diff --git a/lib/tasks/smoke_test.rake b/lib/tasks/smoke_test.rake
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4ac5b9108c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/tasks/smoke_test.rake
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+desc "run phantomjs based smoke tests on current build"
+task "smoke:test" => :environment do 
+  results = `phantomjs #{Rails.root}/spec/phantom_js/smoke_test.js #{Discourse.base_url}`
+  puts results
+end
diff --git a/spec/phantom_js/smoke_test.js b/spec/phantom_js/smoke_test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b74fd967843
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/phantom_js/smoke_test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+console.log('Starting Smoke Test');
+var system = require('system');
+
+if(system.args.length !== 2) {
+  console.log("expecting phantomjs {smoke_test.js} {base_url}");
+  phantom.exit(1);
+}
+
+var page = require('webpage').create();
+
+page.waitFor = function(desc, fn, t) {
+  var check,start,promise;
+
+  console.log("RUNNING: " + desc);
+
+  start = +new Date();
+  promise = {};
+  check = function() {
+    var r;
+
+    try {
+      r = page.evaluate(fn);
+    } 
+    catch(err) {
+      // next time
+    }
+
+    if(r) {
+      promise.success = true;
+      console.log("PASSED: " + desc);
+    } else {
+      var diff = (+new Date()) - start;
+      if(diff > t) {
+        promise.failure = true;
+        console.log("FAILED: " + desc);
+      } else {
+        setTimeout(check, 50);
+      }
+    }
+  };
+
+  check();
+  return promise;
+};
+
+function afterAll(promises, fn){
+  var i;
+  var test = function(){
+    var good = true;
+    var allDone = true;
+    
+    for(i=0;i<promises.length;i++){
+      good = good && promises[i].success; 
+      allDone = allDone && (promises[i].success || promises[i].failure);
+    }
+
+    if(allDone){
+      fn(good);
+    } else {
+      setTimeout(test, 50);
+    }
+  };
+  test();
+}
+
+page.open(system.args[1], function (status) {
+    
+    console.log("Opened " + system.args[1]);
+
+    var gotTopics = page.waitFor("more than one topic shows up" , function(){ 
+      return ($('#topic-list tbody tr').length > 0); 
+    }, 5000);
+
+    afterAll([gotTopics], function(success){
+      if(success) {
+        console.log("ALL PASSED");
+      }
+      phantom.exit();
+    });
+});