diff --git a/tools/check_format.sh b/tools/check_format.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..e614db66
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/check_format.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+STATUSOLD=`git status --porcelain`
+./tools/format.py -j
+if [ $? -ne 0 ]
+then
+   echo "Formatter failed. Exiting."
+   exit -1
+fi
+STATUSNEW=`git status --porcelain`
+
+if [ "${STATUSOLD}" != "${STATUSNEW}" ];
+then
+    echo ""
+    echo "Misformatted files found. Run ./tools/format.py and verify codegen is not impacted."
+    echo ""
+    diff --unified=0  --label "Old git status" <(echo "${STATUSOLD}") --label "New git status" <(echo "${STATUSNEW}")
+    echo ""
+    echo "Exiting."
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+exit 0