diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index fcef7e4281..ff3eb09f03 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -112,6 +112,7 @@
         "tqdm>=4.62.3,<5.0",
         "traitlets>=5.3.0",
         "watchdog>=3.0,<4",
+        "tomli>=2.0.1; python_version<'3.11'",
         # ** Dependencies maintained by Ethereum Foundation **
         "eth-abi>=4.1.0,<5",
         "eth-account>=0.8,<0.9",
diff --git a/src/ape_init/_cli.py b/src/ape_init/_cli.py
index a804ce064a..0c98a4423f 100644
--- a/src/ape_init/_cli.py
+++ b/src/ape_init/_cli.py
@@ -1,11 +1,47 @@
 import shutil
 from pathlib import Path
+from typing import List
 
 import click
 
 from ape.cli import ape_cli_context
 from ape.utils import github_client
 
+try:
+    import tomllib  # type: ignore[import]
+# backwards compatibility
+except ModuleNotFoundError:
+    import tomli as tomllib
+
+
+def read_dependencies_from_toml(file_path, cli_ctx) -> List[str]:
+
+    with open("./pyproject.toml", "rb") as file:
+        try:
+            data = tomllib.load(file)
+        except FileNotFoundError:
+            cli_ctx.logger.warning(
+                f"Unable to populate contnets from pyproject.toml file. {file_path} doesn't exists."
+            )
+
+        except tomllib.TOMLDecodeError:
+            cli_ctx.logger.warning(f"Error reading {file_path} file.")
+
+    # Extract the 'tool.poetry.dependencies' section
+    dependencies = data.get("tool", {}).get("poetry", {}).get("dependencies", {})
+
+    # Check each dependency to see if it starts with 'ape-', because we know these are the ape plugins
+    ape_plugins = [dep[4:] for dep in dependencies if dep.startswith("ape-")]
+
+    return ape_plugins
+
+
+def write_ape_config_yml(dependencies: List[str], file_to_write: Path):
+    dependency_text = "plugins:\n" + "\n".join(
+        [f"  - name: {dependency}" for dependency in dependencies]
+    )
+    file_to_write.write_text(dependency_text)
+
 
 @click.command(short_help="Initalize an ape project")
 @ape_cli_context()
@@ -53,9 +89,17 @@ def cli(cli_ctx, github):
             git_ignore_path.write_text(body.lstrip())
 
         ape_config = project_folder / "ape-config.yaml"
-        if ape_config.exists():
+        if ape_config.is_file():
             cli_ctx.logger.warning(f"'{ape_config}' exists")
         else:
             project_name = click.prompt("Please enter project name")
             ape_config.write_text(f"name: {project_name}\n")
             cli_ctx.logger.success(f"{project_name} is written in ape-config.yaml")
+
+        pyproject_toml = project_folder / "pyproject.toml"
+        if pyproject_toml.is_file():
+            dependencies = read_dependencies_from_toml(pyproject_toml, cli_ctx)
+            write_ape_config_yml(dependencies, ape_config)
+            cli_ctx.logger.success(
+                f"Generated {ape_config} based on the currect pyproject.toml file"
+            )