diff --git a/common/run_tosca.py b/common/run_tosca.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..35a0fb7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/run_tosca.py
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+#! /usr/bin/env python
+
+import json
+import os
+import requests
+import sys
+import traceback
+
+def main():
+    global opencloud_auth
+
+    if len(sys.argv)!=5:
+        print >> sys.stderr, "syntax: run_tosca.py <port> <username> <password> <fn>"
+        sys.exit(-1)
+
+    port = int(sys.argv[1])
+    username = sys.argv[2]
+    password = sys.argv[3]
+    tosca_fn = sys.argv[4]
+
+    xos_auth=(username, password)
+
+    hostname = "127.0.0.1"
+    url = "http://%s:%d/api/utility/tosca/run/" % (hostname, port)
+
+    recipe = open(tosca_fn).read()
+
+    r = requests.post(url, data={"recipe": recipe}, auth=xos_auth)
+    if (r.status_code != 200):
+        print >> sys.stderr, "ERR: recieved status %d" % r.status_code
+        try:
+            print >> sys.stderr, r.json()["error_text"]
+        except:
+            traceback.print_exc("error while printing the error!")
+            print r.text
+        sys.exit(-1)
+
+    result = r.json()
+    if "log_msgs" in result:
+        print "\n".join(result["log_msgs"])+"\n"
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()
+