diff --git a/TESTING.asciidoc b/TESTING.asciidoc
index 68740c2b42e..c1b17e7b31a 100644
--- a/TESTING.asciidoc
+++ b/TESTING.asciidoc
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ In order to run Elasticsearch from source without building a package, you can
 run it using Maven:
 
 -------------------------------------
-./run.sh
+gradle run
 -------------------------------------
 
 === Test case filtering.
@@ -455,5 +455,5 @@ mvn -Dtests.coverage verify jacoco:report
 
 == Debugging from an IDE
 
-If you want to run elasticsearch from your IDE, you should execute ./run.sh
+If you want to run elasticsearch from your IDE, you should execute gradle run
 It opens a remote debugging port that you can connect with your IDE.
diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 49189482e6b..5f01cdb4af8 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -199,3 +199,5 @@ task buildSrcEclipse(type: GradleBuild) {
 }
 tasks.eclipse.dependsOn(buildSrcEclipse)
 
+task run(dependsOn: ':distribution:run')
+
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterConfiguration.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterConfiguration.groovy
index 088d6c854ba..b4b08bf4160 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterConfiguration.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterConfiguration.groovy
@@ -36,6 +36,9 @@ class ClusterConfiguration {
     @Input
     int transportPort = 9500
 
+    @Input
+    boolean daemonize = true
+
     @Input
     String jvmArgs = System.getProperty('tests.jvm.argline', '')
 
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
index 0b835872ec1..8f9ccc0718b 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
@@ -244,17 +244,22 @@ class ClusterFormationTasks {
             // elasticsearch.bat is spawned as it has no daemon mode
             return project.tasks.create(name: name, type: DefaultTask, dependsOn: setup) << {
                 // Fall back to Ant exec task as Gradle Exec task does not support spawning yet
-                ant.exec(executable: 'cmd', spawn: true, dir: cwd) {
+                ant.exec(executable: 'cmd', spawn: config.daemonize, dir: cwd) {
                     esEnv.each { key, value -> env(key: key, value: value) }
                     (['/C', 'call', esScript] + esProps).each { arg(value: it) }
                 }
                 esPostStartActions(ant, logger)
             }
         } else {
+            List esExecutable = [esScript]
+            if(config.daemonize) {
+                esExecutable.add("-d")
+            }
+
             return project.tasks.create(name: name, type: Exec, dependsOn: setup) {
                 workingDir cwd
                 executable 'sh'
-                args esScript, '-d' // daemonize!
+                args esExecutable
                 args esProps
                 environment esEnv
                 errorOutput = new ByteArrayOutputStream()
@@ -336,4 +341,4 @@ class ClusterFormationTasks {
     static File pidFile(File dir) {
         return new File(dir, 'es.pid')
     }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/RunTask.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/RunTask.groovy
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ad14dfe8672
--- /dev/null
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/RunTask.groovy
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+package org.elasticsearch.gradle.test
+
+import org.gradle.api.DefaultTask
+import org.gradle.api.tasks.TaskAction
+
+class RunTask extends DefaultTask {
+    ClusterConfiguration clusterConfig = new ClusterConfiguration(httpPort: 9200, transportPort: 9300, daemonize: false)
+
+    RunTask() {
+        ClusterFormationTasks.setup(project, this, clusterConfig)
+    }
+}
diff --git a/core/build.gradle b/core/build.gradle
index 101f555374b..a7fcda9ca00 100644
--- a/core/build.gradle
+++ b/core/build.gradle
@@ -136,4 +136,3 @@ if (isEclipse == false || project.path == "${projectsPrefix}:core-tests") {
   Task copyRestSpec = RestSpecHack.configureTask(project, true)
   integTest.dependsOn copyRestSpec
 }
-
diff --git a/distribution/build.gradle b/distribution/build.gradle
index 7770c0d98ab..f2aca91cb86 100644
--- a/distribution/build.gradle
+++ b/distribution/build.gradle
@@ -195,3 +195,5 @@ DependencyLicensesTask.configure(project) {
   mapping from: /lucene-.*/, to: 'lucene'
   mapping from: /jackson-.*/, to: 'jackson'
 }
+
+task run(type:org.elasticsearch.gradle.test.RunTask){}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/run.bat b/run.bat
deleted file mode 100755
index b0cc48a88ab..00000000000
--- a/run.bat
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-::
-:: build zip package, but ensuring its from the current source
-:: turn off tests and other validation to speed it up
-:: TODO: can be sped up more, if shading is moved out of core/
-CALL mvn -am -pl dev-tools,distribution/zip package -DskipTests -Drun -Pdev
diff --git a/run.sh b/run.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 16871065918..00000000000
--- a/run.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-#
-# build zip package, but ensuring its from the current source
-# turn off tests and other validation to speed it up
-# TODO: can be sped up more, if shading is moved out of core/
-mvn -am -pl dev-tools,distribution/zip package -DskipTests -Drun -Pdev