diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 9dd069c7..8483fa3b 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ install:
   - conda update conda
 
   # Install dependencies
-  - conda create -n test-streamz python=$TRAVIS_PYTHON_VERSION pytest tornado toolz flake8 coverage codecov networkx graphviz python-graphviz dask distributed pandas bokeh ipython ipykernel ipywidgets python-confluent-kafka -c conda-forge -c bokeh
+  - conda env create --name test-streamz --file ./conda/environments/streamz_dev.yml
   - source activate test-streamz
   - pip install git+https://github.com/dask/distributed.git --upgrade --no-deps
 
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8b362216
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+# Contributing to Streamz
+
+## Streamz Conda Environment
+For the convenience of the community streamz offers an environment file for contributors to create conda environments. A few basic quick start commands for creating a using a streamz conda environment are found below.
+
+### Creating Conda Development Environment
+Creating the streamz conda environment can be achieved by simply running ```conda env create -f ./conda/environments/streamz_dev.yml```
+
+### Using Conda Environment
+The streamz conda environment can be activated by running ```conda activate streamz_dev```
diff --git a/conda/environments/streamz_dev.yml b/conda/environments/streamz_dev.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3e52acaf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/conda/environments/streamz_dev.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+name: streamz_dev
+channels:
+  - conda-forge
+  - bokeh
+  - defaults
+dependencies:
+  - python>=3.7
+  - pytest
+  - flake8
+  - black
+  - isort
+  - tornado
+  - toolz
+  - zict
+  - six
+  - librdkafka=1.2.2
+  - dask
+  - distributed
+  - pandas
+  - python-confluent-kafka=1.1.0
+  - numpydoc
+  - sphinx
+  - sphinx_rtd_theme
+  - codecov
+  - coverage
+  - networkx
+  - graphviz
+  - python-graphviz
+  - bokeh
+  - ipython
+  - ipykernel
+  - ipywidgets