diff --git a/flit_core/flit_core/build_thyself.py b/flit_core/flit_core/build_thyself.py
index 2688e842..405b33b7 100644
--- a/flit_core/flit_core/build_thyself.py
+++ b/flit_core/flit_core/build_thyself.py
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ def build_sdist(sdist_directory, config_settings=None):
 
     sb = SdistBuilder(
         module, metadata, cwd, reqs_by_extra, entrypoints={},
-        extra_files=['pyproject.toml', 'build_dists.py']
+        extra_files=['pyproject.toml', 'build_dists.py', 'install_bootstrap.py']
     )
     path = sb.build(Path(sdist_directory))
     return path.name
diff --git a/flit_core/install_bootstrap.py b/flit_core/install_bootstrap.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5154bfef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/flit_core/install_bootstrap.py
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+"""Install flit_core without using any other tools.
+
+Normally, you would install flit_core with pip like any other Python package.
+This script is meant to help with 'bootstrapping' other packaging
+systems, where you may need flit_core to build other packaging tools.
+
+Pass a path to the site-packages directory or equivalent where the package
+should be placed. If omitted, this defaults to the site-packages directory
+of the Python running the script.
+"""
+import os
+import sys
+import sysconfig
+from tempfile import TemporaryDirectory
+from zipfile import ZipFile
+
+from flit_core import build_thyself
+
+os.chdir(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
+
+if len(sys.argv) == 2:
+    dest = sys.argv[1]
+    if not os.path.isdir(dest):
+        sys.exit("Destination path must already be a directory")
+elif len(sys.argv) == 1:
+    dest = sysconfig.get_path('purelib')
+else:
+    sys.exit("Specify 0 or 1 arguments (destination directory)")
+
+with TemporaryDirectory(prefix='flit_core-bootstrap-') as td:
+    print("Building wheel")
+    whl_fname = build_thyself.build_wheel(td)
+    whl_path = os.path.join(td, whl_fname)
+
+    print("Installing to", dest)
+    with ZipFile(whl_path) as zf:
+        zf.extractall(dest)