diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index d691fa2f..01c92c9b 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ env:
   - REPO_TYPE=conda
   - REPO_TYPE=venv
   - REPO_TYPE=julia
+  - REPO_TYPE=r
   - REPO_TYPE=dockerfile
   - REPO_TYPE=external/*
   - REPO_TYPE=*.py
diff --git a/repo2docker/app.py b/repo2docker/app.py
index 21e909c7..cab2e2d5 100644
--- a/repo2docker/app.py
+++ b/repo2docker/app.py
@@ -29,7 +29,8 @@ import subprocess
 
 from .buildpacks import (
     PythonBuildPack, DockerBuildPack, LegacyBinderDockerBuildPack,
-    CondaBuildPack, JuliaBuildPack, Python2BuildPack, BaseImage
+    CondaBuildPack, JuliaBuildPack, Python2BuildPack, BaseImage,
+    RBuildPack
 )
 from .utils import execute_cmd, ByteSpecification, maybe_cleanup, is_valid_docker_image_name, validate_and_generate_port_mapping
 from . import __version__
@@ -64,6 +65,7 @@ class Repo2Docker(Application):
             JuliaBuildPack(),
             CondaBuildPack(),
             Python2BuildPack(),
+            RBuildPack(),
             PythonBuildPack()
         ],
         config=True,
diff --git a/repo2docker/buildpacks/__init__.py b/repo2docker/buildpacks/__init__.py
index 0f54f390..ae60c05a 100644
--- a/repo2docker/buildpacks/__init__.py
+++ b/repo2docker/buildpacks/__init__.py
@@ -4,3 +4,4 @@ from .conda import CondaBuildPack
 from .julia import JuliaBuildPack
 from .docker import DockerBuildPack
 from .legacy import LegacyBinderDockerBuildPack
+from .r import RBuildPack
diff --git a/repo2docker/buildpacks/r.py b/repo2docker/buildpacks/r.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b18241d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/repo2docker/buildpacks/r.py
@@ -0,0 +1,158 @@
+import re
+import os
+import datetime
+
+from .python import PythonBuildPack
+
+class RBuildPack(PythonBuildPack):
+    """
+    Setup R for use with a repository
+
+    This sets up R + RStudio + IRKernel for a repository that contains:
+
+     1. A `runtime.txt` file with the text:
+
+        r-<year>-<month>-<date>
+
+        Where 'year', 'month' and 'date' refer to a specific
+        date snapshot of https://mran.microsoft.com/timemachine
+        from which libraries are to be installed.
+
+     2. An optional `install.R` file that will be executed at build time,
+        and can be used for installing packages from both MRAN and GitHub.
+
+    It currently sets up R from the ubuntu repository being used. This
+    is unideal, and we should investigate other solutions!
+    """
+    @property
+    def runtime(self):
+        """
+        Return contents of runtime.txt if it exists, '' otherwise
+        """
+        if not hasattr(self, '_runtime'):
+            runtime_path = self.binder_path('runtime.txt')
+            try:
+                with open(runtime_path) as f:
+                    self._runtime = f.read().strip()
+            except FileNotFoundError:
+                self._runtime = ''
+
+        return self._runtime
+
+    @property
+    def checkpoint_date(self):
+        """
+        Return the date of MRAN checkpoint to use for this repo
+
+        Returns '' if no date is specified
+        """
+        if not hasattr(self, '_checkpoint_date'):
+            match = re.match(r'r-(\d\d\d\d)-(\d\d)-(\d\d)', self.runtime)
+            if not match:
+                self._checkpoint_date = False
+
+            year, month, day = [int(s) for s in match.groups()]
+
+            self._checkpoint_date = datetime.date(year, month, day)
+
+        return self._checkpoint_date
+
+    def detect(self):
+        """
+        Check if current repo should be built with the R Build pack
+
+        Note that we explicitly do *not* check if a requirements.txt
+        is present here (by calling super().detect()).
+        """
+        return bool(self.checkpoint_date)
+
+    def get_path(self):
+        return super().get_path() + [
+            '/usr/lib/rstudio-server/bin/'
+        ]
+
+    def get_env(self):
+        return super().get_env() + [
+            # This is the path where user libraries are installed
+            ('R_LIBS_USER', '${APP_BASE}/rlibs')
+        ]
+
+    def get_packages(self):
+        return super().get_packages().union([
+            'r-base',
+            # For rstudio
+            'psmisc',
+            'libapparmor1',
+            'sudo',
+            'lsb-release'
+        ])
+
+    def get_build_scripts(self):
+        mran_url = 'https://mran.microsoft.com/snapshot/{}'.format(
+            self.checkpoint_date.isoformat()
+        )
+        rstudio_url = 'https://download2.rstudio.org/rstudio-server-1.1.419-amd64.deb'
+        # This is MD5, because that is what RStudio download page provides!
+        rstudio_checksum = '24cd11f0405d8372b4168fc9956e0386'
+        return super().get_build_scripts() + [
+            (
+                "root",
+                r"""
+                mkdir -p ${R_LIBS_USER} && \
+                chown -R ${NB_USER}:${NB_USER} ${R_LIBS_USER}
+                """
+            ),
+            (
+                "root",
+                # We set the default CRAN repo to the MRAN one at given date
+                # We set download method to be curl so we get HTTPS support
+                r"""
+                echo "options(repos = c(CRAN='{mran_url}'), download.file.method = 'libcurl')" > /etc/R/Rprofile.site
+                """.format(mran_url=mran_url)
+            ),
+            (
+                "root",
+                # Install RStudio!
+                r"""
+                curl -L --fail {rstudio_url} > /tmp/rstudio.deb && \
+                echo '{rstudio_checksum} /tmp/rstudio.deb' | md5sum -c - && \
+                dpkg -i /tmp/rstudio.deb && \
+                rm /tmp/rstudio.deb
+                """.format(
+                    rstudio_url=rstudio_url,
+                    rstudio_checksum=rstudio_checksum
+                )
+            ),
+            (
+                "${NB_USER}",
+                # Install a pinned version of IRKernel and set it up for use!
+                r"""
+                R --quiet -e "install.packages('devtools')" && \
+                R --quiet -e "devtools::install_github('IRkernel/IRkernel', ref='0.8.11')" && \
+                R --quiet -e "IRkernel::installspec(prefix='${NB_PYTHON_PREFIX}')"
+                """
+            ),
+            (
+                "${NB_USER}",
+                # Install nbrsessionproxy
+                r"""
+                pip install --no-cache-dir nbrsessionproxy==0.6.1 && \
+                jupyter serverextension enable nbrsessionproxy --sys-prefix && \
+                jupyter nbextension install --py nbrsessionproxy --sys-prefix && \
+                jupyter nbextension enable --py nbrsessionproxy --sys-prefix
+                """
+            )
+
+        ]
+
+    def get_assemble_scripts(self):
+        assemble_scripts = super().get_assemble_scripts()
+        if os.path.exists('install.R'):
+            assemble_scripts += [
+                (
+                    "${NB_USER}",
+                    "Rscript install.R"
+                )
+            ]
+
+        return assemble_scripts
diff --git a/tests/r/simple/install.R b/tests/r/simple/install.R
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..df6d6a83
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/r/simple/install.R
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+install.packages("ggplot2")
diff --git a/tests/r/simple/runtime.txt b/tests/r/simple/runtime.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c7960351
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/r/simple/runtime.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+r-2017-10-24
diff --git a/tests/r/simple/verify b/tests/r/simple/verify
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..eec6690f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/r/simple/verify
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env Rscript
+library('ggplot2')