diff --git a/tools/check_release.json b/tools/check_release.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f791bbef3c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/check_release.json
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+{
+  "config" : {
+    "mbed_repo_path" : "C:/Users/annbri01/Work/Mercurial"
+  },
+  "test_list" : [
+    { 
+      "name" : "test_compile_mbed_lib",
+      "lib" : "mbed"
+    },
+    {
+      "name" : "test_compile_mbed_dev",
+      "lib" : "mbed-dev"
+    }
+  ]
+}
+
diff --git a/tools/check_release.py b/tools/check_release.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c3f1bc1bc3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/check_release.py
@@ -0,0 +1,448 @@
+# Script to check a new mbed 2 release by compiling a set of specified test apps 
+# for all currently supported platforms. Each test app must include an mbed library.
+# This can either be the pre-compiled version 'mbed' or the source version 'mbed-dev'.
+#
+# Setup:
+# 1. Set up your global .hgrc file
+# 
+#    If you don't already have a .hgrc file in your $HOME directory, create one there.
+#    Then add the following section:
+# 
+#    [auth]
+#    x.prefix = *
+#    x.username = <put your mbed org username here>
+#    x.password = <put your mbed org password here>
+#
+#    This has 2 purposes, the first means you don't get prompted for your password 
+#    whenever you run hg commands on the commandline. The second is that this script
+#    reads these details in order to fully automate the Mercurial commands.
+# 
+# Edit "check_release.json". This has the following structure:
+#{
+#  "config" : {
+#    "mbed_repo_path" : "C:/Users/annbri01/Work/Mercurial"
+#  },
+#  "test_list" : [
+#    {
+#        "name" : "test_compile_mbed_lib",
+#        "lib" : "mbed"
+#    },
+#    {
+#        "name" : "test_compile_mbed_dev",
+#        "lib" : "mbed-dev"
+#    }
+#  ]
+#}
+#
+# The mbed_repo_path field should be changed to point to where your local
+# working directory is for Mercurial repositories.
+# For each test app you wish to run, add an entry to the test list. The example
+# above has 2 test apps  
+#     "test_compile_mbed_lib" and "test_compile_mbed_dev"
+# The lib field in each says which type of mbed 2 library the app contains.
+# These test apps MUST be available as repos in the user's online Mercurial area.
+#
+# Run the script from the mbed-os directory as follows:
+# > python tools/check_release.py 
+#
+# It will look for local clones of the test app repos. If they don't exist
+# it will clone them. It will then read the latest versions of mbed and mbed-dev
+# (an assumption is made that both of these are already cloned in your Mercurial area).
+# The lib files within the test apps are then updated to the corresponding version in 
+# the associated lib itself. The test apps are then committed and pushed back to the users
+# fork.
+# The test apps will then be compiled for all supported targets and a % result output at the 
+# end.
+#
+# Uses the online compiler API at https://mbed.org/handbook/Compile-API
+# Based on the example from https://mbed.org/teams/mbed/code/mbed-API-helper/
+ 
+ 
+import os, getpass, sys, json, time, requests, logging
+from os.path import dirname, abspath, basename, join
+import argparse
+import subprocess
+import re
+import hglib
+import argparse
+
+# Be sure that the tools directory is in the search path
+ROOT = abspath(join(dirname(__file__), ".."))
+sys.path.insert(0, ROOT)
+
+from tools.build_api import get_mbed_official_release
+
+OFFICIAL_MBED_LIBRARY_BUILD = get_mbed_official_release('2')
+
+def get_compilation_failure(messages):
+    """ Reads the json formatted 'messages' and checks for compilation errors.
+        If there is a genuine compilation error then there should be a new message containing
+        a severity field = Error and an accompanying message with the compile error text.
+        Any other combination is considered an internal compile engine failure 
+    Args:
+    messages - json formatted text returned by the online compiler API.
+    
+    Returns:
+    Either a string containing a compilation error or "Internal" to indicate an error with
+    the online IDE API itself.
+
+    """
+    for m in messages:
+        if 'severity' in m and 'message' in m:
+            if m['severity'] == 'error':
+                return m['message']
+
+    return "Internal"
+                 
+def invoke_api(payload, url, auth, polls, begin="start/"):
+    """ Sends an API command request to the online IDE. Waits for a task completed 
+        response before returning the results.
