diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 41cd1d882..f659ab70a 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,12 +1,18 @@
-sudo: false
-
+# sudo is enabled because it provides more memory which was needed to run go test -race
+sudo: required
+dist: trusty
 language: go
 
 go:
-- 1.9.x
-- 1.10.x
+  - 1.9.x
+  - 1.10.x
 
 go_import_path: github.com/prometheus/tsdb
 
+install:
+  - go get -v -t ./...
+
 script:
-- go test -timeout 5m ./...
+  # `check_license` target is omitted due to some missing license headers
+  # `staticcheck` target is omitted due to linting errors
+  - make style unused test
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..eff204cd2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+# Copyright 2018 The Prometheus Authors
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+TSDB_PROJECT_DIR = "."
+TSDB_CLI_DIR="$(TSDB_PROJECT_DIR)/cmd/tsdb"
+TSDB_BIN = "$(TSDB_CLI_DIR)/tsdb"
+TSDB_BENCHMARK_NUM_METRICS ?= 1000
+TSDB_BENCHMARK_DATASET ?= "$(TSDB_PROJECT_DIR)/testdata/20kseries.json"
+TSDB_BENCHMARK_OUTPUT_DIR ?= "$(TSDB_CLI_DIR)/benchout"
+
+STATICCHECK_IGNORE =
+include Makefile.common
+
+build:
+	@$(GO) build -o $(TSDB_BIN) $(TSDB_CLI_DIR)
+
+bench: build
+	@echo ">> running benchmark, writing result to $(TSDB_BENCHMARK_OUTPUT_DIR)"
+	@$(TSDB_BIN) bench write --metrics=$(TSDB_BENCHMARK_NUM_METRICS) --out=$(TSDB_BENCHMARK_OUTPUT_DIR) $(TSDB_BENCHMARK_DATASET)
+	@$(GO) tool pprof -svg $(TSDB_BIN) $(TSDB_BENCHMARK_OUTPUT_DIR)/cpu.prof > $(TSDB_BENCHMARK_OUTPUT_DIR)/cpuprof.svg
+	@$(GO) tool pprof --inuse_space -svg $(TSDB_BIN) $(TSDB_BENCHMARK_OUTPUT_DIR)/mem.prof > $(TSDB_BENCHMARK_OUTPUT_DIR)/memprof.inuse.svg
+	@$(GO) tool pprof --alloc_space -svg $(TSDB_BIN) $(TSDB_BENCHMARK_OUTPUT_DIR)/mem.prof > $(TSDB_BENCHMARK_OUTPUT_DIR)/memprof.alloc.svg
+	@$(GO) tool pprof -svg $(TSDB_BIN) $(TSDB_BENCHMARK_OUTPUT_DIR)/block.prof > $(TSDB_BENCHMARK_OUTPUT_DIR)/blockprof.svg
+	@$(GO) tool pprof -svg $(TSDB_BIN) $(TSDB_BENCHMARK_OUTPUT_DIR)/mutex.prof > $(TSDB_BENCHMARK_OUTPUT_DIR)/mutexprof.svg
diff --git a/Makefile.common b/Makefile.common
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c9d832373
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Makefile.common
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+# Copyright 2018 The Prometheus Authors
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+
+# A common Makefile that includes rules to be reused in different prometheus projects.
+# !!! Open PRs only against the prometheus/prometheus/Makefile.common repository!
+
+# Example usage :
+# Create the main Makefile in the root project directory. 
+# include Makefile.common
+# customTarget:
+# 	@echo ">> Running customTarget"
+#
+
+# Ensure GOBIN is not set during build so that promu is installed to the correct path
+unexport GOBIN
+
+GO           ?= go
+GOFMT        ?= $(GO)fmt
+FIRST_GOPATH := $(firstword $(subst :, ,$(shell $(GO) env GOPATH)))
+PROMU        := $(FIRST_GOPATH)/bin/promu
+STATICCHECK  := $(FIRST_GOPATH)/bin/staticcheck
+GOVENDOR     := $(FIRST_GOPATH)/bin/govendor
+pkgs          = ./...
+
+PREFIX                  ?= $(shell pwd)
+BIN_DIR                 ?= $(shell pwd)
+DOCKER_IMAGE_TAG        ?= $(subst /,-,$(shell git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD))
+DOCKER_REPO             ?= prom
+
+.PHONY: all
+all: style staticcheck unused build test
