diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index f937c9d91..316b070e3 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-GOTOOLS = github.com/mitchellh/gox golang.org/x/tools/cmd/stringer
+GOTOOLS = github.com/mitchellh/gox golang.org/x/tools/cmd/stringer \
+	github.com/jteeuwen/go-bindata/... github.com/elazarl/go-bindata-assetfs/...
 DEPS = $(shell go list -f '{{range .TestImports}}{{.}} {{end}}' ./...)
 PACKAGES = $(shell go list ./...)
 VETARGS?=-asmdecl -atomic -bool -buildtags -copylocks -methods \
@@ -68,10 +69,17 @@ generate: deps
 	find . -type f -name '.DS_Store' -delete
 	go generate ./...
 
+# generates the static web ui
+static-assets: deps
+	@echo "--> Generating static assets"
+	@go-bindata-assetfs -pkg agent -prefix ui ./ui/dist/...
+	@mv bindata_assetfs.go command/agent
+	$(MAKE) format
+
 web:
 	./scripts/website_run.sh
 
 web-push:
 	./scripts/website_push.sh
 
-.PHONY: all bin dev dist cov deps test vet web web-push generate test-nodep
+.PHONY: all bin dev dist cov deps test vet web web-push generate test-nodep static-assets
diff --git a/command/agent/http.go b/command/agent/http.go
index 9828444d8..4438d1f00 100644
--- a/command/agent/http.go
+++ b/command/agent/http.go
@@ -275,10 +275,11 @@ func (s *HTTPServer) registerHandlers(enableDebug bool) {
 		s.mux.HandleFunc("/debug/pprof/symbol", pprof.Symbol)
 	}
 
-	// Enable the UI + special endpoints
+	// Use the custom UI dir if provided.
 	if s.uiDir != "" {
-		// Static file serving done from /ui/
 		s.mux.Handle("/ui/", http.StripPrefix("/ui/", http.FileServer(http.Dir(s.uiDir))))
+	} else {
+		s.mux.Handle("/ui/", http.StripPrefix("/ui/", http.FileServer(assetFS())))
 	}
 
 	// API's are under /internal/ui/ to avoid conflict
diff --git a/ui/README.md b/ui/README.md
index 561eab541..08d4a9b64 100644
--- a/ui/README.md
+++ b/ui/README.md
@@ -60,3 +60,20 @@ The `dist` folder will contain the files you should use for deployment.
 
 ###Acknowledgements
 cog icon by useiconic.com from the [Noun Project](https://thenounproject.com/term/setting/45865/)
+
+### Compiling the UI into the Go binary
+
+The UI is compiled and shipped with the Consul go binary. The generated bindata
+file lives in the `command/agent/bindata_assetfs.go` file and is checked into
+source control. This is useful so that not every Consul developer needs to set
+up bundler etc. To re-generate the file, first follow the compilation steps
+above to build the UI assets into the `dist/` folder. With that done, from the
+root of the Consul repo, run:
+
+```
+$ make static-assets
+```
+
+The file will now be refreshed with the current UI data. You can now rebuild the
+Consul binary normally with `make bin` or `make dev`, and see the updated UI
+after re-launching Consul.