diff --git a/spec/std/wait_group_spec.cr b/spec/std/wait_group_spec.cr
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..459af8d5c898
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/std/wait_group_spec.cr
@@ -0,0 +1,185 @@
+require "spec"
+require "wait_group"
+
+private def block_until_pending_waiter(wg)
+  while wg.@waiting.empty?
+    Fiber.yield
+  end
+end
+
+private def forge_counter(wg, value)
+  wg.@counter.set(value)
+end
+
+describe WaitGroup do
+  describe "#add" do
+    it "can't decrement to a negative counter" do
+      wg = WaitGroup.new
+      wg.add(5)
+      wg.add(-3)
+      expect_raises(RuntimeError, "Negative WaitGroup counter") { wg.add(-5) }
+    end
+
+    it "resumes waiters when reaching negative counter" do
+      wg = WaitGroup.new(1)
+      spawn do
+        block_until_pending_waiter(wg)
+        wg.add(-2)
+      rescue RuntimeError
+      end
+      expect_raises(RuntimeError, "Negative WaitGroup counter") { wg.wait }
+    end
+
+    it "can't increment after reaching negative counter" do
+      wg = WaitGroup.new
+      forge_counter(wg, -1)
+
+      # check twice, to make sure the waitgroup counter wasn't incremented back
+      # to a positive value!
+      expect_raises(RuntimeError, "Negative WaitGroup counter") { wg.add(5) }
+      expect_raises(RuntimeError, "Negative WaitGroup counter") { wg.add(3) }
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe "#done" do
+    it "can't decrement to a negative counter" do
+      wg = WaitGroup.new
+      wg.add(1)
+      wg.done
+      expect_raises(RuntimeError, "Negative WaitGroup counter") { wg.done }
+    end
+
+    it "resumes waiters when reaching negative counter" do
+      wg = WaitGroup.new(1)
+      spawn do
+        block_until_pending_waiter(wg)
+        forge_counter(wg, 0)
+        wg.done
+      rescue RuntimeError
+      end
+      expect_raises(RuntimeError, "Negative WaitGroup counter") { wg.wait }
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe "#wait" do
+    it "immediately returns when counter is zero" do
+      channel = Channel(Nil).new(1)
+
+      spawn do
+        wg = WaitGroup.new(0)
+        wg.wait
+        channel.send(nil)
+      end
+
+      select
+      when channel.receive
+        # success
+      when timeout(1.second)
+        fail "expected #wait to not block the fiber"
+      end
+    end
+
+    it "immediately raises when counter is negative" do
+      wg = WaitGroup.new(0)
+      expect_raises(RuntimeError) { wg.done }
+      expect_raises(RuntimeError, "Negative WaitGroup counter") { wg.wait }
+    end
+
+    it "raises when counter is positive after wake up" do
+      wg = WaitGroup.new(1)
+      waiter = Fiber.current
+
+      spawn do
+        block_until_pending_waiter(wg)
+        waiter.enqueue
+      end
+
+      expect_raises(RuntimeError, "Positive WaitGroup counter (early wake up?)") { wg.wait }
+    end
+  end
+
+  it "waits until concurrent executions are finished" do
+    wg1 = WaitGroup.new
+    wg2 = WaitGroup.new
+
+    8.times do
+      wg1.add(16)
+      wg2.add(16)
+      exited = Channel(Bool).new(16)
+
+      16.times do
+        spawn do
+          wg1.done
+          wg2.wait
+          exited.send(true)
+        end
+      end
+
+      wg1.wait
+
+      16.times do
+        select
+        when exited.receive
+          fail "WaitGroup released group too soon"
+        else
+        end
+        wg2.done
+      end
+
+      16.times do
+        select
+        when x = exited.receive
+          x.should eq(true)
+        when timeout(1.millisecond)
+          fail "Expected channel to receive value"
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+
+  it "increments the counter from executing fibers" do
+    wg = WaitGroup.new(16)
+    extra = Atomic(Int32).new(0)
+
+    16.times do
+      spawn do
+        wg.add(2)
+
+        2.times do
+          spawn do
+            extra.add(1)
+            wg.done
+          end
+        end
+
+        wg.done
+      end
+    end
+
+    wg.wait
+    extra.get.should eq(32)
+  end
+
+  # the test takes far too much time for the interpreter to complete
+  {% unless flag?(:interpreted) %}
+    it "stress add/done/wait" do
+      wg = WaitGroup.new
+
+      1000.times do
+        counter = Atomic(Int32).new(0)
+
+        2.times do
+          wg.add(1)
+
+          spawn do
+            counter.add(1)
+            wg.done
+          end
+        end
+
+        wg.wait
+        counter.get.should eq(2)
+      end
+    end
+  {% end %}
+end
diff --git a/src/crystal/pointer_linked_list.cr b/src/crystal/pointer_linked_list.cr
index 0ce17b071bd0..03109979d662 100644
--- a/src/crystal/pointer_linked_list.cr
+++ b/src/crystal/pointer_linked_list.cr
@@ -80,4 +80,10 @@ struct Crystal::PointerLinkedList(T)
       node = _next
     end
   end
+
+  # Iterates the list before clearing it.
