diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 308737dcb..e80d68faa 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-DOCKER_REGISTRY :=
-IMAGE_PREFIX    ?= helm
+DOCKER_REGISTRY ?= gcr.io
+IMAGE_PREFIX    ?= deis-sandbox
 SHORT_NAME      ?= tiller
 
 # go option
diff --git a/cmd/helm/init.go b/cmd/helm/init.go
index 5679de8e2..062f6d6b4 100644
--- a/cmd/helm/init.go
+++ b/cmd/helm/init.go
@@ -1,22 +1,57 @@
 package main
 
 import (
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 
+	"github.com/deis/tiller/pkg/client"
+	"github.com/deis/tiller/pkg/kubectl"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 )
 
+const longDesc = `
+This command installs Tiller (the helm server side component) onto your
+Kubernetes Cluster and sets up local configuration in $HELM_HOME (default: ~/.helm/)
+`
+
+var tillerImg string
+
 func init() {
+	initCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&tillerImg, "tiller-image", "i", "", "override tiller image")
 	RootCommand.AddCommand(initCmd)
 }
 
 var initCmd = &cobra.Command{
 	Use:   "init",
 	Short: "Initialize Helm on both client and server.",
-	Long:  `Add long help here`,
-	Run:   runInit,
+	Long:  longDesc,
+	RunE:  RunInit,
+}
+
+// RunInit initializes local config and installs tiller to Kubernetes Cluster
+func RunInit(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
+	if len(args) != 0 {
+		return errors.New("This command does not accept arguments. \n")
+	}
+
+	// TODO: take value of global flag kubectl and pass that in
+	runner := buildKubectlRunner("")
+
+	i := client.NewInstaller()
+	i.Tiller["Image"] = tillerImg
+
+	out, err := i.Install(runner)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("error installing %s %s", string(out), err)
+	}
+
+	fmt.Printf("Tiller (the helm server side component) has been installed into your Kubernetes Cluster.\n")
+	return nil
 }
 
