diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3aaea92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+root_dir := $(shell dirname $(realpath $(firstword $(MAKEFILE_LIST))))
+neovim_patch_file := $(root_dir)/patch/kickstart.nvim/updates.patch
+neovim_config_dir := $(XDG_CONFIG_HOME)/nvim
+
+.DEFAULT_GOAL = help
+
+.PHONY: apply_patch_init_lua
+apply_patch_init_lua: ## apply the patch file in kickstart's init.lua file
+	@cd $(neovim_config_dir) && git apply $(neovim_patch_file)
+
+.PHONY: patch_init_lua
+patch_init_lua: ## create a patch file with the changes made in kickstart's init.lua file
+	@cd $(neovim_config_dir) && git diff --patch init.lua > $(neovim_patch_file)
+
+.PHONY: patch_init_lua_dry_run
+patch_init_lua_dry_run: ## show the changes made in kickstart's init.lua file
+	@cd $(neovim_config_dir) && git --patch init.lua
+
+.PHONY: help
+help: ## show help message
+	@grep -E '^[a-zA-Z_-]+:.*?## .*$$' $(MAKEFILE_LIST) | sort | awk 'BEGIN {FS = ":.*?## "}; {printf "\033[36m%-30s\033[0m %s\n", $$1, $$2}'