diff --git a/chameleon/dockerhelpers.py b/chameleon/dockerhelpers.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0927711
--- /dev/null
+++ b/chameleon/dockerhelpers.py
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+#
+# Copyright 2016 the original author or authors.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+#
+
+"""
+Some docker related convenience functions
+"""
+
+import os
+from structlog import get_logger
+
+from docker import Client
+
+
+log = get_logger()
+
+
+def get_my_containers_name():
+    """
+    Return the docker containers name in which this process is running.
+    To look up the container name, we use the container ID extracted from the
+    $HOSTNAME environment variable (which is set by docker conventions).
+    :return: String with the docker container name (or None if any issue is
+             encountered)
+    """
+    my_container_id = os.environ.get('HOSTNAME', None)
+
+    try:
+        docker_cli = Client(base_url='unix://tmp/docker.sock')
+        info = docker_cli.inspect_container(my_container_id)
+
+    except Exception, e:
+        log.exception('failed', my_container_id=my_container_id, e=e)
+        raise
+
+    name = info['Name'].lstrip('/')
+
+    return name