diff --git a/bin/setup b/bin/setup
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..461acab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/setup
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# run command at repo root
+CURRENT_PATH=$PWD
+cd $(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)
+
+if ! type npm > /dev/null
+then
+  echo "npm is not installed, please install via nvm(recommended) or package manager"
+  echo "setup will not be run"
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+if ! type bower > /dev/null
+then
+  echo "bower is not installed, install via npm"
+  npm install -g bower
+fi
+
+echo "copy config files"
+cp config.json.example config.json
+cp public/js/common.js.example public/js/common.js
+cp .sequelizerc.example .sequelizerc
+
+echo "install npm and bower packages"
+npm install && bower install
+
+cat << EOF
+
+
+Edit the following config file to setup hackmd server and client.
+Read more info at https://github.com/hackmdio/hackmd#configuration-files
+
+- config.json
+- public/js/common.js
+- .sequelizerc
+
+EOF
+
+# change directory back
+cd $CURRENT_PATH