diff --git a/scriptbuilder/src/main/java/org/jclouds/scriptbuilder/statements/git/CloneGitRepo.java b/scriptbuilder/src/main/java/org/jclouds/scriptbuilder/statements/git/CloneGitRepo.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2d555ab4dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scriptbuilder/src/main/java/org/jclouds/scriptbuilder/statements/git/CloneGitRepo.java
@@ -0,0 +1,215 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to jclouds, Inc. (jclouds) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  jclouds licenses this file
+ * to you 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.
+ */
+package org.jclouds.scriptbuilder.statements.git;
+
+import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkNotNull;
+
+import java.net.URI;
+
+import org.jclouds.scriptbuilder.domain.OsFamily;
+import org.jclouds.scriptbuilder.domain.Statement;
+import org.jclouds.scriptbuilder.domain.Statements;
+
+import com.google.common.base.Objects;
+import com.google.common.base.Optional;
+import com.google.common.base.Splitter;
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableSet;
+import com.google.common.collect.Iterables;
+
+/**
+ * Clones a repository into a newly created directory, creates remote-tracking branches for each
+ * branch in the cloned repository (visible using git branch -r), and creates and checks out an
+ * initial branch that is forked from the cloned repository's currently active branch. PWD is set to
+ * the directory being checked out.
+ * 
+ * @author Adrian Cole
+ */
+public class CloneGitRepo implements Statement {
+
+   public static Builder builder() {
+      return new Builder();
+   }
+
+   public Builder toBuilder() {
+      return new Builder().fromCloneGitRepo(this);
+   }
+
+   public static class Builder {
+
+      protected URI repository;
+      protected Optional<String> branch = Optional.absent();
+      protected Optional<String> tag = Optional.absent();
+      protected Optional<String> directory = Optional.absent();
+
+      /**
+       * @see CloneGitRepo#getRepository()
+       */
+      public Builder repository(URI repository) {
+         this.repository = repository;
+         return this;
+      }
+
+      /**
+       * @see CloneGitRepo#getRepository()
+       */
+      public Builder repository(String repository) {
+         return repository(URI.create(repository));
+      }
+
+      /**
+       * @see CloneGitRepo#getBranch()
+       */
+      public Builder branch(String branch) {
+         this.branch = Optional.fromNullable(branch);
+         return this;
+      }
+
+      /**
+       * @see CloneGitRepo#getTag()
+       */
+      public Builder tag(String tag) {
+         this.tag = Optional.fromNullable(tag);
+         return this;
+      }
+
+      /**
+       * @see CloneGitRepo#getDirectory()
+       */
+      public Builder directory(String directory) {
+         this.directory = Optional.fromNullable(directory);
+         return this;
+      }
+
+      public CloneGitRepo build() {
+         return new CloneGitRepo(repository, branch, tag, directory);
+      }
+
+      public Builder fromCloneGitRepo(CloneGitRepo in) {
+         return this.repository(in.getRepository()).branch(in.getBranch().orNull()).tag(in.getTag().orNull())
+                  .directory(in.getDirectory().orNull());
+      }
+   }
+
+   protected final URI repository;
+   protected final Optional<String> branch;
+   protected final Optional<String> tag;
+   protected final Optional<String> directory;
+
+   protected CloneGitRepo(URI repository, Optional<String> branch, Optional<String> tag, Optional<String> directory) {
+      this.repository = checkNotNull(repository, "repository");
+      this.branch = checkNotNull(branch, "branch");
+      this.tag = checkNotNull(tag, "tag");
+      this.directory = checkNotNull(directory, "directory");
+   }
+
+   /**
+    * The (possibly remote) repository to clone from.
+    */
+   public URI getRepository() {
+      return repository;
+   }
+
+   /**
+    * Instead of pointing the newly created HEAD to the branch pointed to by the cloned repository's
+    * HEAD, point to this branch instead. In a non-bare repository, this is the branch that will be
+    * checked out.
