diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index af205c69..fa102155 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -21,3 +21,4 @@
 build
 AUTHORS
 ChangeLog
+dist
diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1ffc437a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+---
+default_language_version:
+  # force all unspecified python hooks to run python3
+  python: python3
+repos:
+  - repo: local
+    hooks:
+      - id: twine-check
+        name: twine-check
+        entry: tools/twine-check.sh
+        language: python
+        types: [python]
+        additional_dependencies: [twine]
+        args: ['--strict']
+        exclude: ^$  # don't run on empty files
+  - repo: https://github.com/sphinx-contrib/sphinx-lint
+    rev: v0.9.1
+    hooks:
+      - id: sphinx-lint
+        args: [--enable=default-role]
+        files: ^README.rst
+        types: [rst]
+
diff --git a/tools/twine-check.sh b/tools/twine-check.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..3221faca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/twine-check.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# build dist tarball
+python setup.py sdist
+# check dist tarball
+twine check dist/*