+
+    Args:
+    payload - Configuration parameters to be passed to the API
+    url - THe URL for the online compiler API
+    auth - Tuple containing authentication credentials
+    polls - Number of times to poll for results
+    begin - Default value = "start/", start command to be appended to URL
+    
+    Returns:
+    result - True/False indicating the success/failure of the compilation
+    fail_type - the failure text if the compilation failed, else None
+    """
+
+    # send task to api
+    logging.debug(url + begin + "| data: " + str(payload))
+    r = requests.post(url + begin, data=payload, auth=auth)
+    logging.debug(r.request.body)
+    
+    if r.status_code != 200:
+        logging.error("HTTP code %d reported.", r.status_code)
+        return False, "Internal"
+
+    response = r.json()
+    logging.debug(response)
+    uuid = response['result']['data']['task_id']
+    logging.debug("Task accepted and given ID: %s", uuid)
+    result = False
+    fail_type = None
+    
+    # It currently seems to take the onlide IDE API ~30s to process the compile request and
+    # provide a response. Set the poll time to half that in case it does manage to compile
+    # quicker.
+    poll_delay = 15
+    logging.debug("Running with a poll for response delay of: %ss", poll_delay)
+
+    # poll for output
+    for check in range(polls):
+        time.sleep(poll_delay)
+        r = requests.get(url + "output/%s" % uuid, auth=auth)
+        response = r.json()
+        if response['result']['data']['task_complete']:
+            
+            # Task completed. Now determine the result. Should be one of :
+            # 1) Successful compilation
+            # 2) Failed compilation with an error message
+            # 3) Internal failure of the online compiler            
+            result = bool(response['result']['data']['compilation_success'])
+            if result:
+                logging.info("\t\tCompilation SUCCESSFUL\n")
+            else:
+                # Did this fail due to a genuine compilation error or a failue of the api itself ?
+                logging.info("\t\tCompilation FAILURE\n")
+                fail_type = get_compilation_failure(response['result']['data']['new_messages'])
+            break
+    else:
+        logging.info("\t\tCompilation FAILURE\n")
+        
+    if not result and fail_type == None:
+        fail_type = "Internal"
+        
+    return result, fail_type
+
+
+def build_repo(target, program, user, pw, polls=25, url="https://developer.mbed.org/api/v2/tasks/compiler/"):
+    """ Wrapper for sending an API command request to the online IDE. Sends a build request.
+
+    Args:
+    target - Target to be built
+    program - Test program to build
+    user - mbed username
+    pw - mbed password
+    polls - Number of times to poll for results
+    url - THe URL for the online compiler API
+    
+    Returns:
+    result - True/False indicating the success/failure of the compilation
+    fail_type - the failure text if the compilation failed, else None
+    """
+    payload = {'clean':True, 'target':target, 'program':program}
+    auth = (user, pw)
+    return invoke_api(payload, url, auth, polls)
+
+def run_cmd(command, exit_on_failure=False):
+    """ Passes a command to the system and returns a True/False result once the 
+        command has been executed, indicating success/failure. Commands are passed
+        as a list of tokens. 
+        E.g. The command 'git remote -v' would be passed in as ['git', 'remote', '-v']
+
+    Args:
+    command - system command as a list of tokens
+    exit_on_failure - If True exit the program on failure (default = False)
+    
+    Returns:
+    result - True/False indicating the success/failure of the command
+    """
+    logging.debug('[Exec] %s', ' '.join(command))
+    return_code = subprocess.call(command, shell=True)
+    
+    if return_code:
+        logging.warning("The command '%s' failed with return code: %s",  (' '.join(command), return_code))
+        if exit_on_failure:
+            sys.exit(1)
+    
+    return return_code
+
+def run_cmd_with_output(command, exit_on_failure=False):
+    """ Passes a command to the system and returns a True/False result once the 
+        command has been executed, indicating success/failure. If the command was 
+        successful then the output from the command is returned to the caller.
+        Commands are passed as a list of tokens. 
