diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 8456fa5d..396970cd 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 ### Version 1.1.0
 * adds Ribbon integration
+* adds cli example
 * exponential backoff customizable via Retryer.Default ctor
 
 ### Version 1.0.0
diff --git a/examples/feign-example-cli/build.gradle b/examples/feign-example-cli/build.gradle
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..893ddf9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/feign-example-cli/build.gradle
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+apply plugin: 'java'
+
+dependencies {
+  compile  'com.netflix.feign:feign-core:1.0.0'
+  compile  'com.google.code.gson:gson:2.2.4'
+  provided 'com.squareup.dagger:dagger-compiler:1.0.1'
+}
+
+// create a self-contained jar that is executable
+// the output is both a 'fat' project artifact and
+// a convenience file named "build/github"
+task fatJar(dependsOn: classes, type: Jar) { 
+  classifier 'fat'
+
+  doFirst {
+    // Delay evaluation until the compile configuration is ready
+    from {
+      configurations.compile.collect { zipTree(it) }
+    }
+  }
+
+  from (sourceSets*.output.classesDir) {
+  }
+
+  // really executable jar
+  // http://skife.org/java/unix/2011/06/20/really_executable_jars.html
+
+  manifest {
+    attributes 'Main-Class': 'feign.example.cli.GitHubExample'
+  }
+
+  // for convenience, we make a file in the build dir named github with no extension
+  doLast {
+    def srcFile = new File("${buildDir}/libs/${archiveName}")
+    def shortcutFile = new File("${buildDir}/github")
+    shortcutFile.delete()
+    shortcutFile << "#!/usr/bin/env sh\n"
+    shortcutFile << 'exec java -jar $0 "$@"' + "\n"
+    shortcutFile << srcFile.bytes
+    shortcutFile.setExecutable(true, true)
+    srcFile.delete()
+    srcFile << shortcutFile.bytes   
+    srcFile.setExecutable(true, true)
+  }
+}
+
+artifacts {
+    archives fatJar
+}
diff --git a/examples/feign-example-cli/src/main/java/feign/example/cli/GitHubExample.java b/examples/feign-example-cli/src/main/java/feign/example/cli/GitHubExample.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3b7657c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/feign-example-cli/src/main/java/feign/example/cli/GitHubExample.java
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2013 Netflix, Inc.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package feign.example.cli;
+
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
+import com.google.common.reflect.TypeToken;
+import com.google.gson.Gson;
+
+import java.io.Reader;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import javax.inject.Singleton;
+import javax.ws.rs.GET;
+import javax.ws.rs.Path;
+import javax.ws.rs.PathParam;
+
+import dagger.Module;
+import dagger.Provides;
+import feign.Feign;
+import feign.codec.Decoder;
+
+/**
+ * adapted from {@code com.example.retrofit.GitHubClient}
+ */
+public class GitHubExample {
+
+  interface GitHub {
+    @GET @Path("/repos/{owner}/{repo}/contributors")
+    List<Contributor> contributors(@PathParam("owner") String owner, @PathParam("repo") String repo);
+  }
+
+  static class Contributor {
+    String login;
+    int contributions;
+  }
+
+  public static void main(String... args) {
+    GitHub github = Feign.create(GitHub.class, "https://api.github.com", new GsonModule());
+
+    // Fetch and print a list of the contributors to this library.
+    List<Contributor> contributors = github.contributors("netflix", "feign");
+    for (Contributor contributor : contributors) {
+      System.out.println(contributor.login + " (" + contributor.contributions + ")");
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Here's how to wire gson deserialization.
+   */
+  @Module(overrides = true, library = true)
+  static class GsonModule {
+    @Provides @Singleton Map<String, Decoder> decoders() {
+      return ImmutableMap.of("GitHub", jsonDecoder);
+    }
+
+    final Decoder jsonDecoder = new Decoder() {
+      Gson gson = new Gson();
+
+      @Override public Object decode(String methodKey, Reader reader, TypeToken<?> type) {
+        return gson.fromJson(reader, type.getType());
+      }
+    };
+  }
+}
diff --git a/settings.gradle b/settings.gradle
index df86e405..d2dc7844 100644
--- a/settings.gradle
+++ b/settings.gradle
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 rootProject.name='feign'
-include 'feign-core', 'feign-ribbon'
+include 'feign-core', 'feign-ribbon', 'examples:feign-example-cli'