diff --git a/lib/hub/commands.rb b/lib/hub/commands.rb
index 52a4ec04ff50a57776b85dfd1389b2c99353d877..3eacedc017fac7c98920df8df6a5f51053ecffad 100644
--- a/lib/hub/commands.rb
+++ b/lib/hub/commands.rb
@@ -133,6 +133,15 @@ module Hub
     end
     alias_method "--version", :version
 
+    # $ hub install standalone ~/bin
+    def install(args)
+      command, subcommand, target = args
+      if subcommand.to_s == 'standalone'
+        Standalone.save('hub', target.empty? ? '.' : target)
+        exit
+      end
+    end
+
     # $ hub help
     # (print improved help text)
     def help(args)
diff --git a/lib/hub/standalone.rb b/lib/hub/standalone.rb
index 118b48164efe4e69bf6e0fd96cdaa32984aae173..e6ae2cf5e7c06a918b509c908231a07f6e01d69e 100644
--- a/lib/hub/standalone.rb
+++ b/lib/hub/standalone.rb
@@ -18,6 +18,15 @@ premable
 
     POSTAMBLE = "Hub::Runner.execute(*ARGV)"
 
+    def save(filename, path)
+      target = File.join(File.expand_path(path), filename)
+      File.open(target, 'w') do |f|
+        f.puts build
+      end
+    rescue Errno::EACCES, Errno::ENOENT
+      puts "** can't write to #{target}"
+    end
+
     def build
       root = File.dirname(__FILE__)
 
diff --git a/test/standalone_test.rb b/test/standalone_test.rb
index e46c81cf9c978a05f8a6c4ad5b6bdcdc9f3e32bd..7e7f509177249433d5171573d81b8e3a57950fa3 100644
--- a/test/standalone_test.rb
+++ b/test/standalone_test.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,22 @@
 $LOAD_PATH.unshift File.dirname(__FILE__)
 require 'helper'
+require 'fileutils'
 
 class StandaloneTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
+  include FileUtils
+
+  def setup
+    rm "hub" if File.exists? 'hub'
+    rm_rf "/tmp/_hub_private" if File.exists? '/tmp/_hub_private'
+    mkdir "/tmp/_hub_private"
+    chmod 0400, "/tmp/_hub_private"
+  end
+
+  def teardown
+    rm "hub" if File.exists? 'hub'
+    rm_rf "/tmp/_hub_private" if File.exists? "/tmp/_hub_private"
+  end
+
   def test_standalone
     standalone = Hub::Standalone.build
     assert_includes "This file, hub, is generated code", standalone
@@ -11,4 +26,19 @@ class StandaloneTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
     assert_includes ".execute(*ARGV)", standalone
     assert_not_includes "module Standalone", standalone
   end
+
+  def test_standalone_save
+    hub("install standalone .")
+    assert_equal Hub::Standalone.build + "\n", File.read('./hub')
+  end
+
+  def test_standalone_save_permission_denied
+    out = hub("install standalone /tmp/_hub_private")
+    assert_equal "** can't write to /tmp/_hub_private/hub\n", out
+  end
+
+  def test_standalone_save_doesnt_exist
+    out = hub("install standalone /tmp/something/not/real")
+    assert_equal "** can't write to /tmp/something/not/real/hub\n", out
+  end
 end