diff --git a/bin/compress b/bin/compress
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..925eee2c37
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/compress
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+
+// Compression helper for CodeMirror
+//
+// Example:
+//
+//   bin/compress codemirror runmode javascript xml
+//
+// Will take lib/codemirror.js, lib/util/runmode.js,
+// mode/javascript/javascript.js, and mode/xml/xml.js, run them though
+// the online minifier at http://marijnhaverbeke.nl/uglifyjs, and spit
+// out the result.
+//
+//   bin/compress codemirror --local /path/to/bin/UglifyJS
+//
+// Will use a local minifier instead of the online default one.
+//
+// Script files are specified without .js ending. Prefixing them with
+// their full (local) path is optional. So you may say lib/codemirror
+// or mode/xml/xml to be more precise. In fact, even the .js suffix
+// may be speficied, if wanted.
+
+"use strict";
+
+var fs = require("fs");
+
+function help(ok) {
+  console.log("usage: " + process.argv[1] + " [--local /path/to/uglifyjs] files...");
+  process.exit(ok ? 0 : 1);
+}
+
+var local = null, args = null, files = [], blob = "";
+
+for (var i = 2; i < process.argv.length; ++i) {
+  var arg = process.argv[i];
+  if (arg == "--local" && i + 1 < process.argv.length) {
+    var parts = process.argv[++i].split(/\s+/);
+    local = parts[0];
+    args = parts.slice(1);
+  } else if (arg == "--help") {
+    help(true);
+  } else if (arg[0] != "-") {
+    files.push({name: arg, re: new RegExp("(?:\\/|^)" + arg + (/\.js$/.test(arg) ? "$" : "\\.js$"))});
+  } else help(false);
+}
+
+function walk(dir) {
+  fs.readdirSync(dir).forEach(function(fname) {
+    if (/^[_\.]/.test(fname)) return;
+    var file = dir + fname;
+    if (fs.statSync(file).isDirectory()) return walk(file + "/");
+    if (files.some(function(spec, i) {
+      var match = spec.re.test(file);
+      if (match) files.splice(i, 1);
+      return match;
+    })) {
+      if (local) args.push(file);
+      else blob += fs.readFileSync(file, "utf8");
+    }
+  });
+}
+
+walk("lib/");
+walk("mode/");
+
+if (files.length) {
+  console.log("Some speficied files were not found: " +
+              files.map(function(a){return a.name;}).join(", "));
+  process.exit(1);
+}
+  
+if (local) {
+  require("child_process").spawn(local, args, {stdio: ["ignore", process.stdout, process.stderr]});
+} else {
+  var data = new Buffer("js_code=" + require("querystring").escape(blob), "utf8");
+  var req = require("http").request({
+    host: "marijnhaverbeke.nl",
+    port: 80,
+    method: "POST",
+    path: "/uglifyjs",
+    headers: {"content-type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded",
+              "content-length": data.length}
+  });
+  req.on("response", function(resp) {
+    resp.on("data", function (chunk) { process.stdout.write(chunk); });
+  });
+  req.end(data);
+}