diff --git a/gulpfile.js b/gulpfile.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3e3be6ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gulpfile.js
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+/**
+ * @file gulpfile.js
+ *
+ * Defines tasks that can be run on gulp.
+ *
+ * Summary: <ul>
+ * <li> `test` - runs all the tests using mocha
+ * <ul>
+ * <li> `test:node`
+ * <li> `test:nofail` - internally used for watching (due to bug on gulp-mocha)
+ * </ul>`
+ * <li> `watch:test` - watch for file changes and run tests
+ * <li> `lint` - run `jshint`
+ * <li> `coverage` - run `istanbul` with mocha to generate a report of test coverage
+ * <li> `coveralls` - updates coveralls info
+ * </ul>
+ */
+'use strict';
+
+var gulp = require('gulp');
+
+var coveralls = require('gulp-coveralls');
+var jshint = require('gulp-jshint');
+var mocha = require('gulp-mocha');
+var shell = require('gulp-shell');
+
+
+function ignoreerror() {
+  /* jshint ignore:start */ // using `this` in this context is weird 
+  this.emit('end');
+  /* jshint ignore:end */
+}
+
+var files = ['lib/**/*.js'];
+var tests = ['test/**/*.js'];
+var alljs = files.concat(tests);
+
+
+/**
+ * testing
+ */
+
+var testmocha = function() {
+  return gulp.src(tests).pipe(new mocha({
+    reporter: 'spec'
+  }));
+}
+
+gulp.task('test', testmocha);
+
+gulp.task('test:nofail', function() {
+  return testmocha().on('error', ignoreerror);
+});
+
+
+/**
+ * code quality and documentation
+ */
+
+gulp.task('lint', function() {
+  return gulp.src(alljs)
+    .pipe(jshint())
+    .pipe(jshint.reporter('default'));
+});
+
+gulp.task('plato', shell.task(['node_modules/.bin/plato -d report -r -l .jshintrc -t bitcore-node lib']));
+
+gulp.task('coverage', shell.task(['node_modules/.bin/istanbul cover node_modules/.bin/_mocha -- --recursive']));
+
+gulp.task('coveralls', ['coverage'], function() {
+  gulp.src('coverage/lcov.info').pipe(coveralls());
+});
+
+
+/**
+ * watch tasks
+ */
+
+gulp.task('watch:test', function() {
+  // todo: only run tests that are linked to file changes by doing
+  // something smart like reading through the require statements
+  return gulp.watch(alljs, ['test']);
+});
+
+gulp.task('watch:coverage', function() {
+  // todo: only run tests that are linked to file changes by doing
+  // something smart like reading through the require statements
+  return gulp.watch(alljs, ['coverage']);
+});
+
+gulp.task('watch:lint', function() {
+  // todo: only lint files that are linked to file changes by doing
+  // something smart like reading through the require statements
+  return gulp.watch(alljs, ['lint']);
+});
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 6253ee67..1bffc6a6 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -71,6 +71,11 @@
     "xmlhttprequest": "~1.6.0"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
+    "gulp": "^3.8.11",
+    "gulp-mocha": "^2.0.0",
+    "gulp-coveralls": "^0.1.3",
+    "gulp-jshint": "^1.9.2",
+    "gulp-shell": "^0.3.0",
     "chai": "*",
     "grunt": "~0.4.2",
     "grunt-cli": "~0.1.11",
@@ -82,6 +87,7 @@
     "grunt-mocha-test": "~0.8.1",
     "grunt-nodemon": "~0.2.0",
     "memdown": "^0.10.2",
+    "run-sequence": "^1.0.2",
     "should": "^2.1.1",
     "sinon": "^1.10.3"
   }