diff --git a/ui/status/ninja.go b/ui/status/ninja.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4cce681
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ui/status/ninja.go
@@ -0,0 +1,153 @@
+// Copyright 2018 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
+//
+// 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.
+
+package status
+
+import (
+	"bufio"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"os"
+	"syscall"
+
+	"github.com/golang/protobuf/proto"
+
+	"android/soong/ui/logger"
+	"android/soong/ui/status/ninja_frontend"
+)
+
+// NinjaReader reads the protobuf frontend format from ninja and translates it
+// into calls on the ToolStatus API.
+func NinjaReader(ctx logger.Logger, status ToolStatus, fifo string) {
+	os.Remove(fifo)
+
+	err := syscall.Mkfifo(fifo, 0666)
+	if err != nil {
+		ctx.Fatalf("Failed to mkfifo(%q): %v", fifo, err)
+	}
+
+	go ninjaReader(ctx, status, fifo)
+}
+
+func ninjaReader(ctx logger.Logger, status ToolStatus, fifo string) {
+	defer os.Remove(fifo)
+
+	f, err := os.Open(fifo)
+	if err != nil {
+		ctx.Fatal("Failed to open fifo:", err)
+	}
+	defer f.Close()
+
+	r := bufio.NewReader(f)
+
+	running := map[uint32]*Action{}
+
+	for {
+		size, err := readVarInt(r)
+		if err != nil {
+			if err != io.EOF {
+				ctx.Println("Got error reading from ninja:", err)
+			}
+			return
+		}
+
+		buf := make([]byte, size)
+		_, err = io.ReadFull(r, buf)
+		if err != nil {
+			if err == io.EOF {
+				ctx.Printf("Missing message of size %d from ninja\n", size)
+			} else {
+				ctx.Fatal("Got error reading from ninja:", err)
+			}
+			return
+		}
+
+		msg := &ninja_frontend.Status{}
+		err = proto.Unmarshal(buf, msg)
+		if err != nil {
+			ctx.Printf("Error reading message from ninja: %v\n", err)
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Ignore msg.BuildStarted
+		if msg.TotalEdges != nil {
+			status.SetTotalActions(int(msg.TotalEdges.GetTotalEdges()))
+		}
+		if msg.EdgeStarted != nil {
+			action := &Action{
+				Description: msg.EdgeStarted.GetDesc(),
+				Outputs:     msg.EdgeStarted.Outputs,
+				Command:     msg.EdgeStarted.GetCommand(),
+			}
+			status.StartAction(action)
+			running[msg.EdgeStarted.GetId()] = action
+		}
+		if msg.EdgeFinished != nil {
+			if started, ok := running[msg.EdgeFinished.GetId()]; ok {
+				delete(running, msg.EdgeFinished.GetId())
+
+				var err error
+				exitCode := int(msg.EdgeFinished.GetStatus())
+				if exitCode != 0 {
+					err = fmt.Errorf("exited with code: %d", exitCode)
+				}
+
+				status.FinishAction(ActionResult{
+					Action: started,
+					Output: msg.EdgeFinished.GetOutput(),
+					Error:  err,
+				})
+			}
+		}
+		if msg.Message != nil {
+			message := "ninja: " + msg.Message.GetMessage()
+			switch msg.Message.GetLevel() {
+			case ninja_frontend.Status_Message_INFO:
+				status.Status(message)
+			case ninja_frontend.Status_Message_WARNING:
+				status.Print("warning: " + message)
+			case ninja_frontend.Status_Message_ERROR:
+				status.Error(message)
+			default:
+				status.Print(message)
+			}
+		}
+		if msg.BuildFinished != nil {
+			status.Finish()
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func readVarInt(r *bufio.Reader) (int, error) {
+	ret := 0
+	shift := uint(0)
+
+	for {
+		b, err := r.ReadByte()
+		if err != nil {
+			return 0, err
+		}
+
+		ret += int(b&0x7f) << (shift * 7)
+		if b&0x80 == 0 {
+			break
+		}
+		shift += 1
+		if shift > 4 {
+			return 0, fmt.Errorf("Expected varint32 length-delimited message")
+		}
+	}
+
+	return ret, nil
+}