diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 16ecd65e1..0a7848506 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -55,3 +55,13 @@ coverage/
 shell/bin/linux
 shell/bin/darwin
 shell/bin/win32
+
+shell/scripts/bin
+shell/scripts/build
+
+dist/darwin
+dist/linux
+dist/windows
+dist/*.dmg
+dist/*.tar.gz
+dist/*.exe
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1ec1f5809..b7ddb314a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -88,6 +88,19 @@ Once this script has completed, you can launch the shell-based Copay by running:
 npm run shell
 ```
 
+## Building Native Shell Binaries/Installers (OSX)
+
+```
+npm run dist
+```
+
+This script will download atom shell binaries and combine them with Copay sources
+to build a DMG for osx-x64, an installer EXE for win32, and a .tar.gz for linux-x64.
+It was developed to be run on OSX.  The outputs are copied to the dist directory.
+
+DMG is created with hdiutil
+EXE is created with makensis (brew install makensis)
+
 ## Tests
 
 Open test/index.html in your browser to test the models. Install and run karma
diff --git a/dist/README.md b/dist/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1d883f95d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dist/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+This is the destination directory for the built atom-shell binaries and the files used to create them
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/shell/README.md b/shell/README.md
index 970f9882d..36c1408e4 100644
--- a/shell/README.md
+++ b/shell/README.md
@@ -8,4 +8,5 @@ using [Atom Shell](https://github.com/atom/atom-shell).
 
 ## Building
 
-Automated build scripts are currently being developed.
+Run from the top level (copay) directory:
+npm run dist
diff --git a/shell/scripts/dist.js b/shell/scripts/dist.js
index 09cd68c30..1555dbe70 100644
--- a/shell/scripts/dist.js
+++ b/shell/scripts/dist.js
@@ -15,9 +15,17 @@ var darwin_app_dir = '/Copay.app/Contents/Resources/app';
 var linux_app_dir = '/resources/app';
 var windows_app_dir = '/resources/app';
 
-rm('-rf', build_dir);
-rm('-rf', dist_dir);
+console.log(color.blue('{copay}'), '');
+console.log(color.blue('{copay}'), 'Preparing to build Copay binaries');
+console.log(color.blue('{copay}'), '');
 
+/* Clean up before the build */
+rm('-rf', build_dir);
+rm(dist_dir + '/Copay*');
+rm('-rf', dist_dir + '/darwin', dist_dir + '/linux', dist_dir + '/windows');
+
+// Download the atom shell binaries.  If you exceed your download quota,
+// just download the zips manually and unpack them into shell/scripts/bin/<platform>
 async.series([
   function(callback) {
     download.atom(atom_version, 'darwin', 'x64', callback);
@@ -65,6 +73,7 @@ function runBuild() {
   cp(app_root + '*.json', build_dir + darwin_app_dir);
   cp(app_root + '*.html', build_dir + darwin_app_dir);
 
+  // Copay needs express, put other node deps here if you need any
   cp('-r', app_root + '/node_modules/express', build_dir + darwin_app_dir + "/node_modules");
 
   // Clean up extra Atom sources
@@ -146,9 +155,13 @@ function runBuild() {
 
   cp(app_root + "/shell/assets/win32/*", build_dir);
 
+  rm('-r', build_dir + windows_app_dir + '/../default_app');
+
   mkdir('-p', app_root + '/dist/windows');
   cp('-r', app_root + build_dir + '/*', app_root + '/dist/windows/');
 
+  rm('-rf', app_root + build_dir + '/*');
+
   console.log(color.blue('{copay}'), 'Copied files to ' + 'dist/windows');
 
 
@@ -156,10 +169,10 @@ function runBuild() {
   // install on OSX with "brew install makensis"
   if (which('makensis') != null) {
     console.log(color.blue('{copay}'), 'Running NSIS to generate win32 installer');
-    cd(build_dir);
+    cd('dist/windows');
     exec('makensis -V2 build-installer.nsi');
-    cd("../../..");
-    cp(build_dir + '/copay-setup.exe', app_root + '/dist/Copay-setup-win32.exe')
+    cd("../../");
+    cp('dist/windows/copay-setup.exe', app_root + '/dist/Copay-setup-win32.exe')
   }
 
   console.log(color.blue('{copay}'));
diff --git a/shell/scripts/lib/download.js b/shell/scripts/lib/download.js
index 1bb4f0c9a..d13f692a6 100644
--- a/shell/scripts/lib/download.js
+++ b/shell/scripts/lib/download.js
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ var Static = function() {
       } else {
         console.log(color.blue('{copay}'), platform + '-' + arch + ' ' + ' already downloaded');
         callback.call(this, null);
+        return;
       }
       
       
@@ -36,6 +37,7 @@ var Static = function() {
         var filename = 'atom-shell-' + version + '-' + platform + '-' + arch + '.zip';
 
         if (err || !releases.length) {
+          console.log(err);
           return console.log(color.blue('{copay}'), 'Release not found');
         }