diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 67b618f1..2e59341c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1 +1,12 @@
 # system_metrics_collector
+
+Note: _This is currently an **experimental** package._
+
+## MetricsMessage
+
+This message is used to publish the statistics of measured data points, e.g. system cpu %, system free memory, message age, etc.
+
+## License
+The source code is released under an Apache 2.0.
+
+Maintainer: ROS Tooling Working Group, ros-tooling@googlegroups.com
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/metrics_statistics_msgs/CMakeLists.txt b/metrics_statistics_msgs/CMakeLists.txt
index 753dc4ee..32155384 100644
--- a/metrics_statistics_msgs/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/metrics_statistics_msgs/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -11,9 +11,16 @@ if(NOT CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD)
   set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 14)
 endif()
 
-if(CMAKE_COMPILER_IS_GNUCXX OR CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID MATCHES "Clang")
-  add_compile_options(-Wall -Wextra -Wpedantic)
-endif()
+# Enable strict compiler flags if possible.
+include(CheckCXXCompilerFlag)
+# Removed -Wmissing-declarations until gmock is ignored
+set(FLAGS -pedantic -Wno-long-long -Wall -Wextra -Wcast-qual -Wformat -Wwrite-strings -Wcast-align -Wno-error=cast-align)
+foreach(FLAG ${FLAGS})
+  check_cxx_compiler_flag(${FLAG} R${FLAG})
+  if(${R${FLAG}})
+    set(WARNING_CXX_FLAGS "${WARNING_CXX_FLAGS} ${FLAG}")
+  endif()
+endforeach()
 
 # find dependencies
 find_package(ament_cmake REQUIRED)
diff --git a/system_metrics_collector/CMakeLists.txt b/system_metrics_collector/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6b669d1b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/system_metrics_collector/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.5)
+project(system_metrics_collector)
+
+# Default to C99
+if(NOT CMAKE_C_STANDARD)
+  set(CMAKE_C_STANDARD 99)
+endif()
+
+# Default to C++14
+if(NOT CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD)
+  set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 14)
+endif()
+
+# Enable strict compiler flags if possible.
+include(CheckCXXCompilerFlag)
+# Removed -Wmissing-declarations until gmock is ignored
+set(FLAGS -pedantic -Wno-long-long -Wall -Wextra -Wcast-qual -Wformat -Wwrite-strings -Wcast-align -Wno-error=cast-align)
+foreach(FLAG ${FLAGS})
+  check_cxx_compiler_flag(${FLAG} R${FLAG})
+  if(${R${FLAG}})
+    set(WARNING_CXX_FLAGS "${WARNING_CXX_FLAGS} ${FLAG}")
+  endif()
+endforeach()
+
+# find dependencies
+find_package(ament_cmake REQUIRED)
+find_package(rclcpp REQUIRED)
+find_package(rcutils REQUIRED)
+find_package(metrics_statistics_msgs REQUIRED)
+
+if(BUILD_TESTING)
+  find_package(ament_lint_auto REQUIRED)
+  # the following line skips the linter which checks for copyrights
+  # uncomment the line when a copyright and license is not present in all source files
+  #set(ament_cmake_copyright_FOUND TRUE)
+  # the following line skips cpplint (only works in a git repo)
+  # uncomment the line when this package is not in a git repo
+  #set(ament_cmake_cpplint_FOUND TRUE)
+  ament_lint_auto_find_test_dependencies()
+endif()
+
+ament_package()
diff --git a/system_metrics_collector/package.xml b/system_metrics_collector/package.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1354656e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/system_metrics_collector/package.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<?xml-model href="http://download.ros.org/schema/package_format3.xsd" schematypens="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"?>
+<package format="3">
+  <name>system_metrics_collector</name>
+  <version>0.0.0</version>
+  <description>Node and aggregation utilities to measure and publish system metrics.</description>
+  <maintainer email="ros-tooling@googlegroups.com">ROS Tooling Working Group</maintainer>
+  <license>Apache License 2.0</license>
+
+  <buildtool_depend>ament_cmake</buildtool_depend>
+
+  <build_depend>rclcpp</build_depend>
+  <build_depend>rcutils</build_depend>
+  <build_depend>metrics_statistics_msgs</build_depend>
+
+  <exec_depend>rclcpp</exec_depend>
+  <exec_depend>rcutils</exec_depend>
+  <exec_depend>metrics_statistics_msgs</exec_depend>
+
+  <test_depend>ament_lint_auto</test_depend>
+  <test_depend>ament_lint_common</test_depend>
+
+  <export>
+    <build_type>ament_cmake</build_type>
+  </export>
+</package>