diff --git a/appveyor.yml b/appveyor.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..d45ce3f9a14d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/appveyor.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+environment:
+#  USEMSVC: "1"
+  matrix:
+  - ARCH: "i686"
+  - ARCH: "x86_64"
+
+clone_depth: 50
+
+init:
+# Carriage returns are bad
+  - git config --global core.autocrlf input
+
+build_script:
+# temporarily disable backtrace test, failing right now for win64 on master
+  - sed -i 's/"backtrace",//' test/runtests.jl
+# Remove C:\MinGW\bin from the path, the version of MinGW installed on
+# AppVeyor is not compatible with the cross-compiled Julia Windows binaries
+  - set PATH=%PATH:C:\MinGW\bin;=%
+#  - '"%VS120COMNTOOLS%\..\..\VC\vcvarsall.bat" x86_amd64'
+# Since the AppVeyor VMs have Git installed, they have MSYS1
+  - sh --login /c/projects/julia/contrib/windows/msys_build.sh
+
+test_script:
+  - cd test && ..\usr\bin\julia runtests.jl all
diff --git a/contrib/windows/msys_build.sh b/contrib/windows/msys_build.sh
index 724778e148ec1..ddb85062a6c94 100755
--- a/contrib/windows/msys_build.sh
+++ b/contrib/windows/msys_build.sh
@@ -176,5 +176,5 @@ else
   echo 'override STAGE1_DEPS += openlibm' >> Make.user
 fi
 
-make
+make -j2
 #make debug