diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8befcfe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+desc "Copy the vim/doc files into ~/.vim"
+task :deploy_local do
+  run "cp plugin/NERD_tree.vim ~/.vim/plugin"
+  run "cp doc/NERD_tree.txt ~/.vim/doc"
+end
+
+
+desc "Create a zip archive for release to vim.org"
+task :zip do
+  abort "NERD_tree.zip already exists, aborting" if File.exist?("NERD_tree.zip")
+  run "zip NERD_tree.zip plugin/NERD_tree.vim doc/NERD_tree.txt"
+end
+
+def run(cmd)
+  puts "Executing: #{cmd}"
+  system cmd
+end
+