diff --git a/.build.yml b/.build.yml
index 8f950a9..4a5ad07 100644
--- a/.build.yml
+++ b/.build.yml
@@ -79,61 +79,15 @@ sources:
   - https://git.sr.ht/~hrbrmstr/sourcehut
 tasks:
   - setup: |
-      echo "en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8" > loc
-      sudo cp loc /etc/locale.gen
-      sudo locale-gen --purge "en_US.UTF-8"
-      sudo /usr/sbin/update-locale LANG=en_US.UTF-8
-      export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
-      export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
-      export LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8
-      echo 'options(repos = c(CRAN = "https://cloud.r-project.org"))' > ~/.Rprofile
-      echo 'R_LIBS_USER=/home/build/packages' > ~/.Renviron
-      mkdir -p ~/packages ~/.R
-      echo "CFLAGS=" > ~/.R/Makevars
-      echo "CPPFLAGS= " >> ~/.R/Makevars
-      echo "CXXFLAGS=" >> ~/.R/Makevars
-      echo "FCFLAGS=" >> ~/.R/Makevars
-      echo "FFLAGS=" >> ~/.R/Makevars
-      echo "GCJFLAGS=" >> ~/.R/Makevars
-      echo "LDFLAGS =" >> ~/.R/Makevars
-      echo "OBJCFLAGS=" >> ~/.R/Makevars
-      echo "OBJCXXFLAGS=" >> ~/.R/Makevars
-      export _R_CHECK_CRAN_INCOMING_=FALSE
-      export _R_CHECK_URLS_USE_CURL_=FALSE
-      export _R_CHECK_LENGTH_1_CONDITION_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_LENGTH_1_LOGIC2_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_TOPLEVEL_FILES_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_VC_DIRS_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_TIMINGS_=10
-      export _R_CHECK_INSTALL_DEPENDS_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_SUGGESTS_ONLY_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_NO_RECOMMENDED_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_EXECUTABLES_EXCLUSIONS_=FALSE
-      export _R_CHECK_DOC_SIZES2_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_CODE_ASSIGN_TO_GLOBALENV_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_CODE_ATTACH_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_CODE_DATA_INTO_GLOBALENV_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_CODE_USAGE_VIA_NAMESPACES_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_DOT_FIRSTLIB_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_DEPRECATED_DEFUNCT_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_REPLACING_IMPORTS_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_SCREEN_DEVICE_=stop
-      export _R_CHECK_TOPLEVEL_FILES_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_S3_METHODS_NOT_REGISTERED_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_OVERWRITE_REGISTERED_S3_METHODS_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_PRAGMAS_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_CRAN_INCOMING_USE_ASPELL_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_COMPILATION_FLAGS_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_R_DEPENDS_=warn
-      export _R_CHECK_SERIALIZATION_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_R_ON_PATH_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_PACKAGES_USED_IN_TESTS_USE_SUBDIRS_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_SHLIB_OPENMP_FLAGS_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_CONNECTIONS_LEFT_OPEN_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_FUTURE_FILE_TIMESTAMPS_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_AUTOCONF_=TRUE
+      wget "https://git.sr.ht/~hrbrmstr/sourcehut/blob/master/inst/helpers/build-helper.sh"
+      chmod 755 build-helper.sh
+      . ./build-helper.sh
+      setup_locale
+      setup_cran_repo
+      setup_compiler
+      setup_java
+
   - build: |
-      sudo R CMD javareconf
-      Rscript -e "devtools::install_deps(pkg = '${R_PACKAGE}', upgrade = 'never', dependencies = TRUE)"
-      R CMD build ${R_PACKAGE}
-      R CMD check --as-cran ${R_PACKAGE}_*gz
+      . ./build-helper.sh
+      install_deps
+      build_and_check
diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 0401a17..f030176 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -15,6 +15,6 @@ Encoding: UTF-8
 License: MIT + file LICENSE
 Suggests: covr, tinytest
 Depends: R (>= 3.2.0)
-Imports: httr, jsonlite, usethis, crayon, desc, rprojroot, glue
+Imports: httr, jsonlite, usethis, crayon, desc, rprojroot, glue, utils
 Roxygen: list(markdown = TRUE)
 RoxygenNote: 6.1.1
diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 3679961..d58dcf2 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 # Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
 
+export(build_pkg)
+export(get_build_manifest)
+export(get_build_status)
 export(git_repos)
 export(git_user)
 export(meta_audit)
@@ -8,6 +11,7 @@ export(meta_profile)
 export(meta_ssh_keys)
 export(sourcehut_pat)
 export(sourcehut_user)
+export(start_build)
 export(use_builds)
 import(crayon)
 import(desc)
@@ -19,3 +23,4 @@ importFrom(crayon,blue)
 importFrom(crayon,make_style)
 importFrom(desc,desc_get)
 importFrom(jsonlite,fromJSON)
+importFrom(utils,browseURL)
diff --git a/R/build-pkg.R b/R/build-pkg.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..229bf09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/R/build-pkg.R
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+#' Submits a build job for a package
+#'
+#' This function assumes you know what you're doing and expects a valid
+#' `.build.yml` in the `package` directory.
+#'
+#' @param package path to package (assumes current directory)
+#' @param note human-friendly description of this build (markdown, optional)
+#' @param tags character vector of strings that identify this build and can be
+#'        used to navigate the dashboard. Each string must use only lowercase
+#'        alphanumeric characters, or any of "-_."
+#' @param read_access,write_access character vector of users that have read or write access to the job.
+#' @param execute start build immediately? (Default: `TRUE`)
+#' @param secrets provide secrets to the build? (Default: `TRUE`)
+#' @param browse open browser to the builder URL? (Default: `FALSE`)
+#' @param username see [sourcehut_user()]
+#' @param pat see [sourcehut_pat()]
+#' @references <https://man.sr.ht/builds.sr.ht/api.md>
+#' @export
+build_pkg <- function(package = ".",
+                      note = "New build",
+                      tags = c("package", "rstats"),
+                      read_access = NULL,
+                      write_access = NULL,
+                      execute = TRUE,
+                      secrets = TRUE,
+                      browse = FALSE,
+                      username = sourcehut_user(),
+                      pat = sourcehut_pat()) {
+
+  stopifnot(is_package(package))
+
+  build_yml <- rprojroot::find_package_root_file(".build.yml", path = package)
+  build_yml <- paste0(readLines(build_yml, warn = FALSE), collapse="\n")
+
+  httr::POST(
+    url = "https://builds.sr.ht/api/jobs",
+    body = list(
+      `manifest` = build_yml,
+      `note` = note,
+      `tags` = tags,
+      `access:read` = read_access,
+      `access:write` = write_access,
+      `execute` = execute,
+      `secrets` = secrets
+    ),
+    encode = "json",
+    sh_authorize(pat),
+    .SOURCEHUT_UA
+  ) -> res
+
+  out <- process_response(res)
+
+  if ("id" %in% names(out)) {
+    if (browse) {
+      browseURL(glue::glue("https://builds.sr.ht/{username}/job/{out[['id']]}"))
+    }
+  }
+
+}
+
+#' @rdname build_pkg
+#' @param job_id `builds.sr.ht` job id
+#' @export
+get_build_status <- function(job_id, pat = sourcehut_pat()) {
+
+  route_url <- glue::glue("https://builds.sr.ht/api/jobs/{job_id}")
+
+  res <- make_get_request(route_url)
+  process_response(res)
+
+}
+
+#' @rdname build_pkg
+#' @export
+get_build_manifest <- function(job_id, pat = sourcehut_pat()) {
+
+  route_url <- glue::glue("https://builds.sr.ht/api/jobs/{job_id}/manifest")
+
+  res <- make_get_request(route_url)
+
+  httr::stop_for_status(res)
+
+  httr::content(res, as = "text", encoding = "UTF-8")
+
+}
+
+#' @rdname build_pkg
+#' @export
+start_build <- function(job_id, pat = sourcehut_pat()) {
+
+  route_url <- glue::glue("https://builds.sr.ht/api/jobs/{job_id}/start")
+
+  httr::POST(
+    url = route_url,
+    encode = "json",
+    sh_authorize(pat),
+    .SOURCEHUT_UA
+  ) -> res
+
+  process_response(res)
+
+}
diff --git a/R/sourcehut-package.R b/R/sourcehut-package.R
index af75be9..23982cd 100644
--- a/R/sourcehut-package.R
+++ b/R/sourcehut-package.R
@@ -10,4 +10,5 @@
 #' @author Bob Rudis (bob@@rud.is)
 #' @import httr usethis crayon desc rprojroot glue
 #' @importFrom jsonlite fromJSON
+#' @importFrom utils browseURL
 "_PACKAGE"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a67eda1..92a0e33 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ wide variety of SourceHut servies.
