diff --git a/Godeps/Godeps.json b/Godeps/Godeps.json
index b8b28109e..cbd1e7967 100644
--- a/Godeps/Godeps.json
+++ b/Godeps/Godeps.json
@@ -159,6 +159,10 @@
 			"ImportPath": "github.com/jbenet/go-logging",
 			"Rev": "74bec4b83f6d45d1402c1e9d94c0c29e39f6e0ea"
 		},
+		{
+			"ImportPath": "github.com/jbenet/go-migrate",
+			"Rev": "593be6b4b24a87e4d380e54339721ad4b4c6543c"
+		},
 		{
 			"ImportPath": "github.com/jbenet/go-msgio",
 			"Rev": "dbae89193876910c736b2ce1291fa8bbcf299d77"
diff --git a/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-migrate/LICENSE b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-migrate/LICENSE
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c7386b3c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-migrate/LICENSE
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+The MIT License (MIT)
+
+Copyright (c) 2014 Juan Batiz-Benet
+
+Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
+all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
+THE SOFTWARE.
diff --git a/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-migrate/README.md b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-migrate/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8ddf5a6d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-migrate/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# go-migrate
+
+This is a very simple migration framework. See "Migrations" in https://github.com/jbenet/random-ideas/issues/33
+
+This package includes:
+
+- `migrate` package -- lib to write migration programs
+
+## The model
+
+The idea here is that we have some thing -- usually a directory -- that needs to be migrated between different representation versions. This may be because there has been an upgrade.
diff --git a/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-migrate/cli.go b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-migrate/cli.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..66f1f3b2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-migrate/cli.go
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+package migrate
+
+import (
+	"flag"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+)
+
+type Flags struct {
+	Force  bool
+	Revert bool
+	Path   string // file path to migrate for fs based migrations
+}
+
+func (f *Flags) Setup() {
+	flag.BoolVar(&f.Force, "f", false, "whether to force a migration (ignores warnings)")
+	flag.BoolVar(&f.Revert, "revert", false, "whether to apply the migration backwards")
+	flag.StringVar(&f.Path, "path", "", "file path to migrate for fs based migrations")
+}
+
+func (f *Flags) Parse() {
+	flag.Parse()
+}
+
+func Run(m Migration) error {
+	f := Flags{}
+	f.Setup()
+	f.Parse()
+
+	if !m.Reversible() {
+		if f.Revert {
+			return fmt.Errorf("migration %d is irreversible", m.Versions())
+		}
+		if !f.Force {
+			return fmt.Errorf("migration %d is irreversible (use -f to proceed)", m.Versions())
+		}
+	}
+
+	if f.Revert {
+		return m.Revert(Options{f})
+	} else {
+		return m.Apply(Options{f})
+	}
+}
+
+func Main(m Migration) {
+	if err := Run(m); err != nil {
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "error: %s\n", err)
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-migrate/doc.go b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-migrate/doc.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..29e607a13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-migrate/doc.go
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+// Package migrate is used to write migrations between representations of things.
+package migrate
diff --git a/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-migrate/migrate.go b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-migrate/migrate.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f374da273
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-migrate/migrate.go
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+package migrate
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+)
+
+// Options are migration options. For now all flags are options.
+type Options struct {
+	Flags
+}
+
+// Migration represents
+type Migration interface {
+
+	// Versions is the "v-to-v" version string.
+	Versions() string
+
+	// Reversible returns whether this migration can be reverted.
+	// Endeavor to make them all reversible. This is here only to warn users
+	// in case this is not the case.
+	Reversible() bool
+
+	// Apply applies the migration in question.
+	Apply(Options) error
+
+	// Revert un-applies the migration in question. This should be best-effort.
+	// Some migrations are definitively one-way. If so, return an error.
+	Revert(Options) error
+}
+
+func SplitVersion(s string) (from int, to int) {
+	_, err := fmt.Scanf(s, "%d-to-%d", &from, &to)
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err.Error())
+	}
+	return
+}
diff --git a/repo/fsrepo/migrations/0-to-1/main.go b/repo/fsrepo/migrations/0-to-1/main.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cc0c5ef1c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/repo/fsrepo/migrations/0-to-1/main.go
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"strings"
+
+	migrate "github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-migrate"
+	mfsr "github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/repo/fsrepo/migrations"
+)
+
+type migration struct {
+}
+
+// Version is the int version number. This could be a string
+// in future versions
+func (m migration) Versions() string {
+	return "0-to-1"
+}
+
+// Reversible returns whether this migration can be reverted.
+// Endeavor to make them all reversible. This is here only to warn users
+// in case this is not the case.
+func (m migration) Reversible() bool {
+	return true
+}
+
+// Apply applies the migration in question.
+// This migration merely adds a version file.
+func (m migration) Apply(opts migrate.Options) error {
+	repo := mfsr.RepoPath(opts.Path)
+
+	// first, check if there is a version file.
+	// if there is, bail out.
+	if v, err := repo.Version(); err == nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("repo at %s is version %s (not 0)", opts.Path, v)
+	} else if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "no version file in repo") {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// add the version file
+	if err := repo.WriteVersion("1"); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+// Revert un-applies the migration in question. This should be best-effort.
+// Some migrations are definitively one-way. If so, return an error.
+func (m migration) Revert(opts migrate.Options) error {
+	repo := mfsr.RepoPath(opts.Path)
+
+	if err := repo.CheckVersion("1"); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// remove the version file
+	if err := os.Remove(repo.VersionFile()); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func main() {
+	m := migration{}
+	migrate.Main(&m)
+}
diff --git a/repo/fsrepo/migrations/mfsr.go b/repo/fsrepo/migrations/mfsr.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..21b81f1a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/repo/fsrepo/migrations/mfsr.go
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+package mfsr
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"os"
+	"path"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+const VersionFile = "version"
+
+type RepoPath string
+
+func (rp RepoPath) VersionFile() string {
+	return path.Join(string(rp), VersionFile)
+}
+
+func (rp RepoPath) Version() (string, error) {
+	if rp == "" {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("invalid repo path \"%s\"", rp)
+	}
+
+	fn := rp.VersionFile()
+	if _, err := os.Stat(fn); os.IsNotExist(err) {
+		return "", errors.New("no version file in repo at " + string(rp))
+	}
+
+	c, err := ioutil.ReadFile(fn)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+
+	s := string(c)
+	s = strings.TrimSpace(s)
+	return s, nil
+}
+
+func (rp RepoPath) CheckVersion(version string) error {
+	v, err := rp.Version()
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if v != version {
+		return fmt.Errorf("versions differ (expected: %s, actual:%s)", version, v)
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (rp RepoPath) WriteVersion(version string) error {
+	fn := rp.VersionFile()
+	return ioutil.WriteFile(fn, []byte(version+"\n"), 0644)
+}