diff --git a/cluster/images/kubelet/Makefile b/cluster/images/kubelet/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2a936c1f11f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cluster/images/kubelet/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# build the kubelet image.
+
+# TODO: figure out the best base image
+# TODO: figure out how to best source the nsenter binary, if necessary
+# TODO: figure out how to make a single source of version info for these
+#       images
+VERSION=v0.16
+BIN_DIR=bin/linux/amd64
+LOCAL_OUTPUT_DIR=../../../_output/local
+
+release: clean
+	curl -O https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/${VERSION}/${BIN_DIR}/kubelet
+	docker build -t gcr.io/google_containers/kubelet:${VERSION} .
+	gcloud docker push gcr.io/google_containers/kubelet:${VERSION}
+
+local: clean
+	cp ${LOCAL_OUTPUT_DIR}/${BIN_DIR}/kubelet .
+	docker build -t gcr.io/google_containers/kubelet .
+
+clean:
+	rm -f kubelet
+
+.PHONY: release