 
 The following functions are implemented:
 
+  - `build_pkg`: Submits a build job for a package
   - `git_repos`: Retrieve metadata about repositories
   - `git_user`: Retrieve metadata about yourself or another SourceHut
     user
@@ -70,8 +71,8 @@ packageVersion("sourcehut")
 
 | Lang | \# Files |  (%) | LoC |  (%) | Blank lines |  (%) | \# Lines |  (%) |
 | :--- | -------: | ---: | --: | ---: | ----------: | ---: | -------: | ---: |
-| R    |       13 | 0.93 | 155 | 0.95 |          67 | 0.82 |       72 | 0.72 |
-| Rmd  |        1 | 0.07 |   8 | 0.05 |          15 | 0.18 |       28 | 0.28 |
+| R    |       14 | 0.93 | 211 | 0.96 |          88 | 0.85 |       96 | 0.77 |
+| Rmd  |        1 | 0.07 |   8 | 0.04 |          15 | 0.15 |       28 | 0.23 |
 
 ## Code of Conduct
 
diff --git a/inst/helpers/build-helper.sh b/inst/helpers/build-helper.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0457891
--- /dev/null
+++ b/inst/helpers/build-helper.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# -*- sh-basic-offset: 2; sh-indentation: 2 -*-
+# Helpers for running R pkg builds on builds.sr.ht
+#
+# https://git.sr.ht/~hrbrmstr/sourcehut/blob/master/inst/helpers/build-helper.sh
+
+setup_locale() {
+  
+  echo "en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8" > loc
+
+  sudo cp loc /etc/locale.gen
+  sudo locale-gen --purge "en_US.UTF-8"
+  sudo /usr/sbin/update-locale LANG=en_US.UTF-8
+
+  export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
+  export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
+  export LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8
+
+  rm -f loc
+
+}
+
+setup_cran_repo() {
+  
+  mkdir -p ~/packages
+
+  echo 'options(repos = c(CRAN = "https://cloud.r-project.org"))' > ~/.Rprofile
+  echo 'R_LIBS_USER=/home/build/packages' > ~/.Renviron
+
+}
+
+setup_compiler() {
+ 
+  mkdir ~/.R
+  echo "CFLAGS=" > ~/.R/Makevars
+  echo "CPPFLAGS= " >> ~/.R/Makevars
+  echo "CXXFLAGS=" >> ~/.R/Makevars
+  echo "FCFLAGS=" >> ~/.R/Makevars
+  echo "FFLAGS=" >> ~/.R/Makevars
+  echo "GCJFLAGS=" >> ~/.R/Makevars
+  echo "LDFLAGS =" >> ~/.R/Makevars
+  echo "OBJCFLAGS=" >> ~/.R/Makevars
+  echo "OBJCXXFLAGS=" >> ~/.R/Makevars 
+
+}
+
+setup_java() {
+
+  export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
+  export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
+  export LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8
+
+  sudo R CMD javareconf
+
+}
+
+install_deps() {
+
+  export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
+  export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
+  export LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8
+
+  Rscript -e "devtools::install_deps(pkg = '${R_PACKAGE}', upgrade = 'never', dependencies = TRUE)"
+
+}
+
+build_and_check() {
+
+  export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
+  export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
+  export LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8
+
+  export _R_CHECK_CRAN_INCOMING_=FALSE
+  export _R_CHECK_URLS_USE_CURL_=FALSE
+  export _R_CHECK_LENGTH_1_CONDITION_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_LENGTH_1_LOGIC2_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_TOPLEVEL_FILES_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_VC_DIRS_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_TIMINGS_=10
+  export _R_CHECK_INSTALL_DEPENDS_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_SUGGESTS_ONLY_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_NO_RECOMMENDED_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_EXECUTABLES_EXCLUSIONS_=FALSE
