diff --git a/lib/chibi/zlib.scm b/lib/chibi/zlib.scm
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3baa0c7b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/chibi/zlib.scm
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+
+;; Temporary hack, need to rewrite in pure Scheme.
+
+;;> Gzip compress a file in place, renaming with a .gz suffix.
+
+(define (gzip-file path)
+  (system "gzip" path))
+
+;;> Gunzip decompress a file in place, removing any .gz suffix.
+
+(define (gunzip-file path)
+  (system "gzip" "-d" path))
+
+;; Utility to filter a bytevector to a process and return the
+;; accumulated output as a new bytevector.
+(define (process-pipe-bytevector cmd bvec)
+  (call-with-process-io
+   cmd
+   (lambda (pid proc-in proc-out proc-err)
+     ;; This could overflow the pipe.
+     (write-bytevector bvec proc-in)
+     (close-output-port proc-in)
+     (let ((res (port->bytevector proc-out)))
+       (waitpid pid 0)
+       res))))
+
+;;> Gzip compress a string or bytevector in memory.
+
+(define (gzip x)
+  (if (string? x)
+      (gzip (string->utf8 x))
+      (process-pipe-bytevector '("gzip" "-c") x)))
+
+;;> Gunzip decompress a bytevector in memory.
+
+(define (gunzip bvec)
+  (process-pipe-bytevector '("gzip" "-c" "-d") bvec))
diff --git a/lib/chibi/zlib.sld b/lib/chibi/zlib.sld
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..576b4515
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/chibi/zlib.sld
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+
+(define-library (chibi zlib)
+  (export gzip-file gunzip-file gzip gunzip)
+  (import (scheme base) (chibi io) (chibi process))
+  (include "zlib.scm"))