+    */
+   public Optional<String> getBranch() {
+      return branch;
+   }
+
+   /**
+    * checkout the following tag on the branch
+    */
+   public Optional<String> getTag() {
+      return tag;
+   }
+
+   /**
+    * The name of a new directory to clone into. The "humanish" part of the source repository is
+    * used if no directory is explicitly given (repo for /path/to/repo.git and foo for
+    * host.xz:foo/.git).
+    */
+   public Optional<String> getDirectory() {
+      return directory;
+   }
+
+   /**
+    * {@inheritDoc}
+    */
+   @Override
+   public int hashCode() {
+      return Objects.hashCode(repository, branch, tag, directory);
+   }
+
+   /**
+    * {@inheritDoc}
+    */
+   @Override
+   public boolean equals(Object obj) {
+      if (this == obj)
+         return true;
+      if (obj == null)
+         return false;
+      if (getClass() != obj.getClass())
+         return false;
+      CloneGitRepo other = CloneGitRepo.class.cast(obj);
+      return Objects.equal(this.repository, other.repository) && Objects.equal(this.branch, other.branch)
+               && Objects.equal(this.tag, other.tag) && Objects.equal(this.directory, other.directory);
+   }
+
+   /**
+    * {@inheritDoc}
+    */
+   @Override
+   public Iterable<String> functionDependencies(OsFamily arg0) {
+      return ImmutableSet.<String> of();
+   }
+
+   /**
+    * {@inheritDoc}
+    */
+   @Override
+   public String render(OsFamily arg0) {
+      StringBuilder command = new StringBuilder();
+      command.append("git clone");
+      if (branch.isPresent())
+         command.append(" -b ").append(branch.get());
+      command.append(' ').append(repository.toASCIIString());
+      if (directory.isPresent())
+         command.append(' ').append(directory.get());
+      command.append("{lf}");
+      command.append("{cd} ").append(
+               directory.or(Iterables.getLast(Splitter.on('/').split(repository.getPath())).replace(".git", "")));
+      if (tag.isPresent()) {
+         command.append("{lf}").append("git checkout ").append(tag.get());
+      }
+      return Statements.exec(command.toString()).render(arg0);
+   }
+
+   /**
+    * {@inheritDoc}
+    */
+   @Override
+   public String toString() {
+      return Objects.toStringHelper(this).omitNullValues().add("repository", repository).add("branch", branch.orNull())
+               .add("tag", tag.orNull()).add("directory", directory.orNull()).toString();
+   }
+
+}
diff --git a/scriptbuilder/src/main/java/org/jclouds/scriptbuilder/statements/git/InstallGit.java b/scriptbuilder/src/main/java/org/jclouds/scriptbuilder/statements/git/InstallGit.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8de5690752
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scriptbuilder/src/main/java/org/jclouds/scriptbuilder/statements/git/InstallGit.java
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to jclouds, Inc. (jclouds) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  jclouds licenses this file
+ * to you 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.
+ */
+package org.jclouds.scriptbuilder.statements.git;
+
+import static org.jclouds.scriptbuilder.domain.Statements.call;
+
+import org.jclouds.scriptbuilder.domain.StatementList;
+
+/**
+ * Installs git onto a host
+ * 
+ * @author Adrian Cole
+ */
+public class InstallGit extends StatementList {
+
+   public InstallGit() {
+      super(call("setupPublicCurl"), call("installGit"));
+   }
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scriptbuilder/src/main/resources/functions/installGit.sh b/scriptbuilder/src/main/resources/functions/installGit.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1b1e50e1de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scriptbuilder/src/main/resources/functions/installGit.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+function installGit() {
+  if hash apt-get 2>/dev/null; then
+    ensure_cmd_or_install_package_apt git git-core
+  elif hash yum 2>/dev/null; then
+    ensure_cmd_or_install_package_yum git git-core
+  else
+    abort "we only support apt-get and yum right now... please contribute!"
