diff --git a/Makefile.common b/Makefile.common
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0f7717ff4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Makefile.common
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+# Copyright 2018 The Prometheus Authors
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+
+# A common Makefile that includes rules to be reused in different prometheus projects.
+
+# !!! Open PRs only against the prometheus/common repository!
+
+# Example usage :
+# Create the main Makefile in the root project directory. 
+
+# .EXPORT_ALL_VARIABLES:
+# SOURCE := https://raw.githubusercontent.com/prometheus/common/master/Makefile.common
+
+# %:	download
+# 	@$(MAKE) -f Makefile.common $@
+
+# download :
+# 	@echo ">> downloading a fresh copy of $(SOURCE)"
+# 	# If the pull fails it will use the local cached version.
+# 	@# -f do NOT overwrite the file in case of a network error. Keep cached copy!
+# 	@curl $(SOURCE) -s -f -o Makefile.common || true
+
+
+# Ensure GOBIN is not set during build so that promu is installed to the correct path
+unexport GOBIN
+
+GO           ?= go
+GOFMT        ?= $(GO)fmt
+FIRST_GOPATH := $(firstword $(subst :, ,$(shell $(GO) env GOPATH)))
+PROMU        := $(FIRST_GOPATH)/bin/promu
+STATICCHECK  := $(FIRST_GOPATH)/bin/staticcheck
+GOVENDOR     := $(FIRST_GOPATH)/bin/govendor
+pkgs          = $(shell $(GO) list ./... | grep -v /vendor/)
+
+PREFIX                  ?= $(shell pwd)
+BIN_DIR                 ?= $(shell pwd)
+DOCKER_IMAGE_TAG        ?= $(subst /,-,$(shell git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD))
+DOCKER_IMAGE_NAME       ?= prometheus
+
+ifdef DEBUG
+	bindata_flags = -debug
+endif
+
+STATICCHECK_IGNORE = \
+  github.com/prometheus/prometheus/discovery/kubernetes/kubernetes.go:SA1019 \
+  github.com/prometheus/prometheus/discovery/kubernetes/node.go:SA1019 \
+  github.com/prometheus/prometheus/documentation/examples/remote_storage/remote_storage_adapter/main.go:SA1019 \
+  github.com/prometheus/prometheus/pkg/textparse/lex.l.go:SA4006 \
+  github.com/prometheus/prometheus/pkg/pool/pool.go:SA6002 \
+  github.com/prometheus/prometheus/promql/engine.go:SA6002 \
+  github.com/prometheus/prometheus/web/web.go:SA1019
+
+all: format staticcheck unused build test
+
+style:
+	@echo ">> checking code style"
+	@! $(GOFMT) -d $(shell find . -path ./vendor -prune -o -name '*.go' -print) | grep '^'
+
+check_license:
+	@echo ">> checking license header"
+	@mkdir -p scripts
+	@curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/prometheus/common/master/scripts/check_license.sh -s -f -o scripts/check_license.sh || true
+	@./scripts/check_license.sh
+
+# TODO(fabxc): example tests temporarily removed.
+test-short:
+	@echo ">> running short tests"
+	@$(GO) test -short $(shell $(GO) list ./... | grep -v /vendor/ | grep -v examples)
+
+test:
+	@echo ">> running all tests"
+	@$(GO) test -race $(shell $(GO) list ./... | grep -v /vendor/ | grep -v examples)
+
+format:
+	@echo ">> formatting code"
+	@$(GO) fmt $(pkgs)
+
+vet:
+	@echo ">> vetting code"
+	@$(GO) vet $(pkgs)
+
+staticcheck: $(STATICCHECK)
+	@echo ">> running staticcheck"
+	@$(STATICCHECK) -ignore "$(STATICCHECK_IGNORE)" $(pkgs)
+
+unused: $(GOVENDOR)
+	@echo ">> running check for unused packages"
+	@$(GOVENDOR) list +unused
+
+build: promu
+	@echo ">> building binaries"
+	@$(PROMU) build --prefix $(PREFIX)
+
+tarball: promu
+	@echo ">> building release tarball"
+	@$(PROMU) tarball --prefix $(PREFIX) $(BIN_DIR)
+
+docker:
+	@echo ">> building docker image"
+	@docker build -t "$(DOCKER_IMAGE_NAME):$(DOCKER_IMAGE_TAG)" .
+
+assets:
+	@echo ">> writing assets"
+	@$(GO) get -u github.com/jteeuwen/go-bindata/...
+	@go-bindata $(bindata_flags) -pkg ui -o web/ui/bindata.go -ignore '(.*\.map|bootstrap\.js|bootstrap-theme\.css|bootstrap\.css)'  web/ui/templates/... web/ui/static/...
+	@$(GO) fmt ./web/ui
+
+promu:
+	@echo ">> fetching promu"
+	@GOOS= GOARCH= $(GO) get -u github.com/prometheus/promu
+
+$(FIRST_GOPATH)/bin/staticcheck:
+	@GOOS= GOARCH= $(GO) get -u honnef.co/go/tools/cmd/staticcheck
+
+$(FIRST_GOPATH)/bin/govendor:
+	@GOOS= GOARCH= $(GO) get -u github.com/kardianos/govendor
+
+.PHONY: all style check_license format build test vet assets tarball docker promu staticcheck $(FIRST_GOPATH)/bin/staticcheck govendor $(FIRST_GOPATH)/bin/govendor
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/check_license.sh b/scripts/check_license.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1804a142c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/check_license.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# Copyright 2018 The Prometheus Authors
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+check_license() {
+  local file=""
+  for file in $(find . -type f -iname '*.go' ! -path './vendor/*'); do
+    head -n3 "${file}" | grep -Eq "(Copyright|generated|GENERATED)" || echo "  ${file}"
+  done
+}
+
+licRes=$(check_license)
+
+if [ -n "${licRes}" ]; then
+  echo "license header checking failed:"
+  echo "${licRes}"
+  exit 1
+fi
\ No newline at end of file