diff --git a/tools/release.sh b/tools/release.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..823de0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/release.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+#/bin/bash
+
+# check we have our deps
+command -v git > /dev/null || { echo "missing git"; exit 1; }
+command -v jq > /dev/null || { echo "missing jq"; exit 1; }
+command -v npm > /dev/null || { echo "missing npm"; exit 1; }
+
+function git_dirty {
+  [[ $(git diff --shortstat 2> /dev/null | tail -n1) != "" ]]
+}
+
+# check there's nothing unstaged/uncommited in working dir
+git_dirty && echo "unstaged/commited changes" && exit 1
+
+VERSION="$1"
+
+# strips off the v from your input
+VERSION=$(echo $VERSION | sed 's/^v//g')
+
+if [ "${VERSION}" = "" ]; then
+    echo "version argument required"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# give user a chance to cancel process
+echo "v${VERSION} ok? (exit if not)"
+read OK
+
+# update package.json version
+cat package.json | jq ".version = \"${VERSION}\"" > tmp.$$.json && mv tmp.$$.json package.json
+
+# commit package.json change
+git commit -am "v${VERSION}" package.json || exit 1
+
+# npm install for latest deps before we grunt build
+npm install || exit 1
+
+# grunt build
+grunt build || exit 1
+
+# commit grunt build
+git commit -am "build for release" || exit 1
+
+# tag version
+git tag v${VERSION} || exit 1
+
+# push with tags
+git push || exit 1
+git push --tags || exit 1
+
+# publish to npm
+npm publish