diff --git a/helm-chart/renku-notebooks/templates/configmap.yaml b/helm-chart/renku-notebooks/templates/configmap.yaml
index e7ed76f41..c07d16984 100644
--- a/helm-chart/renku-notebooks/templates/configmap.yaml
+++ b/helm-chart/renku-notebooks/templates/configmap.yaml
@@ -13,3 +13,47 @@ data:
     {{ .Values.serverOptions | default dict | toJson }}
   server_defaults.json: |
     {{ toJson .Values.serverDefaults }}
+---
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: ConfigMap
+metadata:
+  name: notebook-helper-scripts
+  labels:
+    app: {{ template "notebooks.name" . }}
+    chart: {{ template "notebooks.chart" . }}
+    release: {{ .Release.Name }}
+    heritage: {{ .Release.Service }}
+data:
+  pre-stop.sh: |
+    #!/bin/bash
+    UNCOMMITTED_CHANGES=`git status -s`
+    UNPUSHED_COMMITS=`git log --branches --not --remotes`
+    if [ "${GIT_AUTOSAVE}" != "1" ] ; then
+      exit 0
+    fi
+    if [ -z "$UNCOMMITTED_CHANGES" ] && [ -z "$UNPUSHED_COMMITS" ]; then
+      exit 0
+    fi
+    CURRENT_BRANCH=`git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD`
+    LOCAL_SHA=`git rev-parse --short HEAD`
+    INITIAL_SHA="${CI_COMMIT_SHA:0:7}"
+    AUTOSAVE_BRANCH="renku/autosave/$RENKU_USERNAME/${CURRENT_BRANCH}/${INITIAL_SHA}/${LOCAL_SHA}"
+    if [ -z "$UNCOMMITTED_CHANGES" ] && [ ! -z "$UNPUSHED_COMMITS" ]; then
+      # there are only unpushed commits
+      git checkout -b "$AUTOSAVE_BRANCH"
+      git push origin "$AUTOSAVE_BRANCH"
+      git checkout "$CURRENT_BRANCH"
+      git branch -D "$AUTOSAVE_BRANCH"
+    fi
+    if [ ! -z "$UNCOMMITTED_CHANGES" ]; then
+      # there are uncommitted changes
+      git stash --include-untracked
+      git checkout -b "$AUTOSAVE_BRANCH"
+      git stash apply
+      git add .
+      git commit -am "Auto-saving for $RENKU_USERNAME on branch $CURRENT_BRANCH from commit $INITIAL_SHA"
+      git push origin "$AUTOSAVE_BRANCH"
+      git checkout "$CURRENT_BRANCH"
+      git branch -D "$AUTOSAVE_BRANCH"
+      git stash pop
+    fi