diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 3c64ffabe0be..8b87e4d85825 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 *~
 .autogenerated
 .coverage
+.mypy_cache
 .nova-venv
 .project
 .pydevproject
diff --git a/lower-constraints.txt b/lower-constraints.txt
index 45fb9b9d5cf0..d1134653b1d7 100644
--- a/lower-constraints.txt
+++ b/lower-constraints.txt
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ monotonic==1.4
 msgpack==0.5.6
 msgpack-python==0.5.6
 munch==2.2.0
+mypy==0.761
 netaddr==0.7.18
 netifaces==0.10.4
 networkx==1.11
diff --git a/mypy-files.txt b/mypy-files.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4ee414816ed4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mypy-files.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+nova/virt/libvirt/__init__.py
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index c89f1999a490..6356fc74c26c 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -84,3 +84,12 @@ console_scripts =
 wsgi_scripts =
     nova-api-wsgi = nova.api.openstack.compute.wsgi:init_application
     nova-metadata-wsgi = nova.api.metadata.wsgi:init_application
+
+[mypy]
+show_column_numbers = true
+show_error_context = true
+ignore_missing_imports = true
+follow_imports = skip
+incremental = true
+check_untyped_defs = true
+warn_unused_ignores = true
diff --git a/test-requirements.txt b/test-requirements.txt
index 25ac29b7ef00..d42fb05f18b7 100644
--- a/test-requirements.txt
+++ b/test-requirements.txt
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 # process, which may cause wedges in the gate later.
 
 hacking>=3.0.1,<3.1.0 # Apache-2.0
+mypy>=0.761 # MIT
 coverage!=4.4,>=4.0 # Apache-2.0
 ddt>=1.0.1 # MIT
 fixtures>=3.0.0 # Apache-2.0/BSD
diff --git a/tools/mypywrap.sh b/tools/mypywrap.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..dd5868d6e248
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/mypywrap.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# A wrapper around mypy that allows us to specify what files to run 'mypy' type
+# checks on. Intended to be invoked via tox:
+#
+#   tox -e mypy
+#
+# Eventually this should go away once we have either converted everything or
+# converted enough and ignored [1] the rest.
+#
+# [1] http://mypy.readthedocs.io/en/latest/config_file.html#per-module-flags
+
+ROOT_DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )"
+
+if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
+    # if no arguments provided, use the standard converted lists
+    lines=$(grep -v '#' $ROOT_DIR/../mypy-files.txt)
+    python -m mypy ${lines[@]}
+else
+    # else test what the user asked us to
+    python -m mypy $@
+fi
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 214a8c75f52f..5402c7edabe8 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -38,11 +38,19 @@ commands =
   env TEST_OSPROFILER=1 stestr run --combine --no-discover 'nova.tests.unit.test_profiler'
   stestr slowest
 
+[testenv:mypy]
+description =
+  Run type checks.
+envdir = {toxworkdir}/shared
+commands =
+  bash tools/mypywrap.sh {posargs}
+
 [testenv:pep8]
 description =
   Run style checks.
 envdir = {toxworkdir}/shared
 commands =
+  {[testenv:mypy]commands}
   bash tools/flake8wrap.sh {posargs}
   # Check that all JSON files don't have \r\n in line.
   bash -c "! find doc/ -type f -name *.json | xargs grep -U -n $'\r'"