diff --git a/config/setup/git.go b/config/setup/git.go
index 2e6c76ca..972ce82b 100644
--- a/config/setup/git.go
+++ b/config/setup/git.go
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/mholt/caddy/middleware"
 	"github.com/mholt/caddy/middleware/git"
+	"github.com/mholt/caddy/middleware/git/webhook"
 )
 
 // Git configures a new Git service routine.
@@ -20,13 +21,30 @@ func Git(c *Controller) (middleware.Middleware, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	c.Startup = append(c.Startup, func() error {
-		// Start service routine in background
-		git.Start(repo)
+	// If a HookUrl is set, we switch to event based pulling.
+	// Install the url handler
+	if repo.HookUrl != "" {
 
-		// Do a pull right away to return error
-		return repo.Pull()
-	})
+		c.Startup = append(c.Startup, func() error {
+			return repo.Pull()
+		})
+
+		webhook := &webhook.WebHook{Repo: repo}
+		return func(next middleware.Handler) middleware.Handler {
+			webhook.Next = next
+			return webhook
+		}, nil
+
+	} else {
+		c.Startup = append(c.Startup, func() error {
+
+			// Start service routine in background
+			git.Start(repo)
+
+			// Do a pull right away to return error
+			return repo.Pull()
+		})
+	}
 
 	return nil, err
 }
@@ -75,6 +93,17 @@ func gitParse(c *Controller) (*git.Repo, error) {
 				if t > 0 {
 					repo.Interval = time.Duration(t) * time.Second
 				}
+			case "hook":
+				if !c.NextArg() {
+					return nil, c.ArgErr()
+				}
+				repo.HookUrl = c.Val()
+
+				// optional secret for validation
+				if c.NextArg() {
+					repo.HookSecret = c.Val()
+				}
+
 			case "then":
 				thenArgs := c.RemainingArgs()
 				if len(thenArgs) == 0 {
diff --git a/middleware/git/git.go b/middleware/git/git.go
index 6695dab1..74db1bb7 100644
--- a/middleware/git/git.go
+++ b/middleware/git/git.go
@@ -59,6 +59,9 @@ type Repo struct {
 	lastPull   time.Time     // time of the last successful pull
 	lastCommit string        // hash for the most recent commit
 	sync.Mutex
+	HookUrl    string // url to listen on for webhooks
+	HookSecret string // secret to validate hooks
+
 }
 
