diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..361ec1a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# A simple install script to manage dotfiles with stow
+
+CONFIG_DIR="$(dirname "$0")/config"
+cd $CONFIG_DIR
+
+if [[ "$1" == "help" || "$1" == "--help" || "$1" == "-h" ]]; then
+  echo "dofiles install script with stow:"
+  echo "options:"
+  echo ""
+  echo "install, i:"
+  echo "  install dotfiles"
+  echo ""
+  echo "uninstall, u, delete, d, remove, r:"
+  echo "  uninstall dotfiles"
+  echo ""
+  echo "repair, r:"
+  echo "  repair dotfile symlinks"
+  exit
+fi
+
+if [[ "$1" == "install" || "$1" == "i" ]]; then
+  stow -t "$HOME" -S *
+fi
+
+if [[ "$1" == "uninstall" || "$1" == "u" || "$1" == "delete" || "$1" == "d" || "$1" == "remove" || "$1" == "r" ]]; then
+  stow -t "$HOME" -D *
+fi
+
+if [[ "$1" == "repair" || "$1" == "R" ]]; then
+  stow -t "$HOME" -R *
+fi
+
+if [[ "$1" == "list" || "$1" == "l" ]]; then
+  echo "listing symlinks under $HOME:"
+  echo
+  find $HOME -maxdepth 1 -type l -ls | awk '{print $11, $12, $NF}'
+fi
+
+
+# default behaviour (run stow to symlink dotfiles to $HOME)
+[ "$#" -eq 0 ] && stow -t "$HOME" -S *
+