diff --git a/mcapi.sh b/mcapi.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..4027618
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mcapi.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# decription: This script uses mcapi.us to determine
+#             the status of a Minecraft server and reports
+#             its findings back to a Healthchecks instance
+#             at $HEALTHCHECKS_URL.
+#
+# author:     david@socialnerds.org
+# version:    0.1
+# license:    MIT
+#
+# usage:      ./mcapi.sh <hostname/ip> <healthchecks id>
+
+MCAPI_URL="https://mcapi.us/server"
+CURL_OPTIONS="-fsS -m 10 --retry 5"
+CURL_CMD="curl $CURL_OPTIONS"
+HEALTHCHECKS_URL="https://checks.socialnerds.org/ping"
+DEPENDENCIES="curl jq"
+
+# check for missing dependencies (and exit on failure)
+for DEPENDENCY in $DEPENDENCIES; do
+    if [ ! $(command -v $DEPENDENCY) ]; then
+        echo "missing dependency [$DEPENDENCY]"
+        exit 2
+    fi
+done
+
+# signal script start to healthchecks
+if [ $2 ]; then
+  HEALTHCHECKS_ID="$2"
+  $CURL_CMD -o /dev/null $HEALTHCHECKS_URL/$HEALTHCHECKS_ID/start
+fi
+
+# get server status
+if [ $1 ]; then
+  IP="$1"
+  URL="$MCAPI_URL/status?ip=$IP"
+  STATUS=$($CURL_CMD $URL | jq --raw-output '.status')
+  if [ $STATUS == "success" ]; then
+    NOW=$($CURL_CMD $URL | jq --raw-output '.players.now')
+    MAX=$($CURL_CMD $URL | jq --raw-output '.players.max')
+    # signal script success to healthchecks
+    if [ $HEALTHCHECKS_ID ]; then
+      $CURL_CMD -o /dev/null --data-raw "Online players: $NOW/$MAX" $HEALTHCHECKS_URL/$HEALTHCHECKS_ID
+    fi
+  else
+    # signal script failure to healthchecks
+    if [ $HEALTHCHECKS_ID ]; then
+      $CURL_CMD -o /dev/null $HEALTHCHECKS_URL/$HEALTHCHECKS_ID/fail
+    fi
+  fi
+else
+  echo "first option must be the hostname/ip of a minecraft server"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+exit 0