diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..72e8ffc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+*
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8373b0b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+FROM ubuntu:latest
+MAINTAINER Gareth Rushgrove "gareth@puppet.com"
+
+ARG LIBRAL_DOWNLOAD_LOCATION="http://download.augeas.net/libral/"
+ARG LIBRAL_FILENAME="ralsh-latest.tgz"
+
+RUN apt-get update && \
+    apt-get install --no-install-recommends -y wget && \
+    wget "${LIBRAL_DOWNLOAD_LOCATION}${LIBRAL_FILENAME}" && \
+    tar zxvf "$LIBRAL_FILENAME" -C /opt && \
+    apt-get remove --purge -y wget && \
+    apt-get autoremove -y && \
+    apt-get clean && \
+    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* && \
+    rm "$LIBRAL_FILENAME"
+
+ENV PATH=/opt/ral/bin:$PATH
+
+ENTRYPOINT ["/opt/ral/bin/ralsh"]
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 73f8d6d..89f782e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -45,6 +45,27 @@ In case you do need to build from source, which is not required for
 provider development, only if you want to work on the core libral library,
 [this document](HACKING.md) contains instructions on building `libral`.
 
+
+### Docker
+
+You can also try out `libral` in the context of a Docker container. The
+Dockerfile in the repository allows for building an image quickly based
+on the above mentioned precompiled tarball.
+
+```
+docker build -t puppet/libral .
+```
+
+Running this can then be done with Docker, for instance the following
+invocation will launch `ralsh` in the context of the container.
+
+```
+docker run --rm -t puppet/libral
+```
+
+This is intended for exploring the CLI and experimenting with providers.
+
+
 ## Usage
 
 After you build `libral`, or after you download and unpack the