diff --git a/WORKSPACE b/WORKSPACE
index 02de72021..58f8eff53 100644
--- a/WORKSPACE
+++ b/WORKSPACE
@@ -1,5 +1,18 @@
 workspace(name = "jgit")
 
+load("@bazel_tools//tools/build_defs/repo:http.bzl", "http_archive")
+
+http_archive(
+    name = "bazel_skylib",
+    sha256 = "bbccf674aa441c266df9894182d80de104cabd19be98be002f6d478aaa31574d",
+    strip_prefix = "bazel-skylib-2169ae1c374aab4a09aa90e65efe1a3aad4e279b",
+    urls = ["https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel-skylib/archive/2169ae1c374aab4a09aa90e65efe1a3aad4e279b.tar.gz"],
+)
+
+load("@bazel_skylib//:lib.bzl", "versions")
+
+versions.check(minimum_bazel_version = "0.17.1")
+
 load("//tools:bazlets.bzl", "load_bazlets")
 
 load_bazlets(commit = "09a035e98077dce549d5f6a7472d06c4b8f792d2")