diff --git a/help.mk b/help.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f8ecad5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/help.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+.DEFAULT_GOAL := help
+
+help:
+	@echo "Available targets:"
+	@echo "    build     - builds any artifacts"
+	@echo "    publish   - publishes any built artifacts to a deployment server"
+	@echo "    clean     - remove tempory files and build artifacts"
+	@echo "    test      - executes any unit tests on the project"
+	@echo "    help      - this message"
+	@echo ""
+	@echo "Available environment variables:"
+	@echo "    PROJECT_PREFIX - defines a prefix to prepend to all Docker image names"
+	@echo "    PACKAGE_TAG    - defines the TAG to use on the public Docker image that is the build artifact"
+	@echo "    REGISTRY       - name of the registry to which to publish Docker images"
+	@echo "    DOCKER_ARGS    - additional arguments to pass to the Docker build command"