diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..651665bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+node_modules
+.git
diff --git a/.npmignore b/.npmignore
index 2c3dbec0..69f28be0 100644
--- a/.npmignore
+++ b/.npmignore
@@ -2,3 +2,5 @@ test
 dist
 img
 ci
+.dockerignore
+Dockerfile
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f364a252
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+# Build ipfs-npm from src. Used in test/perf/docker-race.sh
+FROM node:10.15.3
+MAINTAINER olizilla <oli@tableflip.io>
+
+WORKDIR /opt/npm-on-ipfs
+
+# Create a docker cache layer for just the deps. This means less rebuilding if
+# only the source code changes
+COPY package.json /opt/npm-on-ipfs
+RUN npm install --quiet
+
+# Copy the src dir to the image, and add `ipfs-npm` to the PATH.
+COPY ./src /opt/npm-on-ipfs/src
+RUN npm link
diff --git a/test/perf/docker-race.sh b/test/perf/docker-race.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..8c3e9e11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/perf/docker-race.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# Compare the first install times of a module via npm and ipfs-npm.
+# Using Docker here to ensure we are using fresh caches for each run.
+#
+# Usage:
+#
+#    ./docker-race.sh [npm module]
+#
+# NOTE: On first run this will create a local image called ipfs-npm, from the
+# Dockerfile at the root of this project. To update it with the latest source,
+# rebuild the image:
+#
+#    docker build -t ipfs-npm .
+#
+# or simply delete it and let the script re-build it
+#
+#    docker image rm ipfs-npm -f
+#
+set -eu
+MODULE=${1:-iim}
+IPFS_NPM_IMAGE=ipfs-npm
+REFERENCE_IMAGE=node:10.15.3
+
+if $(docker image ls | grep -q $IPFS_NPM_IMAGE)
+then
+  echo "found ipfs-npm Docker image"
+else
+  echo "building docker image for ipfs-npm, this will take a moment"
+  docker build -t $IPFS_NPM_IMAGE $(dirname "$0")/../../
+fi
+
+echo ""
+echo "---- ipfs-npm flavour ----"
+time docker run --rm --net=host $IPFS_NPM_IMAGE ipfs-npm install -g $MODULE
+
+echo ""
+echo "---- npm flavour ----"
+time docker run --rm --net=host $REFERENCE_IMAGE npm install -g $MODULE