diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..4f747fe962d1b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+version: 2
+workflows:
+  version: 2
+  linux-builds:
+    jobs:
+      - build-i686
+#      - build-x86_64
+
+jobs:
+  build-i686:
+    docker:
+      - image: circleci/python:2.7
+        environment:
+          JULIA_CPU_CORES: 6
+          JULIA_TEST_MAXRSS_MB: 800
+          ARCH: i686
+    steps: &steps
+      - run: | # install build dependencies
+          sudo apt-get install -y g++-4.8-multilib gfortran-4.8-multilib \
+            time ccache bar &&
+          for prog in gcc g++ gfortran; do
+            sudo ln -s /usr/bin/$prog-4.8 /usr/local/bin/$prog;
+          done
+      - checkout # circle ci code checkout step
+# (FIXME: need to unset url."ssh://git@github.com".insteadOf or libgit2 tests fail)
+      - run: | # checkout merge commit, set versioning info and Make.user variables
+          git config --global --unset url."ssh://git@github.com".insteadOf &&
+          if [ -n "$CIRCLE_PR_NUMBER" ]; then
+            git fetch origin +refs/pull/$CIRCLE_PR_NUMBER/merge &&
+            git checkout -qf FETCH_HEAD;
+          fi &&
+          make -C base version_git.jl.phony &&
+          echo "override ARCH = $ARCH" | tee -a Make.user &&
+          for var in FORCE_ASSERTIONS LLVM_ASSERTIONS USECCACHE NO_GIT; do
+            echo "override $var = 1" | tee -a Make.user;
+          done &&
+          echo "$ARCH $HOME $(date +%Y%W)" | tee /tmp/weeknumber
+      - restore_cache: # silly to take a checksum of the tag file here instead of
+          keys: # its contents but this is the only thing that works on circle
+            - ccache-{{ checksum "/tmp/weeknumber" }}
+      - run: | # compile julia deps
+          contrib/download_cmake.sh &&
+          make -j8 -C deps || make
+      - run: | # build julia, output ccache stats when done
+          make -j8 all &&
+          make prefix=/tmp/julia install &&
+          ccache -s &&
+          make build-stats
+      - run: | # move source tree out of the way, run tests from install tree
+          cd .. &&
+          mv project julia-src &&
+          /tmp/julia/bin/julia -e 'versioninfo()' &&
+          /tmp/julia/bin/julia --precompiled=no -e 'true' &&
+          /tmp/julia/bin/julia-debug --precompiled=no -e 'true' &&
+          pushd /tmp/julia/share/julia/test &&
+          /tmp/julia/bin/julia --check-bounds=yes runtests.jl all --skip socket | bar -i 30 &&
+          /tmp/julia/bin/julia --check-bounds=yes runtests.jl libgit2-online download pkg &&
+          popd &&
+          mkdir /tmp/embedding-test &&
+          make check -C /tmp/julia/share/doc/julia/examples/embedding \
+            JULIA=/tmp/julia/bin/julia BIN=/tmp/embedding-test \
+            "$(cd julia-src && make print-CC)" &&
+          mv julia-src project
+#      - run: cd project && make -C doc deploy
+#       - run:
+#           command: sudo dmesg
+#           when: on_fail
+      - save_cache:
+          key: ccache-{{ checksum "/tmp/weeknumber" }}
+          paths:
+            - ~/.ccache
+
+#  build-x86_64:
+#    docker:
+#      - image: circleci/python:2.7
+#        environment:
+#          JULIA_CPU_CORES: 6
+#          JULIA_TEST_MAXRSS_MB: 800
+#          ARCH: x86_64
+#    steps: *steps
diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 9b326e8bf7e14..779b3cf2d1893 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -3,21 +3,21 @@ sudo: false
 dist: trusty
 matrix:
   include:
-    - os: linux
-      env: ARCH="i686"
-      compiler: "g++ -m32"
-      addons:
-        apt:
-          packages:
-            - libssl1.0.0
-            - bar
-            - time
-            - gcc-multilib
-            - g++-multilib
-            - make:i386
-            - libssl-dev:i386
-            - gfortran
-            - gfortran-multilib
+#    - os: linux
+#      env: ARCH="i686"
+#      compiler: "g++ -m32"
+#      addons:
+#        apt:
+#          packages:
+#            - libssl1.0.0
+#            - bar
+#            - time
+#            - gcc-multilib
+#            - g++-multilib
+#            - make:i386
+#            - libssl-dev:i386
+#            - gfortran
+#            - gfortran-multilib
     - os: linux
       env: ARCH="x86_64"
       compiler: "g++ -m64"