+    return 1
+  fi
+  return 0  
+}
diff --git a/scriptbuilder/src/test/java/org/jclouds/scriptbuilder/statements/git/CloneGitRepoTest.java b/scriptbuilder/src/test/java/org/jclouds/scriptbuilder/statements/git/CloneGitRepoTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0e099280c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scriptbuilder/src/test/java/org/jclouds/scriptbuilder/statements/git/CloneGitRepoTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to jclouds, Inc. (jclouds) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  jclouds licenses this file
+ * to you 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.
+ */
+package org.jclouds.scriptbuilder.statements.git;
+
+import static org.testng.Assert.assertEquals;
+
+import org.jclouds.scriptbuilder.domain.OsFamily;
+import org.testng.annotations.Test;
+
+/**
+ * @author Adrian Cole
+ */
+@Test(groups = "unit", testName = "CloneGitRepoTest")
+public class CloneGitRepoTest {
+
+   public void testUNIX() {
+      assertEquals(CloneGitRepo.builder().repository("https://github.com/joyent/node.git").build()
+               .render(OsFamily.UNIX), "git clone https://github.com/joyent/node.git\ncd node\n");
+   }
+
+   public void testWithBranchUNIX() {
+      assertEquals(CloneGitRepo.builder().repository("https://github.com/joyent/node.git").branch("v0.6").build()
+               .render(OsFamily.UNIX), "git clone -b v0.6 https://github.com/joyent/node.git\ncd node\n");
+
+   }
+
+   public void testWithBranchAndTagUNIX() {
+      assertEquals(CloneGitRepo.builder().repository("https://github.com/joyent/node.git").branch("v0.6")
+               .tag("v0.6.10").build().render(OsFamily.UNIX),
+               "git clone -b v0.6 https://github.com/joyent/node.git\ncd node\ngit checkout v0.6.10\n");
+   }
+
+   public void testWithDirectoryUNIX() {
+      assertEquals(CloneGitRepo.builder().repository("https://github.com/joyent/node.git").directory("/tmp/node-local")
+               .build().render(OsFamily.UNIX),
+               "git clone https://github.com/joyent/node.git /tmp/node-local\ncd /tmp/node-local\n");
+   }
+}
diff --git a/scriptbuilder/src/test/java/org/jclouds/scriptbuilder/statements/git/InstallGitTest.java b/scriptbuilder/src/test/java/org/jclouds/scriptbuilder/statements/git/InstallGitTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..12ee9e203b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scriptbuilder/src/test/java/org/jclouds/scriptbuilder/statements/git/InstallGitTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to jclouds, Inc. (jclouds) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  jclouds licenses this file
+ * to you 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.
+ */
+package org.jclouds.scriptbuilder.statements.git;
+
+import static org.testng.Assert.assertEquals;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import org.jclouds.scriptbuilder.InitScript;
+import org.jclouds.scriptbuilder.domain.OsFamily;
+import org.jclouds.scriptbuilder.domain.ShellToken;
+import org.jclouds.scriptbuilder.statements.git.InstallGit;
+import org.testng.annotations.Test;
+
+import com.google.common.base.Charsets;
+import com.google.common.io.CharStreams;
+import com.google.common.io.Resources;
+
+/**
+ * @author Adrian Cole
+ */
+@Test(groups = "unit", testName = "InstallGitTest")
+public class InstallGitTest {
+
+   public void testInstallGitUNIX() throws IOException {
+      assertEquals(new InstallGit().render(OsFamily.UNIX), "setupPublicCurl || return 1\ninstallGit || return 1\n");
+   }
+
+   public void testInstallGitUNIXInScriptBuilderSourcesSetupPublicCurl() throws IOException {
+      assertEquals(InitScript.builder().name("install_git").run(new InstallGit()).build().render(OsFamily.UNIX),
+               CharStreams.toString(Resources.newReaderSupplier(
+                        Resources.getResource("test_install_git_scriptbuilder." + ShellToken.SH.to(OsFamily.UNIX)),
+                        Charsets.UTF_8)));
+   }
+
+}
diff --git a/scriptbuilder/src/test/resources/test_install_git_scriptbuilder.sh b/scriptbuilder/src/test/resources/test_install_git_scriptbuilder.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..43f8a1b026
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scriptbuilder/src/test/resources/test_install_git_scriptbuilder.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,211 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set +u
+shopt -s xpg_echo
+shopt -s expand_aliases
+unset PATH JAVA_HOME LD_LIBRARY_PATH
+function abort {
+   echo "aborting: $@" 1>&2
+   exit 1
+}
+function default {
+   export INSTANCE_NAME="install_git"
+export INSTANCE_HOME="/tmp/$INSTANCE_NAME"
+export LOG_DIR="$INSTANCE_HOME"
+   return $?
