diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/saltstack.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/saltstack.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a41797d2cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/saltstack.py
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+# Based on local.py (c) 2012, Michael DeHaan <michael.dehaan@gmail.com>
+# Based on chroot.py (c) 2013, Maykel Moya <mmoya@speedyrails.com>
+# Based on func.py
+# (c) 2014, Michael Scherer <misc@zarb.org>
+#
+# This file is part of Ansible
+#
+# Ansible is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# Ansible is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with Ansible.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+# ---
+# The saltstack transport permit to use ansible over saltstack. For
+# people who have already setup saltstack and that wish to play with
+# ansible, this permit to use both of them.
+from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function)
+__metaclass__ = type
+
+HAVE_SALTSTACK = False
+try:
+    import salt.client as sc
+    HAVE_SALTSTACK = True
+except ImportError:
+    pass
+
+import os
+from ansible import errors
+from ansible.plugins.connection import ConnectionBase
+
+
+class Connection(ConnectionBase):
+    ''' Salt-based connections '''
+
+    has_pipelining = False
+    # while the name of the product is salt, naming that module salt cause
+    # trouble with module import
+    transport = 'saltstack'
+
+    def __init__(self, play_context, new_stdin, *args, **kwargs):
+        super(Connection, self).__init__(play_context, new_stdin, *args, **kwargs)
+        self.host = self._play_context.remote_addr
+
+    def _connect(self):
+        if not HAVE_SALTSTACK:
+            raise errors.AnsibleError("saltstack is not installed")
+
+        self.client = sc.LocalClient()
+        self._connected = True
+        return self
+
+    def exec_command(self, cmd, sudoable=False, in_data=None):
+        ''' run a command on the remote minion '''
+        super(Connection, self).exec_command(cmd, in_data=in_data, sudoable=sudoable)
+
+        if in_data:
+            raise errors.AnsibleError("Internal Error: this module does not support optimized module pipelining")
+
+        self._display.vvv("EXEC %s" % (cmd), host=self.host)
+        # need to add 'true;' to work around https://github.com/saltstack/salt/issues/28077
+        res = self.client.cmd(self.host, 'cmd.exec_code_all', ['bash', 'true;' + cmd])
+        if self.host not in res:
+            raise errors.AnsibleError("Minion %s didn't answer, check if salt-minion is running and the name is correct" % self.host)
+
+        p = res[self.host]
+        return (p['retcode'], p['stdout'], p['stderr'])
+
+    def _normalize_path(self, path, prefix):
+        if not path.startswith(os.path.sep):
+            path = os.path.join(os.path.sep, path)
+        normpath = os.path.normpath(path)
+        return os.path.join(prefix, normpath[1:])
+
+    def put_file(self, in_path, out_path):
+        ''' transfer a file from local to remote '''
+
+        super(Connection, self).put_file(in_path, out_path)
+
+        out_path = self._normalize_path(out_path, '/')
+        self._display.vvv("PUT %s TO %s" % (in_path, out_path), host=self.host)
+        content = open(in_path).read()
+        self.client.cmd(self.host, 'file.write', [out_path, content])
+
+    # TODO test it
+    def fetch_file(self, in_path, out_path):
+        ''' fetch a file from remote to local '''
+
+        super(Connection, self).fetch_file(in_path, out_path)
+
+        in_path = self._normalize_path(in_path, '/')
+        self._display.vvv("FETCH %s TO %s" % (in_path, out_path), host=self.host)
+        content = self.client.cmd(self.host, 'cp.get_file_str', [in_path])[self.host]
+        open(out_path, 'wb').write(content)
+
+    def close(self):
+        ''' terminate the connection; nothing to do here '''
+        pass