diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index c3263d63a5..dde7b2df71 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -317,8 +317,12 @@ subprojects {
             authentication(userName: rootProject.ossrhUsername, password: rootProject.ossrhPassword)
           }
         }
-        repository(url: stagingUrl, configureAuth)
-        snapshotRepository(url: 'https://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots/', configureAuth)
+        if (rootProject.hasProperty('repositoryDir')) {
+          repository(url: new File(rootProject.repositoryDir).toURI())
+        } else {
+          repository(url: stagingUrl, configureAuth)
+          snapshotRepository(url: 'https://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots/', configureAuth)
+        }
     }
     uploadArchives.onlyIf { !name.contains("grpc-gae-interop-testing") }
 
diff --git a/buildscripts/sign-local-repo.sh b/buildscripts/sign-local-repo.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..563b37023e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/buildscripts/sign-local-repo.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Copyright 2017, gRPC Authors All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+set -e
+
+if [ $# -ne 1 ]; then
+  cat <<EOF
+Usage: $0 DIR
+  DIR Local repository with files needing to be signed
+EOF
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+find "$1" -type f | egrep -v '\.(md5|sha1)$' | grep -v maven-metadata.xml | xargs gpg -ab
diff --git a/buildscripts/sonatype-upload.sh b/buildscripts/sonatype-upload.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..332277ef8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/buildscripts/sonatype-upload.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Copyright 2017, gRPC Authors All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+set -e
+
+if [ $# -ne 2 ]; then
+  cat <<EOF
+Usage: $0 PROFILEID DIR
+  PROFILEID The Sonatype profile to use for staging repository
+            Obtain profile ID from https://oss.sonatype.org:
+             * Build Promotion > Staging Profiles
+             * Select profile based on name (e.g., 'io.grpc')
+             * Copy hex identifier from URL after "#stagingProfiles;"
+  DIR       Directory to upload to Sonatype as a new staging repository
+
+~/.config/sonatype-upload: Configuration file for Sonatype username and password
+  USERNAME=yourusername
+  PASSWORD=yourpass
+
+Sonatype provides a "user token" that is a randomly generated username/password.
+It does allow access to your account, however. You can create one via:
+ * Log in to https://oss.sonatype.org
+ * Click your username at the top right and click to Profile
+ * Change the drop-down from "Summary" to "User Token"
+ * Click "Access User Token"
+EOF
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+PROFILE_ID="$1"
+DIR="$2"
+if [ -z "$DIR" ]; then
+  echo "Must specify non-empty directory name"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+[ -f "$CONF" ] && . "$CONF"
+
+if [ -z "$USERNAME" -o -z "$PASSWORD" ]; then
+  # TODO(ejona86): if people would use it, could prompt for values to avoid
+  # having passwords in plain-text.
+  echo "You must create '$CONF' with keys USERNAME and PASSWORD" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+CONF="$HOME/.config/sonatype-upload"
+STAGING_URL="https://oss.sonatype.org/service/local/staging"
+
+# We go through the effort of using deloyByRepositoryId/ because it is
+# _substantially_ faster to upload files than deploy/maven2/. When using
+# deploy/maven2/ a repository is implicitly created, but the response doesn't
+# provide its name.
+
+USERPASS="$USERNAME:$PASSWORD"
+
+# https://oss.sonatype.org/nexus-staging-plugin/default/docs/index.html
+#
+# Example returned data:
+#   <promoteResponse>
+#     <data>
+#       <stagedRepositoryId>iogrpc-1082</stagedRepositoryId>
+#       <description>Release upload</description>
+#     </data>
+#   </promoteResponse>
+echo "Creating staging repo"
+REPOID="$(
+  XML="
+  <promoteRequest>
+    <data>
+      <description>Release upload</description>
+    </data>
+  </promoteRequest>"
+  curl -s -X POST -d "$XML" -u "$USERPASS" -H "Content-Type: application/xml" \
+    "$STAGING_URL/profiles/$PROFILE_ID/start" |
+  grep stagedRepositoryId |
+  sed 's/.*<stagedRepositoryId>\(.*\)<\/stagedRepositoryId>.*/\1/'
+  )"
+echo "Repository id: $REPOID"
+
+for X in $(cd "$DIR" && find -type f | cut -b 3-); do
+  echo "Uploading $X"
+  curl -T "$DIR/$X" -u "$USERPASS" -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" \
+    "$STAGING_URL/deployByRepositoryId/$REPOID/$X"
+done
+
+echo "Closing staging repo"
+XML="
+<promoteRequest>
+  <data>
+    <stagedRepositoryId>$REPOID</stagedRepositoryId>
+    <description>Auto-close via upload script</description>
+  </data>
+</promoteRequest>"
+curl -X POST -d "$XML" -u "$USERPASS" -H "Content-Type: application/xml" \
+  "$STAGING_URL/profiles/$PROFILE_ID/finish"