-func runInit(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
-	fmt.Fprintln(stdout, "Init was called.")
+func buildKubectlRunner(kubectlPath string) kubectl.Runner {
+	if kubectlPath != "" {
+		kubectl.Path = kubectlPath
+	}
+	return &kubectl.RealRunner{}
 }
diff --git a/cmd/helm/init_test.go b/cmd/helm/init_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..59a45c6ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/helm/init_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestInit(t *testing.T) {
+	//TODO: call command and make sure no error is returned
+	//TODO: check local config
+}
diff --git a/pkg/client/install.go b/pkg/client/install.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1861727e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/client/install.go
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+package client
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"text/template"
+
+	"github.com/Masterminds/sprig"
+	"github.com/deis/tiller/pkg/kubectl"
+)
+
+// Installer installs tiller into Kubernetes
+//
+// See InstallYAML.
+type Installer struct {
+
+	// Metadata holds any global metadata attributes for the resources
+	Metadata map[string]interface{}
+
+	// Tiller specific metadata
+	Tiller map[string]interface{}
+}
+
+// New Installer creates a new Installer
+func NewInstaller() *Installer {
+	return &Installer{
+		Metadata: map[string]interface{}{},
+		Tiller:   map[string]interface{}{},
+	}
+}
+
+// Install uses kubectl to install tiller
+//
+// Returns the string output received from the operation, and an error if the
+// command failed.
+func (i *Installer) Install(runner kubectl.Runner) (string, error) {
+	b, err := i.expand()
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+
+	o, err := runner.Create(b)
+	return string(o), err
+}
+
+func (i *Installer) expand() ([]byte, error) {
+	var b bytes.Buffer
+	t := template.Must(template.New("manifest").Funcs(sprig.TxtFuncMap()).Parse(InstallYAML))
+	err := t.Execute(&b, i)
+	return b.Bytes(), err
+}
+
+// InstallYAML is the installation YAML for DM.
+const InstallYAML = `
+---
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Namespace
+metadata:
+  labels:
+    app: helm
+    name: helm-namespace
+  name: helm
+---
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: ReplicationController
+metadata:
+  labels:
+    app: helm
+    name: tiller
+  name: tiller-rc
+  namespace: helm
+spec:
+  replicas: 1
+  selector:
+    app: helm
+    name: tiller
+  template:
+    metadata:
+      labels:
+        app: helm
+        name: tiller
+    spec:
+      containers:
+      - env: []
+        image: {{default "gcr.io/deis-sandbox/tiller:canary" .Tiller.Image}}
+        name: tiller
+        ports:
+        - containerPort: 8080
+          name: tiller
+        imagePullPolicy: Always
+---
+`
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/command.go b/pkg/kubectl/command.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b36e0ad33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/command.go
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+package kubectl
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"os/exec"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+type cmd struct {
+	*exec.Cmd
+}
+
+func command(args ...string) *cmd {
+	return &cmd{exec.Command(Path, args...)}
+}
+
+func assignStdin(cmd *cmd, in []byte) {
+	cmd.Stdin = bytes.NewBuffer(in)
+}
+
+func (c *cmd) String() string {
+	var stdin string
+
+	if c.Stdin != nil {
+		b, _ := ioutil.ReadAll(c.Stdin)
+		stdin = fmt.Sprintf("< %s", string(b))
+	}
+
+	return fmt.Sprintf("[CMD] %s %s", strings.Join(c.Args, " "), stdin)
+}
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/create.go b/pkg/kubectl/create.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..af9297aa9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/create.go
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+package kubectl
+
+// Create uploads a chart to Kubernetes
+func (r RealRunner) Create(stdin []byte) ([]byte, error) {
+	args := []string{"create", "-f", "-"}
+
+	cmd := command(args...)
+	assignStdin(cmd, stdin)
+
+	return cmd.CombinedOutput()
+}
+
+// Create returns the commands to kubectl
+func (r PrintRunner) Create(stdin []byte) ([]byte, error) {
+	args := []string{"create", "-f", "-"}
+
+	cmd := command(args...)
+	assignStdin(cmd, stdin)
+
+	return []byte(cmd.String()), nil
+}
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/create_test.go b/pkg/kubectl/create_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bca94f6e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/create_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+package kubectl
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestPrintCreate(t *testing.T) {
+	var client Runner = PrintRunner{}
+
+	expected := `[CMD] kubectl create -f - < some stdin data`
+
+	out, err := client.Create([]byte("some stdin data"))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Error(err)
+	}
+
+	actual := string(out)
+
+	if expected != actual {
+		t.Fatalf("actual %s != expected %s", actual, expected)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/kubectl.go b/pkg/kubectl/kubectl.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e527b71fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/kubectl.go
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+package kubectl
+
+// Path is the path of the kubectl binary
+var Path = "kubectl"
+
+// Runner is an interface to wrap kubectl convenience methods
+type Runner interface {
+	// Create uploads a chart to Kubernetes
+	Create(stdin []byte) ([]byte, error)
+}
+
+// RealRunner implements Runner to execute kubectl commands
+type RealRunner struct{}
+
+// PrintRunner implements Runner to return a []byte of the command to be executed
+type PrintRunner struct{}
+
+// Client stores the instance of Runner
+var Client Runner = RealRunner{}
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/kubectl_test.go b/pkg/kubectl/kubectl_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c3348bba5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/kubectl_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+package kubectl
+
+type TestRunner struct {
+	Runner
+
+	out []byte
+	err error
+}
+
+func (r TestRunner) Create(stdin []byte, ns string) ([]byte, error) {
+	return r.out, r.err
+}
diff --git a/versioning.mk b/versioning.mk
index 2faa2ec6f..8d96c8629 100644
--- a/versioning.mk
+++ b/versioning.mk
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 MUTABLE_VERSION ?= canary
 VERSION ?= git-$(shell git rev-parse --short HEAD)
 
-IMAGE := ${DOCKER_REGISTRY}${IMAGE_PREFIX}/${SHORT_NAME}:${VERSION}
-MUTABLE_IMAGE := ${DOCKER_REGISTRY}${IMAGE_PREFIX}/${SHORT_NAME}:${MUTABLE_VERSION}
+IMAGE := ${DOCKER_REGISTRY}/${IMAGE_PREFIX}/${SHORT_NAME}:${VERSION}
+MUTABLE_IMAGE := ${DOCKER_REGISTRY}/${IMAGE_PREFIX}/${SHORT_NAME}:${MUTABLE_VERSION}
 
 info:
 	@echo "Build tag:       ${VERSION}"