diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 675c4ac9c65d8..2671dee7c45af 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -6,12 +6,13 @@ go:
 go_import_path: k8s.io/kubectl
 
 before_install:
+  - source ./bin/consider-early-travis-exit.sh
   - go get -u github.com/golang/lint/golint
   - go get -u golang.org/x/tools/cmd/goimports
 
 script:
   - ./bin/pre-commit.sh
 
-# TBD, suppressing for now.
+# TBD. Suppressing for now.
 notifications:
   email: false
diff --git a/bin/consider-early-travis-exit.sh b/bin/consider-early-travis-exit.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..2c090857c906a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/consider-early-travis-exit.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+# Exits with status 0 if it can be determined that the
+# current PR should not trigger all travis checks.
+#
+# This could be done with a "git ...|grep -vqE" oneliner
+# but as travis triggering is refined it's useful to check
+# travis logs to see how branch files were considered.
+function consider-early-travis-exit {
+  if [ "$TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST" == "false" ]; then
+    echo "Not a travis pull request."
+    return
+  fi
+  if [ -z "$TRAVIS_BRANCH" ]; then
+    echo "Unknown travis branch."
+    return
+  fi
+  echo "TRAVIS_BRANCH=$TRAVIS_BRANCH"
+  local branchFiles=$(git diff --name-only FETCH_HEAD...$TRAVIS_BRANCH)
+  local invisibles=0
+  local triggers=0
+  echo "Branch Files (X==invisible to travis):"
+  echo "---"
+  for fn in $branchFiles; do
+    if [[ "$fn" =~ (\.md$)|(^docs/) ]]; then
+      echo "  X  $fn"
+      let invisibles+=1
+    else
+      echo "     $fn"
+      let triggers+=1
+    fi
+  done
+  echo "---"
+  printf >&2 "%6d files invisible to travis.\n" $invisibles
+  printf >&2 "%6d files trigger travis.\n" $triggers
+  if [ $triggers -eq 0 ]; then
+    echo "Exiting travis early."
+    # see https://github.com/travis-ci/travis-build/blob/master/lib/travis/build/templates/header.sh
+    travis_terminate 0
+  fi
+}
+consider-early-travis-exit
+unset -f consider-early-travis-exit