Techniques that enable an application or component developed according to a first framework specification to use services provided by an application executing on a second framework that is different from the first framework. A portal architecture is described that is capable of running portal snippets developed according to different framework specifications. A J2EE framework-based portal is configured to execute portal snippets developed using Java for a Java-based framework and also to provide support for and execute portal snippets that have been developed using a language supported by another framework such as .NET framework.