diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8571321..46c3fc2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -26,6 +26,18 @@ A role to allow modification to container images built for the TripleO project.
 | `yum_repos_dir_path` | `None` | Optional path of directory to be used as `/etc/yum.repos.d` during the update |
 | `container_build_tool` | `docker` | See modify image variables |
 
+
+**Variables used for dev install**
+
+| Name              | Default Value       | Description          |
+|-------------------|---------------------|----------------------|
+| `source_image` | `[undefined]` | See modify image variables |
+| `modified_append_tag` | `date +-modified-%Y%m%d%H%M%S` | See modify image variables |
+| `target_image` | `''` | See modify image variables |
+| `container_build_tool` | `docker` | See modify image variables |
+| `refspecs` | `[]` | An array of project/refspec pairs that will be installed into the generated container. Currently only supports python source projects. |
+
+
 ## Requirements ##
 
  - ansible >= 2.4
@@ -112,6 +124,28 @@ network connectivity.
           rpms_path: /foo/bar
           modified_append_tag: -hotfix
 
+### Dev install ###
+
+The following playbook will produce a modified image with Python source
+code installed via pip. To minimize dependencies within the container
+we generate the sdist locally and then copy it into the resulting
+container image as an sdist tarball to run pip install locally.
+
+    - hosts: localhost
+      connection: local
+      tasks:
+      - name: dev install heat-api
+        import_role:
+          name: tripleo-modify-image
+        vars:
+          tasks_from: dev_install.yml
+          source_image: docker.io/tripleomaster/centos-binary-heat-api:current-tripleo
+          refspecs:
+            -
+              project: heat
+              refspec: refs/changes/12/1234/3
+          modified_append_tag: -devel
+
 ## License ##
 
 Apache 2.0
diff --git a/files/dev_install.sh b/files/dev_install.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ee5d2d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/files/dev_install.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+set -e
+
+# Cherry-pick a refspec
+# $1 : project name e.g. keystone
+# $2 : Gerrit refspec(s) to cherry pick
+function cherrypick(){
+    local PROJ_NAME=$1
+    local REFSPECS="$2"
+
+    # check that git is installed
+    if ! rpm -qi git &> /dev/null; then
+        echo "Please install git before using this module."
+        exit 1
+    fi
+
+    if [ ! -d "$PROJ_NAME" ]; then
+        git clone "https://git.openstack.org/openstack/$PROJ_NAME"
+    fi
+    cd "$PROJ_NAME"
+    for REFSPEC in $REFSPECS; do
+        git fetch "https://review.openstack.org/openstack/$PROJ_NAME" "$REFSPEC"
+        git cherry-pick FETCH_HEAD || git cherry-pick --abort
+    done
+
+    SKIP_GENERATE_AUTHORS=1 SKIP_WRITE_GIT_CHANGELOG=1 python setup.py sdist
+    cp dist/*.tar.gz ../
+
+}
+
+mkdir -p refspec_projects
+cd refspec_projects
+cherrypick $1 $2
diff --git a/tasks/dev_install.yml b/tasks/dev_install.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2979b3f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tasks/dev_install.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+- import_tasks: precheck.yml
+  tags:
+    - always
+
+- import_tasks: get_original_user.yml
+
+- name: Create image build context directory
+  tempfile:
+    state: directory
+    prefix: tripleo-modify-image
+  register: context_dir
+
+- name: Set modify_dir_path
+  set_fact:
+    modify_dir_path: "{{ context_dir.path }}"
+
+- name: Write Dockerfile to {{ modify_dir_path }}
+  template:
+    src: Dockerfile-dev.j2
+    dest: "{{ modify_dir_path }}/Dockerfile"
+
+- name: Write dev_install.sh
+  copy:
+    src: dev_install.sh
+    dest: "{{ modify_dir_path }}/dev_install.sh"
+    mode: '0555'
+
+- name: Git checkout the refspecs into local temp dir
+  command: "/bin/bash dev_install.sh {{ item.project }} {{ item.refspec }}"
+  args:
+    chdir: "{{ modify_dir_path }}"
+  loop: "{{ refspecs }}"
+
+- include_tasks: modify_image.yml
diff --git a/templates/Dockerfile-dev.j2 b/templates/Dockerfile-dev.j2
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8e4d100
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/Dockerfile-dev.j2
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+FROM {{ source_image }}
+LABEL modified_append_tag={{ modified_append_tag }}
+
+USER root
+
+COPY refspec_projects /root/refspec_projects
+RUN /bin/bash -c 'rpm -qi python-pip || yum install -y python-pip; cd /; for X in $(ls /root/refspec_projects/*.tar.gz); do pip install $X; done; rm -Rf /root/refspec_projects'
+
+USER "{{ original_user }}"