diff --git a/rclcpp/CMakeLists.txt b/rclcpp/CMakeLists.txt
index 6dd03e2..4ec6c3d 100644
--- a/rclcpp/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/rclcpp/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -8,9 +8,16 @@ ament_export_dependencies(ros_middleware_interface)
 
 ament_export_include_directories(include)
 
-ament_package()
+ament_package(
+  CONFIG_EXTRAS rclcpp-extras.cmake
+)
 
 install(
   DIRECTORY include/
   DESTINATION include
 )
+
+install(
+  DIRECTORY src/
+  DESTINATION src/rclcpp
+)
diff --git a/rclcpp/include/rclcpp/node.hpp b/rclcpp/include/rclcpp/node.hpp
index e19f338..7b69631 100644
--- a/rclcpp/include/rclcpp/node.hpp
+++ b/rclcpp/include/rclcpp/node.hpp
@@ -112,6 +112,12 @@ private:
 } /* namespace node */
 } /* namespace rclcpp */
 
+#define RCLCPP_REGISTER_NODE(Class) rclcpp::node::Node::SharedPtr \
+create_node() \
+{ \
+  return rclcpp::node::Node::SharedPtr(new Class(rclcpp::contexts::default_context::DefaultContext::make_shared())); \
+}
+
 #ifndef RCLCPP_RCLCPP_NODE_IMPL_HPP_
 // Template implementations
 #include "node_impl.hpp"
diff --git a/rclcpp/include/rclcpp/rclcpp.hpp b/rclcpp/include/rclcpp/rclcpp.hpp
index 97b41bf..72ca557 100644
--- a/rclcpp/include/rclcpp/rclcpp.hpp
+++ b/rclcpp/include/rclcpp/rclcpp.hpp
@@ -53,6 +53,10 @@ using rclcpp::subscription::SubscriptionBase;
 using rclcpp::subscription::Subscription;
 using rclcpp::rate::GenericRate;
 using rclcpp::rate::WallRate;
+using rclcpp::timer::GenericTimer;
+using rclcpp::timer::TimerBase;
+using rclcpp::timer::WallTimer;
+typedef rclcpp::context::Context::SharedPtr ContextSharedPtr;
 using rclcpp::utilities::ok;
 using rclcpp::utilities::init;
 using rclcpp::utilities::sleep_for;
diff --git a/rclcpp/rclcpp-extras.cmake b/rclcpp/rclcpp-extras.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8eab569
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rclcpp/rclcpp-extras.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# copied from rclcpp/rclcpp-extras.cmake
+
+set(rclcpp_node_main_SRC "${rclcpp_DIR}/../../../src/rclcpp/node_main.cpp")
+
+function(rclcpp_create_node_main node_library_target)
+  if(NOT TARGET ${node_library_target})
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "rclcpp_create_node_main() the first argument must be a valid target name")
+  endif()
+  set(executable_name_ ${node_library_target}_node)
+  add_executable(${executable_name_} ${rclcpp_node_main_SRC})
+  target_link_libraries(${executable_name_} ${node_library_target})
+  install(TARGETS ${executable_name_} DESTINATION bin)
+endfunction()
diff --git a/rclcpp/src/node_main.cpp b/rclcpp/src/node_main.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..510b1bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rclcpp/src/node_main.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+/* Copyright 2014 Open Source Robotics Foundation, Inc.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+#include <rclcpp/rclcpp.hpp>
+
+// This forward declaration is implemented by the RCLCPP_REGISTER_NODE macro
+rclcpp::Node::SharedPtr create_node();
+
+int main(int argc, char **argv)
+{
+  rclcpp::init(argc, argv);
+  rclcpp::executors::SingleThreadedExecutor executor;
+  rclcpp::Node::SharedPtr node = create_node();
+  executor.add_node(node);
+  executor.spin();
+  return 0;
+}