diff --git a/build_appimage.sh b/build_appimage.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..b12ae93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build_appimage.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# run this from the root of the git repo to make this work
+
+git_dir="./"
+target_dir="$git_dir/src-tauri/target/"
+appimage_dir="$git_dir/build/appimage"
+appdir="$appimage_dir/drop-oss-app.d"
+
+rm -f $appdir/usr/bin/* $appdir/usr/lib/*
+
+# set up the repo
+git submodule init
+git submodule update --recursive
+
+# set up yarn and build
+yarn
+yarn tauri build
+
+# install binaries in the appdir, then the libraries
+cp $target_dir/release/drop-app $appdir/usr/bin
+for i in $(readelf -d "$target_dir/release/drop-app" |grep NEEDED |cut -d'[' -f2 |tr -d ]);
+do
+	sudo install -g $USER -o $USER -Dm755 "$(ls -L1 /usr/lib/$i)" $appdir/usr/lib
+done
+
+wget -O $appimage_dir/appimagetool https://github.com/AppImage/AppImageKit/releases/download/continuous/appimagetool-x86_64.AppImage
+
+cd $appimage_dir
+chmod u+x appimagetool
+appimagetool $APPDIR