diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index a26515711a9..5705fe877b5 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -163,7 +163,13 @@ You can access the frontend at [localhost:3000](http://localhost:3000). Whatever
     vagrant exec make -C src/backend test
     ```
 
-12. Explore the development environment:
+12. Check your commits:
+
+    ```
+    vagrant exec rake git_cop
+    ```
+
+13. Explore the development environment:
 
     ```
     vagrant ssh
diff --git a/src/api/lib/tasks/git_cop.rake b/src/api/lib/tasks/git_cop.rake
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..66b0e063252
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/api/lib/tasks/git_cop.rake
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+desc 'Run Git-cop locally'
+task :git_cop do
+  puts "\nCopying configuration file into ~/.config/git-cop/configuration.yml"
+  sh "mkdir -p ~/.config/git-cop"
+  sh "cp ../../dist/git-cop_configuration.yml ~/.config/git-cop/configuration.yml"
+  puts
+  sh "bundle exec git-cop --police"
+end