diff --git a/vagrant-base/Makefile b/vagrant-base/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e632302
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vagrant-base/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+PROTO_FILES := $(wildcard *.proto) $(wildcard third_party/google/api/*proto)
+PROTO_PB2_FILES := $(foreach f,$(PROTO_FILES),$(subst .proto,_pb2.py,$(f)))
+PROTO_DESC_FILES := $(foreach f,$(PROTO_FILES),$(subst .proto,.desc,$(f)))
+
+PROTOC_PREFIX := /usr/local
+PROTOC_LIBDIR := $(PROTOC_PREFIX)/lib
+
+PROTOC := $(PROTOC_PREFIX)/bin/protoc
+
+PROTOC_VERSION := "3.0.2"
+PROTOC_DOWNLOAD_PREFIX := "https://github.com/google/protobuf/releases/download"
+PROTOC_DIR := protobuf-$(PROTOC_VERSION)
+PROTOC_TARBALL := protobuf-python-$(PROTOC_VERSION).tar.gz
+PROTOC_DOWNLOAD_URI := $(PROTOC_DOWNLOAD_PREFIX)/v$(PROTOC_VERSION)/$(PROTOC_TARBALL)
+PROTOC_BUILD_TMP_DIR := "/tmp/protobuf-build-$(shell uname -s | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')"
+
+$(PROTOC):
+	@echo "~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"
+	@echo "It looks like you don't have protocol buffer tools installed."
+	@echo "To install the protocol buffer toolchain, you can run:"
+	@echo "    make install-protoc"
+	@echo "~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"
+
+install-protoc: $(PROTOC)
+	@echo "Downloading and installing protocol buffer support."
+	@echo "Installation will require sodo priviledges"
+	@echo "This will take a few minutes."
+	mkdir -p $(PROTOC_BUILD_TMP_DIR)
+	@echo "We ask for sudo credentials now so we can install at the end"; \
+	sudo echo "Thanks"; \
+	    cd $(PROTOC_BUILD_TMP_DIR); \
+	    wget $(PROTOC_DOWNLOAD_URI); \
+	    tar xzvf $(PROTOC_TARBALL); \
+	    cd $(PROTOC_DIR); \
+	    ./configure --prefix=$(PROTOC_PREFIX); \
+	    make; \
+	    sudo make install
\ No newline at end of file