+  export _R_CHECK_DOC_SIZES2_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_CODE_ASSIGN_TO_GLOBALENV_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_CODE_ATTACH_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_CODE_DATA_INTO_GLOBALENV_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_CODE_USAGE_VIA_NAMESPACES_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_DOT_FIRSTLIB_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_DEPRECATED_DEFUNCT_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_REPLACING_IMPORTS_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_SCREEN_DEVICE_=stop
+  export _R_CHECK_TOPLEVEL_FILES_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_S3_METHODS_NOT_REGISTERED_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_OVERWRITE_REGISTERED_S3_METHODS_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_PRAGMAS_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_CRAN_INCOMING_USE_ASPELL_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_COMPILATION_FLAGS_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_R_DEPENDS_=warn
+  export _R_CHECK_SERIALIZATION_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_R_ON_PATH_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_PACKAGES_USED_IN_TESTS_USE_SUBDIRS_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_SHLIB_OPENMP_FLAGS_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_CONNECTIONS_LEFT_OPEN_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_FUTURE_FILE_TIMESTAMPS_=TRUE
+  export _R_CHECK_AUTOCONF_=TRUE
+
+  R CMD build ${R_PACKAGE}
+  R CMD check --as-cran ${R_PACKAGE}_*gz
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/inst/templates/build.yml b/inst/templates/build.yml
index 5ef0011..b050361 100644
--- a/inst/templates/build.yml
+++ b/inst/templates/build.yml
@@ -79,61 +79,15 @@ sources:
   - https://git.sr.ht/{{{username}}}/{{{pkg}}}
 tasks:
   - setup: |
-      echo "en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8" > loc
-      sudo cp loc /etc/locale.gen
-      sudo locale-gen --purge "en_US.UTF-8"
-      sudo /usr/sbin/update-locale LANG=en_US.UTF-8
-      export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
-      export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
-      export LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8
-      echo 'options(repos = c(CRAN = "https://cloud.r-project.org"))' > ~/.Rprofile
-      echo 'R_LIBS_USER=/home/build/packages' > ~/.Renviron
-      mkdir -p ~/packages ~/.R
-      echo "CFLAGS=" > ~/.R/Makevars
-      echo "CPPFLAGS= " >> ~/.R/Makevars
-      echo "CXXFLAGS=" >> ~/.R/Makevars
-      echo "FCFLAGS=" >> ~/.R/Makevars
-      echo "FFLAGS=" >> ~/.R/Makevars
-      echo "GCJFLAGS=" >> ~/.R/Makevars
-      echo "LDFLAGS =" >> ~/.R/Makevars
-      echo "OBJCFLAGS=" >> ~/.R/Makevars
-      echo "OBJCXXFLAGS=" >> ~/.R/Makevars
-      export _R_CHECK_CRAN_INCOMING_=FALSE
-      export _R_CHECK_URLS_USE_CURL_=FALSE
-      export _R_CHECK_LENGTH_1_CONDITION_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_LENGTH_1_LOGIC2_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_TOPLEVEL_FILES_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_VC_DIRS_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_TIMINGS_=10
-      export _R_CHECK_INSTALL_DEPENDS_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_SUGGESTS_ONLY_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_NO_RECOMMENDED_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_EXECUTABLES_EXCLUSIONS_=FALSE
