diff --git a/scripts/HelloWorld.cs b/scripts/HelloWorld.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..49fe647088
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/HelloWorld.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+using System;
+
+internal class Program
+{
+    private static void Main()
+    {
+        Console.WriteLine("Hello World!");
+    }
+}
diff --git a/scripts/Makefile b/scripts/Makefile
index b335eb677b..a8bff344ad 100644
--- a/scripts/Makefile
+++ b/scripts/Makefile
@@ -130,10 +130,10 @@ dotnetlibs/api-ms-win-core-registry-l1-1-0.dll: ../src/win-dll/lib-api-ms-win-co
 nuget.exe:
 	wget 'https://dist.nuget.org/win-x86-commandline/latest/nuget.exe'
 
-buildtemp:
-	mkdir -p buildtemp
+buildtemp dotnetlibs:
+	mkdir -p $@
 
-prepare: nuget.exe buildtemp
+prepare: nuget.exe buildtemp dotnetlibs
 	mono nuget.exe restore -PackagesDirectory buildtemp
 
 # this is the execution environment from which all managed code is run
@@ -152,7 +152,6 @@ APP_BASE=exec_env/app_base
 internal-prepare-exec_env: runps.sh $(POWERSHELL_RUN_TARGETS)
 	rm -rf exec_env
 	mkdir -p $(APP_BASE)/Modules
-	mkdir -p exec_env/coreclr
 	cp ../src/monad/monad/miscfiles/display/*.ps1xml $(APP_BASE)
 	cp ../src/monad/monad/miscfiles/types/CoreClr/*.ps1xml $(APP_BASE)
 	cp -r ../src/monad/monad/miscfiles/modules/* $(APP_BASE)/Modules
@@ -164,15 +163,18 @@ internal-prepare-exec_env: runps.sh $(POWERSHELL_RUN_TARGETS)
 	cp runps*.sh $(APP_BASE)
 
 internal-prepare-clr:
+	mkdir -p exec_env/coreclr
 	cp -r $(CORECLR_ASSEMBLY_BASE)/* exec_env/coreclr/
 
 run: $(RUN_TARGETS) internal-prepare-exec_env internal-prepare-clr
 	# execute a cmdlet, this will auto-load the utility module and print a, b and c in 3 lines
 	$(APP_BASE)/runps-simple.sh '"a","b","c","a","a" | Select-Object -Unique'
 
-run-interactive: $(RUN_TARGETS) internal-prepare-exec_env internal-prepare-clr
+shell: $(RUN_TARGETS) internal-prepare-exec_env internal-prepare-clr
 	$(APP_BASE)/runps.sh
 
+run-interactive: shell
+
 run-file: $(RUN_TARGETS) internal-prepare-exec_env internal-prepare-clr
 	$(APP_BASE)/runps.sh --file $(PSSCRIPT)
 
@@ -180,6 +182,11 @@ run-file: $(RUN_TARGETS) internal-prepare-exec_env internal-prepare-clr
 %.ps1: $(RUN_TARGETS) internal-prepare-exec_env internal-prepare-clr
 	TEMP=/tmp $(APP_BASE)/runps.sh --file ../../$@
 
+# compiles "Hello World" like executables using .NET Core
+%.exe: %.cs prepare internal-prepare-clr
+	$(CSC) -out:$@ $(CSCOPTS_BASE) -target:exe $(COREREF) $<
+	@echo run with monad-tty ./exec_env/coreclr/corerun ./$@
+
 run-debugclr: $(RUN_TARGETS) internal-prepare-exec_env internal-prepare-clr
 	PAL_DBG_CHANNELS="+LOADER.TRACE" $(APP_BASE)/runps-simple.sh get-location
 
