diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/StandaloneTestBasePlugin.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/StandaloneTestBasePlugin.groovy
index af2b20e4abf..db68035e3eb 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/StandaloneTestBasePlugin.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/StandaloneTestBasePlugin.groovy
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.gradle.VersionProperties
 import org.elasticsearch.gradle.precommit.PrecommitTasks
 import org.gradle.api.Plugin
 import org.gradle.api.Project
+import org.gradle.api.Task
 import org.gradle.api.plugins.JavaBasePlugin
 
 /** Configures the build to have a rest integration test.  */
@@ -40,7 +41,7 @@ public class StandaloneTestBasePlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
         BuildPlugin.configureRepositories(project)
 
         // only setup tests to build
-        project.sourceSets.create('test')
+        project.sourceSets.maybeCreate('test')
         project.dependencies.add('testCompile', "org.elasticsearch.test:framework:${VersionProperties.elasticsearch}")
 
         project.eclipse.classpath.sourceSets = [project.sourceSets.test]
@@ -48,7 +49,10 @@ public class StandaloneTestBasePlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
         project.idea.module.testSourceDirs += project.sourceSets.test.java.srcDirs
         project.idea.module.scopes['TEST'] = [plus: [project.configurations.testRuntime]]
 
-        PrecommitTasks.create(project, false)
-        project.check.dependsOn(project.precommit)
+        Task precommitTask = project.tasks.findByName('precommit')
+        if (precommitTask == null) {
+            PrecommitTasks.create(project, false)
+            project.check.dependsOn(project.precommit)
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/client/rest-high-level/build.gradle b/client/rest-high-level/build.gradle
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..162e8608d44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/rest-high-level/build.gradle
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch 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.
+ */
+apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.build'
+apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.rest-test'
+
+group = 'org.elasticsearch.client'
+
+dependencies {
+  compile "org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch:${version}"
+  compile "org.elasticsearch.client:rest:${version}"
+
+  testCompile "org.elasticsearch.client:test:${version}"
+  testCompile "org.elasticsearch.test:framework:${version}"
+  testCompile "com.carrotsearch.randomizedtesting:randomizedtesting-runner:${versions.randomizedrunner}"
+  testCompile "junit:junit:${versions.junit}"
+  testCompile "org.hamcrest:hamcrest-all:${versions.hamcrest}"
+}
+
+dependencyLicenses {
+  // Don't check licenses for dependency that are part of the elasticsearch project
+  // But any other dependency should have its license/notice/sha1
+  dependencies = project.configurations.runtime.fileCollection {
+    it.group.startsWith('org.elasticsearch') == false
+  }
+}
diff --git a/client/rest-high-level/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/client/RestHighLevelClient.java b/client/rest-high-level/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/client/RestHighLevelClient.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4bde0d37e61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/rest-high-level/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/client/RestHighLevelClient.java
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch 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.elasticsearch.client;
+
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
+import org.apache.http.Header;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Objects;
+
+/**
+ * High level REST client that wraps an instance of the low level {@link RestClient} and allows to build requests and read responses.
+ * The provided {@link RestClient} is externally built and closed.
+ */
+public final class RestHighLevelClient {
+
+    private static final Log logger = LogFactory.getLog(RestHighLevelClient.class);
+
+    private final RestClient client;
+
+    public RestHighLevelClient(RestClient client) {
+        this.client = Objects.requireNonNull(client);
+    }
+
+    public boolean ping(Header... headers) {
+        try {
+            client.performRequest("HEAD", "/", headers);
+            return true;
+        } catch(IOException exception) {
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/ESRestHighLevelClientTestCase.java b/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/ESRestHighLevelClientTestCase.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..bc12b1433d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/ESRestHighLevelClientTestCase.java
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch 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.elasticsearch.client;
+
+import org.elasticsearch.test.rest.ESRestTestCase;
+import org.junit.AfterClass;
+import org.junit.Before;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+public abstract class ESRestHighLevelClientTestCase extends ESRestTestCase {
+
+    private static RestHighLevelClient restHighLevelClient;
+
+    @Before
+    public void initHighLevelClient() throws IOException {
+        super.initClient();
+        if (restHighLevelClient == null) {
+            restHighLevelClient = new RestHighLevelClient(client());
+        }
+    }
+
+    @AfterClass
+    public static void cleanupClient() throws IOException {
+        restHighLevelClient = null;
+    }
+
+    protected static RestHighLevelClient highLevelClient() {
+        return restHighLevelClient;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/MainActionIT.java b/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/MainActionIT.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..717ab7a44f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/MainActionIT.java
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch 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.elasticsearch.client;
+
+public class MainActionIT extends ESRestHighLevelClientTestCase {
+
+    public void testPing() {
+        assertTrue(highLevelClient().ping());
+    }
+}
diff --git a/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/RestHighLevelClientTests.java b/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/RestHighLevelClientTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7d513e48998
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/RestHighLevelClientTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch 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.elasticsearch.client;
+
+import org.apache.http.Header;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.mockito.ArgumentMatcher;
+import org.mockito.internal.matchers.ArrayEquals;
+import org.mockito.internal.matchers.VarargMatcher;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.SocketTimeoutException;
+
+import static org.mockito.Matchers.any;
+import static org.mockito.Matchers.argThat;
+import static org.mockito.Matchers.eq;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+public class RestHighLevelClientTests extends ESTestCase {
+
+    private RestClient restClient;
+    private RestHighLevelClient restHighLevelClient;
+
+    @Before
+    public void initClient() throws IOException {
+        restClient = mock(RestClient.class);
+        restHighLevelClient = new RestHighLevelClient(restClient);
+    }
+
+    public void testPing() throws IOException {
+        assertTrue(restHighLevelClient.ping());
+        verify(restClient).performRequest(eq("HEAD"), eq("/"), argThat(new HeadersVarargMatcher()));
+    }
+
+    public void testPingFailure() throws IOException {
+        when(restClient.performRequest(any(), any())).thenThrow(new IllegalStateException());
+        expectThrows(IllegalStateException.class, () -> restHighLevelClient.ping());
+    }
+
+    public void testPingFailed() throws IOException {
+        when(restClient.performRequest(any(), any())).thenThrow(new SocketTimeoutException());
+        assertFalse(restHighLevelClient.ping());
+    }
+
+    public void testPingWithHeaders() throws IOException {
+        Header[] headers = RestClientTestUtil.randomHeaders(random(), "Header");
+        assertTrue(restHighLevelClient.ping(headers));
+        verify(restClient).performRequest(eq("HEAD"), eq("/"), argThat(new HeadersVarargMatcher(headers)));
+    }
+
+    private class HeadersVarargMatcher extends ArgumentMatcher<Header[]> implements VarargMatcher {
+        private Header[] expectedHeaders;
+
+        HeadersVarargMatcher(Header... expectedHeaders) {
+            this.expectedHeaders = expectedHeaders;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public boolean matches(Object varargArgument) {
+            if (varargArgument instanceof Header[]) {
+                Header[] actualHeaders = (Header[]) varargArgument;
+                return new ArrayEquals(expectedHeaders).matches(actualHeaders);
+            }
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/settings.gradle b/settings.gradle
index 609f1b0f8be..1125e84325c 100644
--- a/settings.gradle
+++ b/settings.gradle
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ List projects = [
   'core',
   'docs',
   'client:rest',
+  'client:rest-high-level',
   'client:sniffer',
   'client:transport',
   'client:test',