+        E.g. The command 'git remote -v' would be passed in as ['git', 'remote', '-v']
+
+    Args:
+    command - system command as a list of tokens
+    exit_on_failure - If True exit the program on failure (default = False)
+    
+    Returns:
+    result - True/False indicating the success/failure of the command
+    output - The output of the command if it was successful, else empty string
+    """
+    logging.debug('[Exec] %s', ' '.join(command))
+    returncode = 0
+    output = ""
+    try:
+        output = subprocess.check_output(command, shell=True)
+    except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
+        logging.warning("The command '%s' failed with return code: %s", (' '.join(command), e.returncode))
+        returncode = e.returncode
+        if exit_on_failure:
+            sys.exit(1)
+    return returncode, output
+
+def upgrade_test_repo(test, user, library, ref, repo_path):
+    """ Upgrades a local version of a test repo to the latest version of its embedded library.
+        If the test repo is not present in the user area specified in the json config file, then
+        it will first be cloned. 
+    Args:
+    test - Mercurial test repo name
+    user - Mercurial user name
+    library - library name
+    ref - SHA corresponding to the latest version of the library
+    repo_path - path to the user's repo area
+    
+    Returns:
+    updated - True if library was updated, False otherwise
+    """
+    logging.info("Updating test repo: '%s' to SHA: %s", test, ref)
+    cwd = os.getcwd()
+
+    repo = "https://" + user + '@developer.mbed.org/users/' + user + '/code/' + test 
+
+    # Clone the repo if it doesn't already exist
+    path = abspath(repo_path + '/' + test)
+    if not os.path.exists(path):
+        logging.info("Test repo doesn't exist, cloning...")
+        os.chdir(abspath(repo_path))        
+        clone_cmd = ['hg', 'clone', repo]
+        run_cmd(clone_cmd, exit_on_failure=True)
+    
+    os.chdir(path)
+
+    client = hglib.open(path)        
+
+    lib_file = library + '.lib'    
+    if os.path.isfile(lib_file):
+        # Rename command will fail on some OS's if the target file already exist,
+        # so ensure if it does, it is deleted first.
+        bak_file = library + '_bak' 
+        if os.path.isfile(bak_file):
+            os.remove(bak_file)
+        
+        os.rename(lib_file, bak_file)
+    else:
+        logging.error("!! Error trying to backup lib file prior to updating.")
+        return False
+    
+    # mbed 2 style lib file contains one line with the following format
+    # e.g. https://developer.mbed.org/users/<user>/code/mbed-dev/#156823d33999
+    exp = 'https://developer.mbed.org/users/' + user + '/code/' + library + '/#[A-Za-z0-9]+'
+    lib_re = re.compile(exp)
+    updated = False
+
+    # Scan through mbed-os.lib line by line, looking for lib version and update it if found
+    with open(bak_file, 'r') as ip, open(lib_file, 'w') as op:
+        for line in ip:
+
+            opline = line
+            
+            regexp = lib_re.match(line)
+            if regexp:
+                opline = 'https://developer.mbed.org/users/' + user + '/code/' + library + '/#' + ref
+                updated = True
+    
+            op.write(opline)
+
+    if updated:
+
+        # Setup the default commit message
+        commit_message = '"Updating ' + library + ' to ' + ref + '"' 
+ 
+        # Setup and run the commit command. Need to use the rawcommand in the hglib for this in order to pass
+        # the string value to the -m option. run_cmd using subprocess does not like this syntax.
+        try:
+            client.rawcommand(['commit','-m '+commit_message, lib_file])
+
+            cmd = ['hg', 'push', '-f', repo]
+            run_cmd(cmd, exit_on_failure=True)
+            
+        except:
+            logging.info("Lib file already up to date and thus nothing to commit")
+                            
+    os.chdir(cwd)
+    return updated
+
+def get_sha(repo_path, library):
+    """ Gets the latest SHA for the library specified. The library is assumed to be
+        located at the repo_path. If a SHA cannot be obtained this script will exit.