+  def consume_each(&) : Nil
+    each { |node| yield node }
+    @head = Pointer(T).null
+  end
 end
diff --git a/src/wait_group.cr b/src/wait_group.cr
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d9ae4ae740ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/wait_group.cr
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+require "fiber"
+require "crystal/spin_lock"
+require "crystal/pointer_linked_list"
+
+# Suspend execution until a collection of fibers are finished.
+#
+# The wait group is a declarative counter of how many concurrent fibers have
+# been started. Each such fiber is expected to call `#done` to report that they
+# are finished doing their work. Whenever the counter reaches zero the waiters
+# will be resumed.
+#
+# This is a simpler and more efficient alternative to using a `Channel(Nil)`
+# then looping a number of times until we received N messages to resume
+# execution.
+#
+# Basic example:
+#
+# ```
+# require "wait_group"
+# wg = WaitGroup.new(5)
+#
+# 5.times do
+#   spawn do
+#     do_something
+#   ensure
+#     wg.done # the fiber has finished
+#   end
+# end
+#
+# # suspend the current fiber until the 5 fibers are done
+# wg.wait
+# ```
+class WaitGroup
+  private struct Waiting
+    include Crystal::PointerLinkedList::Node
+
+    def initialize(@fiber : Fiber)
+    end
+
+    def enqueue : Nil
+      @fiber.enqueue
+    end
+  end
+
+  def initialize(n : Int32 = 0)
+    @waiting = Crystal::PointerLinkedList(Waiting).new
+    @lock = Crystal::SpinLock.new
+    @counter = Atomic(Int32).new(n)
+  end
+
+  # Increments the counter by how many fibers we want to wait for.
+  #
+  # A negative value decrements the counter. When the counter reaches zero,
+  # all waiting fibers will be resumed.
+  # Raises `RuntimeError` if the counter reaches a negative value.
+  #
+  # Can be called at any time, allowing concurrent fibers to add more fibers to
+  # wait for, but they must always do so before calling `#done` that would
+  # decrement the counter, to make sure that the counter may never inadvertently
+  # reach zero before all fibers are done.
+  def add(n : Int32 = 1) : Nil
+    counter = @counter.get(:acquire)
+
+    loop do
+      raise RuntimeError.new("Negative WaitGroup counter") if counter < 0
+
+      counter, success = @counter.compare_and_set(counter, counter + n, :acquire_release, :acquire)
+      break if success
+    end
+
+    new_counter = counter + n
+    return if new_counter > 0
+
+    @lock.sync do
+      @waiting.consume_each do |node|
+        node.value.enqueue
+      end
+    end
+
+    raise RuntimeError.new("Negative WaitGroup counter") if new_counter < 0
+  end
+
+  # Decrements the counter by one. Must be called by concurrent fibers once they
+  # have finished processing. When the counter reaches zero, all waiting fibers
+  # will be resumed.
+  def done : Nil
+    add(-1)
+  end
+
+  # Suspends the current fiber until the counter reaches zero, at which point
+  # the fiber will be resumed.
+  #
+  # Can be called from different fibers.
+  def wait : Nil
+    return if done?
+
+    waiting = Waiting.new(Fiber.current)
+
+    @lock.sync do
+      # must check again to avoid a race condition where #done may have
+      # decremented the counter to zero between the above check and #wait
+      # acquiring the lock; we'd push the current fiber to the wait list that
+      # would never be resumed (oops)
+      return if done?
+
+      @waiting.push(pointerof(waiting))
+    end
+
+    Crystal::Scheduler.reschedule
+
+    return if done?
+    raise RuntimeError.new("Positive WaitGroup counter (early wake up?)")
+  end
+
+  private def done?
+    counter = @counter.get(:acquire)
+    raise RuntimeError.new("Negative WaitGroup counter") if counter < 0
+    counter == 0
+  end
+end