diff --git a/vars/createKubernetesCluster.groovy b/vars/createKubernetesCluster.groovy
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fccbaed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vars/createKubernetesCluster.groovy
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+// sets up a kubernetes cluster (using kind)
+
+def call(Map config) {
+    // note that I can't define this outside the function as there's no global scope in Groovy
+    def defaultConfig = [
+      nodes: 1,
+      name: "kind-ci"
+    ]
+
+    if (!config) {
+        config = [:]
+    }
+
+    def cfg = defaultConfig + config
+
+    println "Deploying Kind cluster with the following parameters: ${cfg}."
+
+    // TODO support different configs
+    def data = """
+kind: Cluster
+apiVersion: kind.x-k8s.io/v1alpha4
+nodes:
+- role: control-plane
+- role: worker
+- role: worker
+    """
+    writeFile(file: 'kind.cfg', text: data)
+
+    // TODO skip cluster creation if cluster is already there
+    sh """
+      mkdir -p $WORKSPACE/bin
+
+      # download kind (should we add it to the base image?)
+      curl -Lo ./kind https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/dl/v0.9.0/kind-linux-amd64
+      chmod +x ./kind
+      mv ./kind $WORKSPACE/bin/kind
+
+      # install voltctl
+      HOSTOS="\$(uname -s | tr "[:upper:]" "[:lower:"])"
+      HOSTARCH="\$(uname -m | tr "[:upper:]" "[:lower:"])"
+      if [ "\$HOSTARCH" == "x86_64" ]; then
+          HOSTARCH="amd64"
+      fi
+      curl -Lo ./voltctl https://github.com/opencord/voltctl/releases/download/v1.3.1/voltctl-1.3.1-\$HOSTOS-\$HOSTARCH
+      chmod +x ./voltctl
+      mv ./voltctl $WORKSPACE/bin/
+
+      # start the kind cluster
+      kind create cluster --name ${cfg.name} --config kind.cfg
+
+      # remove NoSchedule taint from nodes
+      for MNODE in \$(kubectl get node --selector='node-role.kubernetes.io/master' -o json | jq -r '.items[].metadata.name'); do
+          kubectl taint node "\$MNODE" node-role.kubernetes.io/master:NoSchedule-
+      done
+
+      mkdir -p $HOME/.volt
+      voltctl -s localhost:55555 config > $HOME/.volt/config
+
+      mkdir -p $HOME/.kube
+      kind get kubeconfig --name ${cfg.name} > $HOME/.kube/config
+
+      # add helm repositories
+      helm repo add onf https://charts.opencord.org
+      helm repo update
+
+      # download kail
+      bash <( curl -sfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/boz/kail/master/godownloader.sh) -b "$WORKSPACE/bin"
+  """
+}