diff --git a/scripts/build-run.sh b/scripts/build-run.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 6cc6199b3e..0000000000
--- a/scripts/build-run.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,28 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-
-CUID=$(id -u)
-CUSER=$(id -un)
-CGID=$(id -g)
-CGROUP=$(id -gn)
-DIR=/opt/monad-linux
-VOLUME=$(dirname $(pwd))/:$DIR
-
-# creates new user in container matching the local user so that
-# artifacts will be owned by the local user; set IMPERSONATE to false
-# to disable and run as root, defaults to true
-if [[ ! $IMPERSONATE ]]; then IMPERSONATE=true; fi
-impersonate()
-{
-    if ! $IMPERSONATE; then return; fi
-    echo \
-	groupadd -g $CGID $CGROUP '&&' \
-	useradd -u $CUID -g $CGID -d $DIR $CUSER '&&' \
-	sudo --set-home -u $CUSER -g $CGROUP
-}
-
-docker run --rm \
-       --volume $VOLUME \
-       --workdir $DIR/scripts \
-       $DOCKERFLAGS \
-       andschwa/magrathea:latest \
-       bash -c "$(impersonate) $*"
diff --git a/scripts/build-tty.sh b/scripts/build-tty.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 311b786527..0000000000
--- a/scripts/build-tty.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-
-# Runs with a pseudo tty so that interactive shells can be opened
-export DOCKERFLAGS="--interactive --tty"
-./build-run.sh "$*"
diff --git a/scripts/build.sh b/scripts/build.sh
index 16175a2647..ede2218072 100755
--- a/scripts/build.sh
+++ b/scripts/build.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
-# Runs by non-interactively, just attaches output
-export DOCKERFLAGS="--attach STDOUT --attach STDERR"
-./build-run.sh "$*"
+source monad-docker.sh
+monad-run $*
diff --git a/scripts/get-current-ref.sh b/scripts/get-current-ref.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 3921a21e45..0000000000
--- a/scripts/get-current-ref.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-branch=$(git for-each-ref --format=$'%(objectname) %(refname:short)' refs/heads | awk "/^$(git rev-parse HEAD)/ {print \$2}")
-echo $branch
-
diff --git a/scripts/monad-docker.sh b/scripts/monad-docker.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..a38bd41af1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/monad-docker.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+# docker run magrathea without tty
+monad-run()
+{
+    monad-docker-run "--attach STDOUT --attach STDERR" $*
+}
+
+# docker run magrathea with interactive tty
+monad-tty()
+{
+    monad-docker-run "--interactive --tty" $*
+}
+
+# runs ephemeral andschwa/magrathea docker container with local
+# directory mounted to /opt and workdir set to /opt/scripts
+monad-docker-run()
+{
+    local CONSOLE=$1
+    shift 1
+    docker run --rm \
+	   --volume $(dirname $(pwd))/:/opt \
+	   --workdir /opt/scripts \
+	   $CONSOLE \
+	   andschwa/magrathea:latest \
+	   bash -c "$(monad-impersonate) -- bash -c '$*'"
+}
+
+# creates new user in container matching the local user so that
+# artifacts will be owned by the local user; set IMPERSONATE to false
+# to disable and run as root, defaults to true
+if [[ ! $IMPERSONATE ]]; then IMPERSONATE=true; fi
+monad-impersonate()
+{
+    if ! $IMPERSONATE; then return; fi
+    local CUID=$(id -u)
+    local CUSER=$(id -un)
+    local CGID=$(id -g)
+    local CGROUP=$(id -gn)
+    echo \
+	groupadd -g $CGID $CGROUP '&&' \
+	useradd -u $CUID -g $CGID -d /opt $CUSER '&&' \
+	sudo --set-home -u $CUSER -g $CGROUP
+}
diff --git a/scripts/simplebuild.sh b/scripts/simplebuild.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index e609bd8308..0000000000
--- a/scripts/simplebuild.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,20 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-if [ ! -d ext-src/cppunit ]; then
-  echo "Please call from root folder of project"
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-pushd ext-src/cppunit
-./autogen.sh
-CWD=$(pwd)
-if [ -f Makefile ]; then
-  make distclean
-fi
-./configure LD=clang LDFLAGS="-stdlib=libc++" CXX=clang++ CC=clang CXXFLAGS="-stdlib=libc++" --prefix=$CWD/../../externals/cppunit
-make
-make install
-
-popd
-
-