diff --git a/bootstrap.sh b/bootstrap.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..d203bbd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bootstrap.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# user to effectively run bot as (so we can safely run as root for pip)
+puser="admin"
+
+while :
+do
+    date
+
+    echo Updating repository...
+    runuser -m $puser -c 'git pull'
+
+    # if root we can update discord.py
+    if [ "$EUID" -eq 0 ]
+    then
+        echo Updating discord.py...
+        python3 -m pip install -U https://github.com/Rapptz/discord.py/archive/master.zip#egg=discord.py[voice]
+    fi
+
+    echo Starting Maki...
+    runuser -m $puser -c 'rm -f ./reload'
+    runuser -m $puser -c 'python3 bot.py'
+
+    # okay to quit if rval was not 0
+    if [ ! -f ./reload ]
+    then
+        echo no reload file, stopping for realsies...
+        exit
+    fi
+done
+
+exit
diff --git a/bot.py b/bot.py
index 4200b49..97dbdfd 100644
--- a/bot.py
+++ b/bot.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ from secret import token, lfmkey
 # CONFIGURATION
 
 # bot version
-version = "v0.17.5"
+version = "v0.18.0"
 
 # text shown by .help command
 helptext = """I am a Discord bot written in Python
@@ -177,6 +177,11 @@ def on_message(message):
                 run = False
                 yield from client.send_message(message.channel, 'But will I dream? ;_;')
                 yield from client.logout()
+
+                if message.content[5:] == 'reload':
+                    # touch a file called 'reload' which signals we should restart
+                    with open('reload', 'a'):
+                        os.utime('reload', None)
             else:
                 # user not admin, refuse
                 response = 'Don\'t be so rude! >:('