diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e0f3d0d3..e914a174 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ depcomp
 src/gitsh
 lib/gitsh/version.rb
 gitsh-*.tar.gz
+vendor/gems
 
 # Sub-repositories for release
 gh-pages
diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index dcfd9652..ee9efb4d 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -2,7 +2,9 @@ source 'https://rubygems.org'
 
 ruby '2.0.0'
 
-gem 'parslet'
+group :dist do
+  gem 'parslet'
+end
 
 group :test do
   gem 'rspec'
diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index d9c2b25c..27998073 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = foreign
-SUBDIRS = src man lib/gitsh
+SUBDIRS = src man lib/gitsh vendor
 EXTRA_DIST = LICENSE README.md
 
 .PHONY: release \
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 63863566..a75a6f29 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -24,14 +24,24 @@ AX_PROG_RUBY_VERSION(
   AC_MSG_ERROR(Ruby 2.0 or later is required to install gitsh)
 )
 
+newer=$(ls -t $srcdir/Gemfile.lock $srcdir/vendor/gems/setup.rb 2>/dev/null | (read n; echo $n))
+if test "$newer" == "$srcdir/Gemfile.lock"; then
+    rm -rf vendor/gems
+    $srcdir/vendor/vendorize vendor/gems || AC_MSG_ERROR([Vendorizing gems failed])
+fi
+
 rubydir=$datadir/$PACKAGE/ruby
 pkgrubydir=$rubydir/$PACKAGE
-libfiles="$(cd `dirname $0`/lib/gitsh; echo *.rb)"
+libfiles="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/lib/gitsh"; echo *.rb)"
+vendorfiles="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/vendor"; echo $(find gems -type f))"
+gemsetuppath=$datadir/$PACKAGE/gems/setup.rb
 
 AC_SUBST([RUBY])
 AC_SUBST([rubydir])
 AC_SUBST([pkgrubydir])
 AC_SUBST([libfiles])
+AC_SUBST([vendorfiles])
+AC_SUBST([gemsetuppath])
 
-AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile src/Makefile lib/gitsh/Makefile man/Makefile])
+AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile src/Makefile lib/gitsh/Makefile man/Makefile vendor/Makefile])
 AC_OUTPUT
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index 3b4916d1..58753c82 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@ EXTRA_DIST = gitsh.in
 
 edit = sed \
 	-e 's|@RUBY[@]|$(RUBY)|g' \
-	-e 's|@rubydir[@]|$(rubydir)|g'
+	-e 's|@rubydir[@]|$(rubydir)|g' \
+	-e 's|@gemsetuppath[@]|$(gemsetuppath)|g'
 
 gitsh: Makefile gitsh.in
 	$(edit) $(srcdir)/$@.in > $@
diff --git a/src/gitsh.in b/src/gitsh.in
index 2fc12e7d..b45b3b0b 100644
--- a/src/gitsh.in
+++ b/src/gitsh.in
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 $LOAD_PATH.unshift('@rubydir@')
 
+require '@gemsetuppath@'
 require 'gitsh/cli'
 
 begin
diff --git a/vendor/Makefile.am b/vendor/Makefile.am
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2b0feb61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vendor/Makefile.am
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+nobase_dist_pkgdata_DATA = $(vendorfiles)
+EXTRA_DIST = vendorize
+
+distclean-local:
+	-rm -rf gems
diff --git a/vendor/vendorize b/vendor/vendorize
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..532ff09c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vendor/vendorize
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env ruby
+
+require 'bundler'
+
+unless ARGV.length == 1
+  $stderr.puts "usage: vendorize path-to-gems"
+  exit 64
+end
+
+TARGET_PATH = ARGV.first
+SETUP_PATH = File.join(TARGET_PATH, 'setup.rb')
+
+FileUtils.mkdir_p(TARGET_PATH)
+
+File.open(SETUP_PATH, 'w') do |setup_file|
+  Bundler.definition.specs_for([:dist]).each do |gem|
+    if gem.name != 'bundler'
+      system(
+        '/usr/bin/env', 'gem', 'unpack',
+        '--target', TARGET_PATH,
+        '--version', gem.version.to_s,
+        gem.name
+      )
+
+      setup_file << "$LOAD_PATH.unshift(File.expand_path(%s, __FILE__))\n" % [
+        "../#{gem.name}-#{gem.version}/lib".inspect
+      ]
+    end
+  end
+end