diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..95b18f0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+.PHONY: clean clean-test clean-pyc clean-build docs help
+.DEFAULT_GOAL := help
+define BROWSER_PYSCRIPT
+import os, webbrowser, sys
+try:
+	from urllib import pathname2url
+except:
+	from urllib.request import pathname2url
+
+webbrowser.open("file://" + pathname2url(os.path.abspath(sys.argv[1])))
+endef
+export BROWSER_PYSCRIPT
+
+define PRINT_HELP_PYSCRIPT
+import re, sys
+
+for line in sys.stdin:
+	match = re.match(r'^([a-zA-Z_-]+):.*?## (.*)$$', line)
+	if match:
+		target, help = match.groups()
+		print("%-20s %s" % (target, help))
+endef
+export PRINT_HELP_PYSCRIPT
+BROWSER := python -c "$$BROWSER_PYSCRIPT"
+
+help:
+	@python -c "$$PRINT_HELP_PYSCRIPT" < $(MAKEFILE_LIST)
+
+clean: clean-build clean-pyc clean-test ## remove all build, test, coverage and Python artifacts
+
+
+clean-build: ## remove build artifacts
+	rm -fr build/
+	rm -fr dist/
+	rm -fr .eggs/
+	find . -name '*.egg-info' -exec rm -fr {} +
+	find . -name '*.egg' -exec rm -f {} +
+
+clean-pyc: ## remove Python file artifacts
+	find . -name '*.pyc' -exec rm -f {} +
+	find . -name '*.pyo' -exec rm -f {} +
+	find . -name '*~' -exec rm -f {} +
+	find . -name '__pycache__' -exec rm -fr {} +
+
+clean-test: ## remove test and coverage artifacts
+	rm -fr .tox/
+	rm -f .coverage
+	rm -fr htmlcov/
+
+lint: ## check style with flake8
+	flake8 bigchaindb tests
+
+test: ## run tests quickly with the default Python
+	py.test
+	
+
+test-all: ## run tests on every Python version with tox
+	tox
+
+coverage: ## check code coverage quickly with the default Python
+	coverage run --source bigchaindb py.test
+	
+		coverage report -m
+		coverage html
+		$(BROWSER) htmlcov/index.html
+
+docs: ## generate Sphinx HTML documentation, including API docs
+	rm -f docs/bigchaindb.rst
+	rm -f docs/modules.rst
+	sphinx-apidoc -o docs/ bigchaindb
+	$(MAKE) -C docs clean
+	$(MAKE) -C docs html
+	$(BROWSER) docs/_build/html/index.html
+
+servedocs: docs ## compile the docs watching for changes
+	watchmedo shell-command -p '*.rst' -c '$(MAKE) -C docs html' -R -D .
+
+release: clean ## package and upload a release
+	python setup.py sdist upload
+	python setup.py bdist_wheel upload
+
+dist: clean ## builds source and wheel package
+	python setup.py sdist
+	python setup.py bdist_wheel
+	ls -l dist
+
+install: clean ## install the package to the active Python's site-packages
+	python setup.py install