Symbol>(index, rules::SymbolOption(rules::SymbolOptionToken|rules::SymbolOptionAuxiliary));
+            }
+
             rule_ptr default_apply(const rules::Rule *rule) {
                 auto result = rule->copy();
                 if (IsToken().apply(result)) {
-                    size_t index = add_token(result);
-                    return make_shared<rules::Symbol>(index, rules::SymbolOption(rules::SymbolOptionToken|rules::SymbolOptionAuxiliary));
+                    return apply_to_token(result);
                 } else {
                     return result;
                 }
             }
 
+            rule_ptr apply_to(const rules::Metadata *rule) {
+                if (rule->value_for(rules::IS_TOKEN)) {
+                    return apply_to_token(rule->copy());
+                } else {
+                    return make_shared<rules::Metadata>(apply(rule->rule), rule->value);
+                }
+            }
+
         public:
             vector<pair<string, rule_ptr>> tokens;
         };
diff --git a/src/compiler/rules/metadata.cc b/src/compiler/rules/metadata.cc
index 98f1f7b9..b45a5ceb 100644
--- a/src/compiler/rules/metadata.cc
+++ b/src/compiler/rules/metadata.cc
@@ -26,7 +26,14 @@ namespace tree_sitter  {
         }
 
         rule_ptr Metadata::copy() const {
-            return make_shared<Metadata>(rule, value);
+            return make_shared<Metadata>(rule->copy(), value);
+        }
+
+        int Metadata::value_for(MetadataKey key) const {
+            auto pair = value.find(key);
+            return (pair != value.end()) ?
+                pair->second :
+                0;
         }
 
         std::string Metadata::to_string() const {
diff --git a/src/compiler/rules/metadata.h b/src/compiler/rules/metadata.h
index 916279b9..97c7b761 100644
--- a/src/compiler/rules/metadata.h
+++ b/src/compiler/rules/metadata.h
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ namespace tree_sitter  {
     namespace rules {
         typedef enum {
             START_TOKEN,
-            PRECEDENCE
+            PRECEDENCE,
+            IS_TOKEN,
         } MetadataKey;
 
         class Metadata : public Rule {
@@ -21,6 +22,7 @@ namespace tree_sitter  {
             rule_ptr copy() const;
             std::string to_string() const;
             void accept(Visitor *visitor) const;
+            int value_for(MetadataKey key) const;
 
             const rule_ptr rule;
             const std::map<MetadataKey, int> value;
diff --git a/src/compiler/rules/rules.cc b/src/compiler/rules/rules.cc
index 8db093c0..9752ec4d 100644
--- a/src/compiler/rules/rules.cc
+++ b/src/compiler/rules/rules.cc
@@ -23,6 +23,10 @@ namespace tree_sitter {
     using std::map;
 
     namespace rules {
+        static rule_ptr metadata(rule_ptr rule, map<MetadataKey, int> values) {
+            return std::make_shared<Metadata>(rule, values);
+        }
+
         rule_ptr blank() {
             return make_shared<Blank>();
         }
@@ -56,9 +60,11 @@ namespace tree_sitter {
         }
 
         rule_ptr prec(int precedence, rule_ptr rule) {
-            return std::make_shared<Metadata>(rule, map<MetadataKey, int>({
-                { PRECEDENCE, precedence }
-            }));
+            return metadata(rule, { { PRECEDENCE, precedence } });
+        }
+
+        rule_ptr token(rule_ptr rule) {
+            return metadata(rule, { { IS_TOKEN, 1 } });
         }
     }
 }