 // Pull attempts a git clone.
diff --git a/middleware/git/webhook/github_hook.go b/middleware/git/webhook/github_hook.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e3ca70fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/middleware/git/webhook/github_hook.go
@@ -0,0 +1,159 @@
+package webhook
+
+import (
+	"crypto/hmac"
+	"crypto/sha1"
+	"encoding/hex"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
+	"github.com/mholt/caddy/middleware/git"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"log"
+	"net/http"
+	"os"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+type GithubHook struct{}
+
+type ghRelease struct {
+	Action  string `json:"action"`
+	Release struct {
+		TagName string      `json:"tag_name"`
+		Name    interface{} `json:"name"`
+	} `json:"release"`
+}
+
+type ghPush struct {
+	Ref string `json:"ref"`
+}
+
+// Logger is used to log errors; if nil, the default log.Logger is used.
+var Logger *log.Logger
+
+// logger is an helper function to retrieve the available logger
+func logger() *log.Logger {
+	if Logger == nil {
+		Logger = log.New(os.Stderr, "", log.LstdFlags)
+	}
+	return Logger
+}
+
+func (g GithubHook) DoesHandle(h http.Header) bool {
+	userAgent := h.Get("User-Agent")
+
+	// GitHub always uses a user-agent like "GitHub-Hookshot/<id>"
+	if userAgent != "" && strings.HasPrefix(userAgent, "GitHub-Hookshot") {
+		return true
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
+func (g GithubHook) Handle(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, repo *git.Repo) (int, error) {
+	if r.Method != "POST" {
+		return http.StatusMethodNotAllowed, errors.New("The request had an invalid method.")
+	}
+
+	// read full body - required for signature
+	body, err := ioutil.ReadAll(r.Body)
+
+	err = g.handleSignature(r, body, repo.HookSecret)
+	if err != nil {
+		return http.StatusBadRequest, err
+	}
+
+	event := r.Header.Get("X-Github-Event")
+	if event == "" {
+		return http.StatusBadRequest, errors.New("The 'X-Github-Event' header is required but was missing.")
+	}
+
+	switch event {
+	case "ping":
+		w.Write([]byte("pong"))
+	case "push":
+		err := g.handlePush(body, repo)
+		if err != nil {
+			return http.StatusBadRequest, err
+		}
+
+	case "release":
+		err := g.handleRelease(body, repo)
+		if err != nil {
+			return http.StatusBadRequest, err
+		}
+
+	// return 400 if we do not handle the event type.
+	// This is to visually show the user a configuration error in the GH ui.
+	default:
+		return http.StatusBadRequest, nil
+	}
+
+	return http.StatusOK, nil
+}
+
+// Check for an optional signature in the request
+// if it is signed, verify the signature.
+func (g GithubHook) handleSignature(r *http.Request, body []byte, secret string) error {
+	signature := r.Header.Get("X-Hub-Signature")
+	if signature != "" {
+		if secret == "" {
+			logger().Print("Unable to verify request signature. Secret not set in caddyfile!")
+		} else {
+			mac := hmac.New(sha1.New, []byte(secret))
+			mac.Write(body)
+			expectedMac := hex.EncodeToString(mac.Sum(nil))
+
+			if signature[5:] != expectedMac {
+				return errors.New("Could not verify request signature. The signature is invalid!")
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (g GithubHook) handlePush(body []byte, repo *git.Repo) error {
+	var push ghPush
+
+	err := json.Unmarshal(body, &push)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// extract the branch being pushed from the ref string
+	// and if it matches with our locally tracked one, pull.
+	refSlice := strings.Split(push.Ref, "/")
+	if len(refSlice) != 3 {
+		return errors.New("The push request contained an invalid reference string.")
+	}
+
+	branch := refSlice[2]
+	if branch == repo.Branch {
+		logger().Print("Received pull notification for the tracking branch, updating...")
+		repo.Pull()
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (g GithubHook) handleRelease(body []byte, repo *git.Repo) error {
+	var release ghRelease
+
+	err := json.Unmarshal(body, &release)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if release.Release.TagName == "" {
+		return errors.New("The release request contained an invalid TagName.")
+	}
+
+	logger().Printf("Received new release '%s'. -> Updating local repository to this release.", release.Release.Name)
+
+	// Update the local branch to the release tag name
+	// this will pull the release tag.
+	repo.Branch = release.Release.TagName
+	repo.Pull()
+
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/middleware/git/webhook/github_hook_test.go b/middleware/git/webhook/github_hook_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b189164e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/middleware/git/webhook/github_hook_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+package webhook
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"github.com/mholt/caddy/middleware/git"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestGithubDeployPush(t *testing.T) {
+	repo := &git.Repo{Branch: "master", HookUrl: "/github_deploy", HookSecret: "supersecret"}
+	ghHook := GithubHook{}
+
+	for i, test := range []struct {
+		body         string
+		event        string
+		responseBody string
+		code         int
+	}{
+		{"", "", "", 400},
+		{"", "push", "", 400},
+		{pushBodyOther, "push", "", 200},
+		{pushBodyPartial, "push", "", 400},
+		{"", "release", "", 400},
+		{"", "ping", "pong", 200},
+	} {
+
+		req, err := http.NewRequest("POST", "/github_deploy", bytes.NewBuffer([]byte(test.body)))
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("Test %v: Could not create HTTP request: %v", i, err)
+		}
+
+		if test.event != "" {
+			req.Header.Add("X-Github-Event", test.event)
+		}
+
+		rec := httptest.NewRecorder()
+
+		code, err := ghHook.Handle(rec, req, repo)
+
+		if code != test.code {
+			t.Errorf("Test %d: Expected response code to be %d but was %d", i, test.code, code)
+		}
+
+		if rec.Body.String() != test.responseBody {
+			t.Errorf("Test %d: Expected response body to be '%v' but was '%v'", i, test.responseBody, rec.Body.String())
+		}
+	}
+
+}
+
+var pushBodyPartial = `
+{
+  "ref": ""
+}
+`
+
+var pushBodyOther = `
+{
+  "ref": "refs/heads/some-other-branch"
+}
+`
diff --git a/middleware/git/webhook/webhook.go b/middleware/git/webhook/webhook.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..59dc2d6c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/middleware/git/webhook/webhook.go
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+package webhook
+
+import (
+	"github.com/mholt/caddy/middleware"
+	"github.com/mholt/caddy/middleware/git"
+	"net/http"
+)
+
+// Middleware for handling web hooks of git providers
+type WebHook struct {
+	Repo *git.Repo
+	Next middleware.Handler
+}
+
+// Interface for specific providers to implement.
+type hookHandler interface {
+	DoesHandle(http.Header) bool
+	Handle(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, repo *git.Repo) (int, error)
+}
+
+// Slice of all registered hookHandlers.
+// Register new hook handlers here!
+var handlers = []hookHandler{
+	GithubHook{},
+}
+
+// ServeHTTP implements the middlware.Handler interface.
+func (h WebHook) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) (int, error) {
+
+	if r.URL.Path == h.Repo.HookUrl {
+
+		for _, handler := range handlers {
+			// if a handler indicates it does handle the request,
+			// we do not try other handlers. Only one handler ever
+			// handles a specific request.
+			if handler.DoesHandle(r.Header) {
+				return handler.Handle(w, r, h.Repo)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	return h.Next.ServeHTTP(w, r)
+}