+
+# This rule is used to forward a target like "build" to "common-build".  This
+# allows a new "build" target to be defined in a Makefile which includes this
+# one and override "common-build" without override warnings.
+%: common-% ;
+
+.PHONY: common-style
+common-style:
+	@echo ">> checking code style"
+	@fmtRes=$$($(GOFMT) -d $$(find . -path ./vendor -prune -o -name '*.go' -print)); \
+	if [ -n "$${fmtRes}" ]; then \
+		echo "gofmt checking failed!"; echo "$${fmtRes}"; echo; \
+		echo "Please ensure you are using $$($(GO) version) for formatting code."; \
+		exit 1; \
+	fi
+
+.PHONY: common-check_license
+common-check_license:
+	@echo ">> checking license header"
+	@licRes=$$(for file in $$(find . -type f -iname '*.go' ! -path './vendor/*') ; do \
+               awk 'NR<=3' $$file | grep -Eq "(Copyright|generated|GENERATED)" || echo $$file; \
+       done); \
+       if [ -n "$${licRes}" ]; then \
+               echo "license header checking failed:"; echo "$${licRes}"; \
+               exit 1; \
+       fi
+
+.PHONY: common-test-short
+common-test-short:
+	@echo ">> running short tests"
+	$(GO) test -short $(pkgs)
+
+.PHONY: common-test
+common-test:
+	@echo ">> running all tests"
+	$(GO) test -race $(pkgs)
+
+.PHONY: common-format
+common-format:
+	@echo ">> formatting code"
+	$(GO) fmt $(pkgs)
+
+.PHONY: common-vet
+common-vet:
+	@echo ">> vetting code"
+	$(GO) vet $(pkgs)
+
+.PHONY: common-staticcheck
+common-staticcheck: $(STATICCHECK)
+	@echo ">> running staticcheck"
+	$(STATICCHECK) -ignore "$(STATICCHECK_IGNORE)" $(pkgs)
+
+.PHONY: common-unused
+common-unused: $(GOVENDOR)
+	@echo ">> running check for unused packages"
+	@$(GOVENDOR) list +unused | grep . && exit 1 || echo 'No unused packages'
+
+.PHONY: common-build
+common-build: promu
+	@echo ">> building binaries"
+	$(PROMU) build --prefix $(PREFIX)
+
+.PHONY: common-tarball
+common-tarball: promu
+	@echo ">> building release tarball"
+	$(PROMU) tarball --prefix $(PREFIX) $(BIN_DIR)
+
+.PHONY: common-docker
+common-docker:
+	docker build -t "$(DOCKER_REPO)/$(DOCKER_IMAGE_NAME):$(DOCKER_IMAGE_TAG)" .
+
+.PHONY: common-docker-publish
+common-docker-publish:
+	docker push "$(DOCKER_REPO)/$(DOCKER_IMAGE_NAME)"
+
+.PHONY: common-docker-tag-latest
+common-docker-tag-latest:
+	docker tag "$(DOCKER_REPO)/$(DOCKER_IMAGE_NAME):$(DOCKER_IMAGE_TAG)" "$(DOCKER_REPO)/$(DOCKER_IMAGE_NAME):latest"
+
+.PHONY: promu
+promu:
+	GOOS= GOARCH= $(GO) get -u github.com/prometheus/promu
+
+.PHONY: $(STATICCHECK)
+$(STATICCHECK):
+	GOOS= GOARCH= $(GO) get -u honnef.co/go/tools/cmd/staticcheck
+
+.PHONY: $(GOVENDOR)
+$(GOVENDOR):
+	GOOS= GOARCH= $(GO) get -u github.com/kardianos/govendor
diff --git a/cmd/tsdb/Makefile b/cmd/tsdb/Makefile
deleted file mode 100644
index ae4dc1cf7..000000000
--- a/cmd/tsdb/Makefile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-build:
-	@go build .
-	
-bench: build 
-	@echo ">> running benchmark"
-	@./tsdb bench write --metrics=$(NUM_METRICS) testdata.1m
-	@go tool pprof -svg ./tsdb benchout/cpu.prof > benchout/cpuprof.svg
-	@go tool pprof --inuse_space -svg ./tsdb benchout/mem.prof > benchout/memprof.inuse.svg
-	@go tool pprof --alloc_space -svg ./tsdb benchout/mem.prof > benchout/memprof.alloc.svg
-	@go tool pprof -svg ./tsdb benchout/block.prof > benchout/blockprof.svg
-	@go tool pprof -svg ./tsdb benchout/mutex.prof > benchout/mutexprof.svg