diff --git a/utilities.gradle b/utilities.gradle
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b56afab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utilities.gradle
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2018 dorkbox, llc
+ *
+ * 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.
+ */
+plugins {
+    id 'java'
+    id 'java-library' // give us access to api/implementation differences for building java libraries
+    id 'maven'
+}
+
+sourceCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
+targetCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
+
+sourceSets {
+    main {
+        java {
+            setSrcDirs Collections.singletonList('src')
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+
+repositories {
+    mavenLocal()
+    jcenter()
+}
+
+def bcVersion = '1.60'
+def jnaVersion = '4.5.2'
+
+dependencies {
+    // utilities dependencies compile only (this is so the IDE can compile the util source)
+    api 'org.slf4j:slf4j-api:1.7.25'
+
+    api 'com.github.jponge:lzma-java:1.3'
+    api 'com.fasterxml.uuid:java-uuid-generator:3.1.5'
+
+    api 'com.esotericsoftware:kryo:4.0.2'
+    api 'io.netty:netty-all:4.1.24.Final'
+
+    api "org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15on:$bcVersion"
+    api "org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk15on:$bcVersion"
+    api "org.bouncycastle:bcmail-jdk15on:$bcVersion"
+    api "org.bouncycastle:bctls-jdk15on:$bcVersion"
+
+    api 'org.lwjgl:lwjgl-xxhash:3.2.0'
+    api 'org.javassist:javassist:3.23.0-GA'
+
+    api 'com.dorkbox:ShellExecutor:1.1+'
+
+    api "net.java.dev.jna:jna:$jnaVersion"
+    api "net.java.dev.jna:jna-platform:$jnaVersion"
+
+//    api 'com.koloboke:koloboke-api-jdk8:1.0.0'
+//    runtime 'com.koloboke:koloboke-impl-jdk8:1.0.0'
+}
+
+tasks.withType(JavaCompile) {
+    options.encoding = 'UTF-8'
+    options.incremental = true
+
+    // setup compile options. we specifically want to suppress usage of "Unsafe"
+    options.compilerArgs += ['-XDignore.symbol.file', '-Xlint:deprecation']
+}
+
+