diff --git a/bootstrap.sh b/bootstrap.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..13b3459
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bootstrap.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set +e
+
+# make sure we're in the project directory
+SCRIPT_DIR=$(dirname $0)
+cd "${SCRIPT_DIR}"
+
+# move origin over to baseline
+git remote -v | grep -q '^baseline' || git remote rename origin baseline;
+
+if [ ! -e venv ]; then
+    virtualenv venv --distribute
+    venv/bin/pip install -r requirements.txt
+fi;
+
+# create the virtual environment and install requirements
+secret_key=baseline/secretkey.py
+if [ ! -e ${secret_key} ]; then
+    venv/bin/python manage.py secretkey;
+
+    git add ${secret_key}
+    git commit -m"Added ${secret_key}" ${secret_key}
+fi;
+
+# create localsettings module
+if [ ! -e baseline/localsettings.py ]; then
+    echo "DEBUG = True" >> baseline/localsettings.py
+fi;
+
+# sync the local database
+python manage.py syncdb
+python manage.py migrate