+
+    Args:
+    library - library name
+    repo_path - path to the user's repo area
+    
+    Returns:
+    sha - last commit SHA
+    """
+    cwd = os.getcwd()
+    sha = None
+    os.chdir(abspath(repo_path + '/' + library))
+    
+    cmd = ['hg', 'log', '-l', '1']
+    ret, output = run_cmd_with_output(cmd, exit_on_failure=True)
+    
+    # Output should contain a 4 line string of the form:
+    # changeset:   135:176b8275d35d
+    # tag:         tip
+    # user:        <>
+    # date:        Thu Feb 02 16:02:30 2017 +0000
+    # summary:     Release 135 of the mbed library
+    # All we want is the changeset string after version number
+    
+    lines = output.split('\n')
+    fields = lines[0].split(':')
+    sha = fields[2]
+    
+    os.chdir(cwd)
+    return sha
+
+def get_latest_library_versions(repo_path):
+    """ Returns the latest library versions (SHAs) for 'mbed' and 'mbed-dev'. 
+    If the SHAs cannot be obtained this script will exit.
+
+    Args:
+    repo_path - path to the user's repo area
+    
+    Returns:
+    mbed - last commit SHA for mbed library
+    mbed_dev - last commit SHA for mbed_dev library
+    
+    """
+
+    mbed = get_sha(repo_path, 'mbed')
+    mbed_dev = get_sha(repo_path, 'mbed-dev')
+
+    return mbed, mbed_dev
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=__doc__,
+                                     formatter_class=argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter)
+    parser.add_argument('-l', '--log-level', help="Level for providing logging output", default='INFO')
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+
+    default = getattr(logging, 'INFO')
+    level = getattr(logging, args.log_level.upper(), default)
+        
+    # Set logging level
+    logging.basicConfig(level=level)
+    
+    # Read configuration data
+    json_data = json.load(open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "check_release.json")))
+    
+
+    supported_targets = []
+    
+    # Get a list of the officially supported mbed-os 2 targets
+    for tgt in OFFICIAL_MBED_LIBRARY_BUILD:
+        supported_targets.append(tgt[0])
+      
+    config = json_data["config"]
+    test_list = json_data["test_list"]
+    repo_path = config["mbed_repo_path"]
+    tests = []
+
+    # get username
+    cmd = ['hg', 'config', 'auth.x.username']
+    ret, output = run_cmd_with_output(cmd, exit_on_failure=True)
+    output = output.split('\n')
+    user = output[0]
+    
+    # get password
+    cmd = ['hg', 'config', 'auth.x.password']
+    ret, output = run_cmd_with_output(cmd, exit_on_failure=True)
+    output = output.split('\n')
+    password = output[0]
+    
+    mbed, mbed_dev = get_latest_library_versions(repo_path)
+
+    if not mbed or not mbed_dev:
+        logging.error("Could not obtain latest versions of library files!!")
+        exit(1)
+        
+    logging.info("Latest mbed lib version = %s", mbed)
+    logging.info("Latest mbed-dev lib version = %s", mbed_dev)    
+  
+    # First update test repos to latest versions of their embedded libraries
+    for test in test_list:
+        tests.append(test['name'])
+        upgrade_test_repo(test['name'], user, test['lib'], mbed if test['lib'] == "mbed" else mbed_dev, repo_path)
+    
+    total = len(supported_targets)*len(tests)
+    retries = 10
+    passes = 0
+    
+    # Compile each test for each supported target
+    for test in tests:
+        logging.info("Test compiling program: %s\n", test)
+        for target in supported_targets:
+            for retry in range(0, retries):
+                logging.info("\tCompiling target: %s , attempt %u\n", target, retry)
+                result, mesg = build_repo(target, test, user, password)
+                if not result:
+                    if mesg == 'Internal':
+                        # Internal compiler error thus retry
+                        continue
+                    else:
+                        # Genuine compilation error, thus print it out
+                        logging.error("\t\tError: %s\n", mesg)
+                                    
+                passes += (int)(result)
+                break
+            else:
+                logging.error("\t\tProgram/Target compilation failed due to internal errors. Removing from considered list!\n")
+                total -= 1   
+                
+    # Output a % pass rate, indicate a failure if not 100% successful
+    pass_rate = int(passes/total) * 100
+    logging.info("Pass percentage = %d\n", pass_rate)
+    sys.exit(not (pass_rate == 100))
+    
\ No newline at end of file