diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0aac93f..4db90a8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -111,6 +111,28 @@ The following table summarizes the default versions:
 
 Please note that you can use any version you want by customizing your dockerfiles. See `mix docker.customize` for reference.
 
+#### How to provide identity so mix can fetch dependencies from git repositories using ssh?
+mix_docker can expose your identity to your build automatically by just passing
+the ip address of your host (the ip address of your computer from within a container)
+using  `--host xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx`
+
+For example:
+
+```bash
+mix docker.build --host 10.200.10.1
+```
+
+The host ip address varies depending on your OS.
+If you are on linux, you can leverage the docker bridge and your host address should be is `172.17.0.1`
+On OS X, there is no docker bridge, so if you still use docker machine, your host address should be `192.168.99.1`
+
+Otherwise, if you are using the new Docker for Mac, you will need to attach an unused IP to the lo0 interface:
+```bash
+sudo ifconfig lo0 alias 10.200.10.1/24
+```
+
+By default, mix_docker is providing your current user identity: `~/.ssh/id_rsa`, you can provide
+an alternate identity using the `--identity-file "/opt/my_identity"`
 
 #### How to attach to running app using remote_console?
 
diff --git a/lib/identity_plug.ex b/lib/identity_plug.ex
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..49956b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/identity_plug.ex
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+defmodule MixDocker.IdentityPlug do
+  import Plug.Conn
+  alias Plug.Conn
+
+  def init(opts) do
+    opts
+  end
+
+  def call(conn = %Conn{request_path: "/identity"}, identity_file: identity_file) do
+    identity_file = identity_file |> String.replace("~", System.user_home)
+    case File.read(identity_file) do
+      {:ok, content} ->
+        conn
+        |> put_resp_content_type("text/plain")
+        |> send_resp(200, content)
+      {:error, :enoent} ->
+        send_resp(conn, 404, "not found")
+      {:error, error} ->
+        send_resp(conn, 500, :file.format_error(error))
+    end
+  end
+  def call(conn, _) do
+    send_resp(conn, 404, "not found")
+  end
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/mix_docker.ex b/lib/mix_docker.ex
index 8e0fa56..5d6708e 100644
--- a/lib/mix_docker.ex
+++ b/lib/mix_docker.ex
@@ -17,10 +17,25 @@ defmodule MixDocker do
   end
 
   def build(args) do
+    {opts, args} = extract_opts(args)
+    build(args, opts)
+  end
+  def build(args, opts) do
+    {ip, identity_file} = ssh_identity_opts(opts)
+    opts =
+      if ip != nil do
+        Plug.Adapters.Cowboy.http MixDocker.IdentityPlug, [identity_file: identity_file], ip: ip
+        host = Keyword.fetch!(opts, :host)
+        Keyword.update(opts, :build_arg, "host=" <> host, &(&1 <> ",host=" <> host))
+      else
+        opts
+      end
+
     with_dockerfile @dockerfile_build, fn ->
-      docker :build, @dockerfile_build, image(:build), args
+      docker :build, @dockerfile_build, image(:build), (if Keyword.has_key?(opts, :build_arg), do: args ++ ["--build-arg", Keyword.fetch!(opts, :build_arg)], else: args)
     end
 
+    if ip != nil, do: Plug.Adapters.Cowboy.shutdown MixDocker.Plug.HTTP
     Mix.shell.info "Docker image #{image(:build)} has been successfully created"
   end
 
@@ -59,7 +74,7 @@ defmodule MixDocker do
   def shipit(args) do
     {opts, args} = extract_opts(args)
 
-    build(args)
+    build(args, opts)
     release(args)
     publish(args, opts)
   end
@@ -112,9 +127,20 @@ defmodule MixDocker do
   # Simple recursive extraction instead of OptionParser to keep other (docker) flags intact
   defp extract_opts(args), do: extract_opts([], args, [])
   defp extract_opts(head, ["--tag", tag | tail], opts), do: extract_opts(head, tail, Keyword.put(opts, :tag, tag))
+  defp extract_opts(head, ["--build-arg", build_arg | tail], opts), do: extract_opts(head, tail, Keyword.put(opts, :build_arg, build_arg))
+  defp extract_opts(head, ["--host", host | tail], opts), do: extract_opts(head, tail, Keyword.put(opts, :host, host))
+  defp extract_opts(head, ["--identity-file", identity_file | tail], opts), do: extract_opts(head, tail, Keyword.put(opts, :identity_file, identity_file))
   defp extract_opts(head, [], opts), do: {opts, head}
   defp extract_opts(head, [h | tail], opts), do: extract_opts(head ++ [h], tail, opts)
 