+}
+function install_git {
+      return $?
+}
+function findPid {
+   unset FOUND_PID;
+   [ $# -eq 1 ] || {
+      abort "findPid requires a parameter of pattern to match"
+      return 1
+   }
+   local PATTERN="$1"; shift
+   local _FOUND=`ps auxwww|grep "$PATTERN"|grep -v " $0"|grep -v grep|grep -v $$|awk '{print $2}'`
+   [ -n "$_FOUND" ] && {
+      export FOUND_PID=$_FOUND
+      return 0
+   } || {
+      return 1
+   }
+}
+function forget {
+   unset FOUND_PID;
+   [ $# -eq 3 ] || {
+      abort "forget requires parameters INSTANCE_NAME SCRIPT LOG_DIR"
+      return 1
+   }
+   local INSTANCE_NAME="$1"; shift
+   local SCRIPT="$1"; shift
+   local LOG_DIR="$1"; shift
+   mkdir -p $LOG_DIR
+   findPid $INSTANCE_NAME
+   [ -n "$FOUND_PID" -a -f $LOG_DIR/stdout.log ] && {
+      echo $INSTANCE_NAME already running pid $FOUND_PID
+      return 1;
+   } || {
+      nohup $SCRIPT >$LOG_DIR/stdout.log 2>$LOG_DIR/stderr.log &
+      RETURN=$?
+      # this is generally followed by findPid, so we shouldn't exit 
+      # immediately as the proc may not have registered in ps, yet
+      test $RETURN && sleep 1
+      return $RETURN;
+   }
+}
+export PATH=/usr/ucb/bin:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin
+case $1 in
+init)
+   default || exit 1
+   install_git || exit 1
+   mkdir -p $INSTANCE_HOME
+   
+   # create runscript header
+   cat > $INSTANCE_HOME/install_git.sh <<-'END_OF_JCLOUDS_SCRIPT'
+	#!/bin/bash
+	set +u
+	shopt -s xpg_echo
+	shopt -s expand_aliases
+	
+	PROMPT_COMMAND='echo -ne \"\033]0;install_git\007\"'
+	export PATH=/usr/ucb/bin:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin
+
+	export INSTANCE_NAME='install_git'
+END_OF_JCLOUDS_SCRIPT
+   cat >> $INSTANCE_HOME/install_git.sh <<-END_OF_JCLOUDS_SCRIPT
+	export INSTANCE_NAME='$INSTANCE_NAME'
+	export INSTANCE_HOME='$INSTANCE_HOME'
+	export LOG_DIR='$LOG_DIR'
+END_OF_JCLOUDS_SCRIPT
+   cat >> $INSTANCE_HOME/install_git.sh <<-'END_OF_JCLOUDS_SCRIPT'
+	function abort {
+   echo "aborting: $@" 1>&2
+   exit 1
+}
+alias apt-get-update="apt-get update -qq"
+alias apt-get-install="apt-get install -f -y -qq --force-yes"
+alias yum-install="yum --quiet --nogpgcheck -y install"
+
+function ensure_cmd_or_install_package_apt(){
+  local cmd=$1
+  local pkg=$2
+  
+  hash $cmd 2>/dev/null || ( apt-get-update && apt-get-install $pkg )
+}
+
+function ensure_cmd_or_install_package_yum(){
+  local cmd=$1
+  local pkg=$2
+  hash $cmd 2>/dev/null || yum-install $pkg
+}
+
+function ensure_netutils_apt() {
+  ensure_cmd_or_install_package_apt nslookup dnsutils
