diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..98aabc3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+OS=$1
+RELEASE=$2
+ARCH=$3
+TITLE=$4
+BASE=$5
+BASEPATH=$6
+
+echo "architecture: \"$ARCH\"
+creation_date: $(date +%s) # To get current date in Unix time, use \`date +%s\` command
+properties:
+architecture: \"$ARCH\"
+description: \"$TITLE\"
+os: \"$OS\"
+release: \"$RELEASE\"" > images/$BASE/metadata.yaml
+
+tar -cvzf images/$BASE/metadata.tar.gz -C images/$BASE metadata.yaml
+rm images/$BASE/metadata.yaml
+
+if [ ! -f images/$BASE/$BASE.tar.gz ]; then
+
+	tar -cvzf images/$BASE/$BASE.tar.gz -C $BASEPATH .
+	# rm -rf $BASEPATH
+else
+
+	echo "$BASE.tar.gz already exists; not overwriting"
+fi
+
+EXISTS=$(lxc image list | grep $BASE )
+if [ "$EXISTS" == "" ]; then
+
+	lxc image import images/$BASE/metadata.tar.gz images/$BASE/$BASE.tar.gz --alias $BASE
+
+else
+
+	echo "not importing image; already exists as $BASE"
+
+fi
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/provision.sh b/provision.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..96c154f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/provision.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# usage ./provision.sh 
+
+if [ "$USER" != "root" ]; then
+	echo "must be run as root"
+	exit 2
+fi
+
+FLAVOR=$1
+BASEPATH=$2
+
+if [ ! -d "$BASEPATH" ]; then
+
+	debootstrap $FLAVOR "$BASEPATH"
+
+fi
+
+if [ ! -d "$BASEPATH" ]; then
+	echo "base path not found: $BASEPATH"
+	exit 2
+fi
+
+# update the sources.list - this is only for ubuntu!!
+echo "deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu $FLAVOR main universe
+deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu $FLAVOR-updates main universe
+deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu $FLAVOR-backports main universe
+deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu $FLAVOR-security main universe" > $BASEPATH/etc/apt/sources.list
+