-      export _R_CHECK_DOC_SIZES2_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_CODE_ASSIGN_TO_GLOBALENV_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_CODE_ATTACH_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_CODE_DATA_INTO_GLOBALENV_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_CODE_USAGE_VIA_NAMESPACES_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_DOT_FIRSTLIB_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_DEPRECATED_DEFUNCT_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_REPLACING_IMPORTS_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_SCREEN_DEVICE_=stop
-      export _R_CHECK_TOPLEVEL_FILES_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_S3_METHODS_NOT_REGISTERED_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_OVERWRITE_REGISTERED_S3_METHODS_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_PRAGMAS_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_CRAN_INCOMING_USE_ASPELL_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_COMPILATION_FLAGS_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_R_DEPENDS_=warn
-      export _R_CHECK_SERIALIZATION_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_R_ON_PATH_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_PACKAGES_USED_IN_TESTS_USE_SUBDIRS_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_SHLIB_OPENMP_FLAGS_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_CONNECTIONS_LEFT_OPEN_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_FUTURE_FILE_TIMESTAMPS_=TRUE
-      export _R_CHECK_AUTOCONF_=TRUE
+      wget "https://git.sr.ht/~hrbrmstr/sourcehut/blob/master/inst/helpers/build-helper.sh"
+      chmod 755 build-helper.sh
+      . ./build-helper.sh
+      setup_locale
+      setup_cran_repo
+      setup_compiler
+      setup_java
+
   - build: |
-      sudo R CMD javareconf
-      Rscript -e "devtools::install_deps(pkg = '${R_PACKAGE}', upgrade = 'never', dependencies = TRUE)"
-      R CMD build ${R_PACKAGE}
-      R CMD check --as-cran ${R_PACKAGE}_*gz
+      . ./build-helper.sh
+      install_deps
+      build_and_check
diff --git a/man/build_pkg.Rd b/man/build_pkg.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..db5fb5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/build_pkg.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
+% Please edit documentation in R/build-pkg.R
+\name{build_pkg}
+\alias{build_pkg}
+\alias{get_build_status}
+\alias{get_build_manifest}
+\alias{start_build}
+\title{Submits a build job for a package}
+\usage{
+build_pkg(package = ".", note = "New build", tags = c("package",
+  "rstats"), read_access = NULL, write_access = NULL, execute = TRUE,
+  secrets = TRUE, browse = FALSE, username = sourcehut_user(),
+  pat = sourcehut_pat())
+
+get_build_status(job_id, pat = sourcehut_pat())
+
+get_build_manifest(job_id, pat = sourcehut_pat())
+
+start_build(job_id, pat = sourcehut_pat())
+}
+\arguments{
+\item{package}{path to package (assumes current directory)}
+
+\item{note}{human-friendly description of this build (markdown, optional)}
+
+\item{tags}{character vector of strings that identify this build and can be
+used to navigate the dashboard. Each string must use only lowercase
+alphanumeric characters, or any of "-_."}
+
+\item{read_access, write_access}{character vector of users that have read or write access to the job.}
+
+\item{execute}{start build immediately? (Default: \code{TRUE})}
+
+\item{secrets}{provide secrets to the build? (Default: \code{TRUE})}
+
+\item{browse}{open browser to the builder URL? (Default: \code{FALSE})}
+
+\item{username}{see \code{\link[=sourcehut_user]{sourcehut_user()}}}
+
+\item{pat}{see \code{\link[=sourcehut_pat]{sourcehut_pat()}}}
+
+\item{job_id}{\code{builds.sr.ht} job id}
+}
+\description{
+This function assumes you know what you're doing and expects a valid
+\code{.build.yml} in the \code{package} directory.
+}
+\references{
+\url{https://man.sr.ht/builds.sr.ht/api.md}
+}