diff --git a/HACKING.rst b/HACKING.rst
index a546f8c..eafa81b 100644
--- a/HACKING.rst
+++ b/HACKING.rst
@@ -153,6 +153,19 @@
                              kwarg2=dict_of_numbers)
 
 
+Test Skips
+----------
+If a test is broken because of a bug it is appropriate to skip the test until
+bug has been fixed. However, the skip message should be formatted so that
+Tempest's skip tracking tool can watch the bug status. The skip message should
+contain the string 'Bug' immediately followed by a space. Then the bug number
+should be included in the message '#' in front of the number.
+
+Example::
+
+  @testtools.skip("Skipped until the Bug #980688 is resolved")
+
+
 openstack-common
 ----------------
 
diff --git a/tools/hacking.py b/tools/hacking.py
index 617682d..528424a 100755
--- a/tools/hacking.py
+++ b/tools/hacking.py
@@ -323,6 +323,30 @@
                 return (pos, "T404: test functions must "
                         "not have doc strings")
 
+SKIP_DECORATOR = '@testtools.skip('
+
+
+def tempest_skip_bugs(physical_line):
+    """Check skip lines for proper bug entries
+
+    T601: Bug not in skip line
+    T602: Bug in message formatted incorrectly
+    """
+
+    pos = physical_line.find(SKIP_DECORATOR)
+
+    skip_re = re.compile(r'^\s*@testtools.skip.*')
+
+    if pos != -1 and skip_re.match(physical_line):
+        bug = re.compile(r'^.*\bbug\b.*', re.IGNORECASE)
+        if bug.match(physical_line) is None:
+            return (pos, 'T601: skips must have an associated bug')
+
+        bug_re = re.compile(r'.*skip\(.*Bug\s\#\d+', re.IGNORECASE)
+
+        if bug_re.match(physical_line) is None:
+            return (pos, 'T602: Bug number formatted incorrectly')
+
 
 FORMAT_RE = re.compile("%(?:"
                        "%|"           # Ignore plain percents