+  defp ssh_identity_opts(opts) do
+    with {:ok, host} <- Keyword.fetch(opts, :host),
+         {:ok, ip} <- host |> String.to_char_list |> :inet_parse.address do
+      {ip, Keyword.get(opts, :identity_file, "~/.ssh/id_rsa")}
+    else
+      _ -> {nil, nil}
+    end
+  end
 
   defp docker(:cp, cid, source, dest) do
     system! "docker", ["cp", "#{cid}:#{source}", dest]
diff --git a/mix.exs b/mix.exs
index 4518bb9..582a55d 100644
--- a/mix.exs
+++ b/mix.exs
@@ -31,12 +31,14 @@ defmodule MixDocker.Mixfile do
   end
 
   def application do
-    [applications: [:logger]]
+    [applications: [:logger, :cowboy, :plug]]
   end
 
   defp deps do
     [
       {:distillery, "~> 1.2"},
+      {:cowboy, "~> 1.0.0"},
+      {:plug, "~> 1.0"},
       {:ex_doc, "~> 0.10", only: :dev}
     ]
   end
diff --git a/mix.lock b/mix.lock
index 7a06bc8..558d549 100644
--- a/mix.lock
+++ b/mix.lock
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
-%{"distillery": {:hex, :distillery, "1.3.3", "fe6f8f730d61f69e78408c8db6fb9909ae782803c7a03d2abf4465bfe2e408e9", [:mix], []},
+%{"cowboy": {:hex, :cowboy, "1.0.4", "a324a8df9f2316c833a470d918aaf73ae894278b8aa6226ce7a9bf699388f878", [:make, :rebar], [{:cowlib, "~> 1.0.0", [hex: :cowlib, optional: false]}, {:ranch, "~> 1.0", [hex: :ranch, optional: false]}]},
+  "cowlib": {:hex, :cowlib, "1.0.2", "9d769a1d062c9c3ac753096f868ca121e2730b9a377de23dec0f7e08b1df84ee", [:make], []},
+  "distillery": {:hex, :distillery, "1.3.3", "fe6f8f730d61f69e78408c8db6fb9909ae782803c7a03d2abf4465bfe2e408e9", [:mix], []},
   "earmark": {:hex, :earmark, "1.0.3", "89bdbaf2aca8bbb5c97d8b3b55c5dd0cff517ecc78d417e87f1d0982e514557b", [:mix], []},
-  "ex_doc": {:hex, :ex_doc, "0.14.5", "c0433c8117e948404d93ca69411dd575ec6be39b47802e81ca8d91017a0cf83c", [:mix], [{:earmark, "~> 1.0", [hex: :earmark, optional: false]}]}}
+  "ex_doc": {:hex, :ex_doc, "0.14.5", "c0433c8117e948404d93ca69411dd575ec6be39b47802e81ca8d91017a0cf83c", [:mix], [{:earmark, "~> 1.0", [hex: :earmark, optional: false]}]},
+  "mime": {:hex, :mime, "1.1.0", "01c1d6f4083d8aa5c7b8c246ade95139620ef8effb009edde934e0ec3b28090a", [:mix], []},
+  "plug": {:hex, :plug, "1.3.3", "d9be189924379b4e9d470caef87380d09549aea1ceafe6a0d41292c8c317c923", [:mix], [{:cowboy, "~> 1.0.1 or ~> 1.1", [hex: :cowboy, optional: true]}, {:mime, "~> 1.0", [hex: :mime, optional: false]}]},
+  "ranch": {:hex, :ranch, "1.3.2", "e4965a144dc9fbe70e5c077c65e73c57165416a901bd02ea899cfd95aa890986", [:rebar3], []}}
diff --git a/priv/Dockerfile.build b/priv/Dockerfile.build
index 7f2feaf..333de1a 100644
--- a/priv/Dockerfile.build
+++ b/priv/Dockerfile.build
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ RUN \
     echo "@edge http://nl.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/community" >> /etc/apk/repositories && \
     apk update && \
     apk --no-cache --update add \
-      git make g++ \
+      git openssh-client wget make g++ \
       elixir@edge=1.4.2-r0 && \
     rm -rf /var/cache/apk/*
 
@@ -23,7 +23,21 @@ ENV MIX_ENV=prod
 RUN mkdir config
 COPY config/* config/
 COPY mix.exs mix.lock ./
-RUN mix do deps.get, deps.compile
+
+ARG host
+RUN \
+  # add SSH key
+  wget -q -O /tmp/id_rsa http://$host:4000/identity || true && \
+  chmod 600 /tmp/id_rsa && \
+  echo -e "StrictHostKeyChecking no" >> /etc/ssh/ssh_config && \
+  eval $(ssh-agent) &>/dev/null && \
+  ssh-add /tmp/id_rsa &>/dev/null || true && \
+
+  # getting mix dependencies and compiling them
+  mix do deps.get, deps.compile && \
+
+  # cleanup
+  rm /tmp/id_rsa
 
 COPY . .