+  ensure_cmd_or_install_package_apt curl curl
+}
+
+function ensure_netutils_yum() {
+  ensure_cmd_or_install_package_yum nslookup bind-utils
+  ensure_cmd_or_install_package_yum curl curl
+}
+
+# most network services require that the hostname is in
+# the /etc/hosts file, or they won't operate
+function ensure_hostname_in_hosts() {
+  egrep -q `hostname` /etc/hosts || awk -v hostname=`hostname` 'END { print $1" "hostname }' /proc/net/arp >> /etc/hosts
+}
+
+# download locations for many services are at public dns
+function ensure_can_resolve_public_dns() {
+  nslookup yahoo.com > /dev/null || echo nameserver 208.67.222.222 >> /etc/resolv.conf
+}
+
+function setupPublicCurl() {
+  ensure_hostname_in_hosts
+  if hash apt-get 2>/dev/null; then
+    ensure_netutils_apt
+  elif hash yum 2>/dev/null; then
+    ensure_netutils_yum
+  else
+    abort "we only support apt-get and yum right now... please contribute!"
+    return 1
+  fi
+  ensure_can_resolve_public_dns
+  return 0  
+}
+function installGit() {
+  if hash apt-get 2>/dev/null; then
+    ensure_cmd_or_install_package_apt git git-core
+  elif hash yum 2>/dev/null; then
+    ensure_cmd_or_install_package_yum git git-core
+  else
+    abort "we only support apt-get and yum right now... please contribute!"
+    return 1
+  fi
+  return 0  
+}
+
+END_OF_JCLOUDS_SCRIPT
+   
+   # add desired commands from the user
+   cat >> $INSTANCE_HOME/install_git.sh <<-'END_OF_JCLOUDS_SCRIPT'
+	cd $INSTANCE_HOME
+	rm -f $INSTANCE_HOME/rc
+	trap 'echo $?>$INSTANCE_HOME/rc' 0 1 2 3 15
+	setupPublicCurl || exit 1
+	
+	installGit || exit 1
+	
+END_OF_JCLOUDS_SCRIPT
+   
+   # add runscript footer
+   cat >> $INSTANCE_HOME/install_git.sh <<-'END_OF_JCLOUDS_SCRIPT'
+	exit $?
+	
+END_OF_JCLOUDS_SCRIPT
+   
+   chmod u+x $INSTANCE_HOME/install_git.sh
+   ;;
+status)
+   default || exit 1
+   findPid $INSTANCE_NAME || exit 1
+   echo $FOUND_PID
+   ;;
+stop)
+   default || exit 1
+   findPid $INSTANCE_NAME || exit 1
+   [ -n "$FOUND_PID" ]  && {
+      echo stopping $FOUND_PID
+      kill -9 $FOUND_PID
+   }
+   ;;
+start)
+   default || exit 1
+   forget $INSTANCE_NAME $INSTANCE_HOME/$INSTANCE_NAME.sh $LOG_DIR || exit 1
+   ;;
+stdout)
+   default || exit 1
+   cat $LOG_DIR/stdout.log
+   ;;
+stderr)
+   default || exit 1
+   cat $LOG_DIR/stderr.log
+   ;;
+exitstatus)
+   default || exit 1
+   [ -f $LOG_DIR/rc ] && cat $LOG_DIR/rc;;
+tail)
+   default || exit 1
+   tail $LOG_DIR/stdout.log
+   ;;
+tailerr)
+   default || exit 1
+   tail $LOG_DIR/stderr.log
+   ;;
+run)
+   default || exit 1
+   $INSTANCE_HOME/$INSTANCE_NAME.sh
+   ;;
+esac
+exit $?