diff --git a/doc/source/configuration/host-system.rst b/doc/source/configuration/host-system.rst
index e568ee69..ac480818 100644
--- a/doc/source/configuration/host-system.rst
+++ b/doc/source/configuration/host-system.rst
@@ -138,7 +138,8 @@ Sample Document to run containers in Containerd runtime
 Files
 -----
 
-A list of files to be written to the host.  Files can be given as precise content or extracted from a tarball specified by url:
+A list of files to be written to the host.  Files can be given as precise
+content, extracted from a tarball specified by url, or downloaded from a url:
 
 .. code-block:: yaml
 
@@ -148,8 +149,10 @@ A list of files to be written to the host.  Files can be given as precise conten
         exact
         text
     - path: /etc/from-tar
-      tar_url: http://example.com/file
+      tar_url: http://example.com/file.tgz
       tar_source: dir/file.txt
+    - path: /etc/from-url
+      url: http://example.com/file
 
 Images
 ------
diff --git a/promenade/builder.py b/promenade/builder.py
index ec4b082b..5ca7eeea 100644
--- a/promenade/builder.py
+++ b/promenade/builder.py
@@ -54,6 +54,8 @@ class Builder:
             elif 'symlink' in file_spec:
                 data = file_spec['symlink']
                 islink = True
+            elif 'url' in file_spec:
+                data = _fetch_tar_url(file_spec['url'])
             elif 'tar_url' in file_spec:
                 data = _fetch_tar_content(file_spec['tar_url'],
                                           file_spec['tar_path'])
diff --git a/promenade/schemas/Genesis.yaml b/promenade/schemas/Genesis.yaml
index ea8d7623..22a38d10 100644
--- a/promenade/schemas/Genesis.yaml
+++ b/promenade/schemas/Genesis.yaml
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ data:
         mode:
           type: integer
           minimum: 0
+        url:
+          $ref: '#/definitions/url'
         tar_url:
           $ref: '#/definitions/url'
         tar_path:
@@ -35,6 +37,9 @@ data:
         - type: object
           required:
             - content
+        - type: object
+          required:
+            - url
         - type: object
           allOf:
             - type: object
diff --git a/promenade/schemas/HostSystem.yaml b/promenade/schemas/HostSystem.yaml
index 47b5183b..4fb15cd6 100644
--- a/promenade/schemas/HostSystem.yaml
+++ b/promenade/schemas/HostSystem.yaml
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ data:
         mode:
           type: integer
           minimum: 0
+        url:
+          $ref: '#/definitions/url'
         tar_url:
           $ref: '#/definitions/url'
         tar_path:
@@ -57,6 +59,9 @@ data:
         - type: object
           required:
             - symlink
+        - type: object
+          required:
+            - url
         - type: object
           allOf:
             - type: object