diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 3b1f85b10..57f0179c2 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 /*.dsc
 /*.xz
 /*.gz
+/venv
 __pycache__
 plugins/acpi-dmar/tests/
 plugins/acpi-facp/tests/
diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fe9b899b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+repos:
+-   repo: https://github.com/pre-commit/pre-commit-hooks
+    rev: v2.3.0
+    hooks:
+    -   id: no-commit-to-branch
+        args: [--branch, master, --pattern, 1_.*_X]
+    -   id: check-yaml
+    -   id: check-json
+    -   id: check-symlinks
+    -   id: check-xml
+    -   id: end-of-file-fixer
+        types_or: [c, shell, python]
+    -   id: trailing-whitespace
+        types_or: [c, shell, python]
+    -   id: check-docstring-first
+    -   id: check-merge-conflict
+    -   id: mixed-line-ending
+        args: [--fix=lf]
+-   repo: https://github.com/ambv/black
+    rev: 20.8b1
+    hooks:
+    - id: black
+-   repo: local
+    hooks:
+    - id: check-deprecated
+      name: check for use of any deprecated items
+      language: script
+      entry: ./contrib/ci/check-deprecated.sh
+    - id: check-null-false-returns
+      name: check for null / false return mistmatch
+      language: script
+      entry: ./contrib/ci/check-null-false-returns.py
+    - id: shellcheck
+      name: check shellscript style
+      language: system
+      entry: shellcheck --severity=error -e SC2068
+      types: [shell]
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 71a93a6fd..2f8fa01cf 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -1,3 +1,16 @@
+Getting started
+===============
+To set up your local environment, from the top level of the checkout run
+```
+./contrib/setup
+```
+
+This will create pre-commit hooks to fixup many code style issues before your
+code is submitted.
+
+On some Linux distributions this will install all build dependencies needed
+to compile fwupd as well.
+
 Coding Style
 ============
 
diff --git a/contrib/ci/check-deprecated.sh b/contrib/ci/check-deprecated.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..78b0d1915
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/ci/check-deprecated.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#!/bin/sh -e
+set -e
+
+# these are deprecated in favor of INTERNAL flags
+deprecated="FWUPD_DEVICE_FLAG_NO_AUTO_INSTANCE_IDS
+            FWUPD_DEVICE_FLAG_ONLY_SUPPORTED
+            FWUPD_DEVICE_FLAG_MD_SET_NAME
+            FWUPD_DEVICE_FLAG_MD_SET_VERFMT
+            FWUPD_DEVICE_FLAG_NO_GUID_MATCHING
+            FWUPD_DEVICE_FLAG_MD_SET_ICON"
+for val in $deprecated; do
+    if grep -- $val plugins/*/*.c ; then
+        exit 1
+    fi
+done
diff --git a/contrib/setup b/contrib/setup
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..3b0b92880
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/setup
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+#!/bin/bash -e
+# Setup the repository.
+
+cd "$(dirname "$0")/.."
+
+# Add default vscode settings if not existing
+SETTINGS_FILE=./.vscode/settings.json
+SETTINGS_TEMPLATE_FILE=./contrib/vscode/settings.json
+if [ ! -f "$SETTINGS_FILE" ]; then
+    mkdir ./.vscode
+    echo "Copy $SETTINGS_TEMPLATE_FILE to $SETTINGS_FILE."
+    cp "$SETTINGS_TEMPLATE_FILE" "$SETTINGS_FILE"
+fi
+
+#if interactive install build deps
+if [ -n "$PS1" ] || [[ $- == *i* ]] || [ -f /dev/.cros_milestone ]; then
+    read -p  "Install build dependencies? (y/n) " question
+    if [ "$question" = "y" ]; then
+        DEPS=$(./contrib/ci/generate_dependencies.py)
+        if ! which shellcheck >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            DEPS="$DEPS shellcheck"
+        fi
+        OS=$(python3 -c "import distro; print(distro.linux_distribution()[0].split()[0].lower())")
+        if [ "$OS" = "debian" ] || [ "$OS" = "ubuntu" ]; then
+            if ! python3 -c "import venv"; then
+                DEPS="python3-venv"
+            fi
+            sudo apt install $DEPS
+        elif [ "$OS" = "fedora" ]; then
+            sudo dnf install $DEPS
+        elif [ "$OS" = "arch" ]; then
+            pacman -Syu --noconfirm --needed $DEPS
+        fi
+    fi
+fi
+
+python3 -m venv venv
+source venv/bin/activate
+
+python3 -m pip install pre-commit
+pre-commit install
diff --git a/contrib/vscode/settings.json b/contrib/vscode/settings.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2d7962155
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/vscode/settings.json
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+{
+        "editor.tabSize": 8,
+        "mesonbuild.buildFolder": "build"
+}