diff --git a/docker/start_example.sh b/docker/start_example.sh
index 82694533..213ceaff 100755
--- a/docker/start_example.sh
+++ b/docker/start_example.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ action() {
 
     # valid example?
     if [ ! -d "${example_dir}" ]; then
-        2>&1 echo "'${example_name}' is not a valid law example"
+        >&2 echo "'${example_name}' is not a valid law example"
         return "1"
     fi
     export LAW_DOCKER_EXAMPLE="${example_name}"
diff --git a/law.cfg.example b/law.cfg.example
index 68b68978..2255da8e 100644
--- a/law.cfg.example
+++ b/law.cfg.example
@@ -775,7 +775,7 @@
 ; all jobs files to be present as long as jobs are running, or in case you want to debug the files
 ; later on.
 ; Type: boolean
-; Default: True
+; Default: False
 
 
 ; --- Options of contrib packages
diff --git a/law/cli/cli.py b/law/cli/cli.py
index 43124cf0..c24e6af2 100644
--- a/law/cli/cli.py
+++ b/law/cli/cli.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 import law
 
 
-progs = ["run", "index", "config", "software", "completion", "location"]
+progs = ["run", "index", "config", "software", "completion", "location", "quickstart"]
 
 
 def run(argv=None):
diff --git a/law/cli/completion.sh b/law/cli/completion.sh
index 35e790a1..0d7f76f7 100755
--- a/law/cli/completion.sh
+++ b/law/cli/completion.sh
@@ -26,8 +26,7 @@ _law_complete() {
     local index_file="${LAW_INDEX_FILE:-${law_home}/index}"
 
     # common parameters
-    local common_params="run index config software completion location --help --version"
-    local common_run_params="workers assistant local-scheduler scheduler-host scheduler-port log-level help"
+    local common_params="run index config software completion location quickstart --help --version"
 
     # the current word
     local cur="${COMP_WORDS[COMP_CWORD]}"
@@ -62,6 +61,7 @@ _law_complete() {
         local task_family="${COMP_WORDS[2]}"
 
         # complete parameters of the root task and if parameters were found, stop
+        local common_run_params="workers assistant local-scheduler scheduler-host scheduler-port log-level help"
         local inp="${cur##-}"
         inp="${inp##-}"
         COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W "$( _law_grep_Po "[^\:]+\:${task_family}\:\K.+" "${index_file}" ) ${common_run_params}" -P "--" -- "${inp}" ) )
@@ -195,6 +195,15 @@ _law_complete() {
         inp="${inp##-}"
         COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W "$( echo ${words} )" -P "--" -- "${inp}" ) $( compgen -W "$( echo ${contribs} )" -- "${inp}" ) )
         return "0"
+
+    # complete the "quickstart" subcommand
+    elif [ "${sub_cmd}" = "quickstart" ]; then
+        local words="help directory no-tasks no-config no-setup"
+        local inp="${cur##-}"
+        inp="${inp##-}"
+        COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W "$( echo ${words} )" -P "--" -- "${inp}" ) )
+        return "0"
+
     fi
 }
 
diff --git a/law/cli/quickstart.py b/law/cli/quickstart.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e8195a0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/law/cli/quickstart.py
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+# coding: utf-8
+
+"""
+"law quickstart" cli subprogram.
+"""
+
+
+import os
+import shutil
+
+from law.config import Config
+from law.util import law_src_path
+
+
+_cfg = Config.instance()
+
+
+def setup_parser(sub_parsers):
+    """
+    Sets up the command line parser for the *quickstart* subprogram and adds it to *sub_parsers*.
+    """
+    parser = sub_parsers.add_parser(
+        "quickstart",
+        prog="law quickstart",
+        description="Quickstart to create a minimal project structure and law configuration.",
+    )
+
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--directory",
+        "-d",
+        help="the directory where the quickstart files are created; default: current directory",
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--no-tasks",
+        action="store_true",
+        help="skip creating tasks",
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--no-config",
+        action="store_true",
+        help="skip creating the law.cfg file",
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--no-setup",
+        action="store_true",
+        help="skip creating the setup.sh file",
+    )
+
+
+def execute(args):
+    """
+    Executes the *quickstart* subprogram with parsed commandline *args*.
+    """
+    # get the quickstart directory
+    qs_dir = law_src_path("templates", "quickstart")
+
+    # prepare the directory if it does not exist yet
+    out_dir = os.path.normpath(os.path.abspath(args.directory))
+    if not os.path.exists(out_dir):
+        os.makedirs(out_dir)
+
+    # copy tasks
+    if not args.no_tasks:
+        dst = os.path.join(out_dir, "my_package")
+        shutil.copytree(os.path.join(qs_dir, "my_package"), dst)
+        print("created {}".format(dst))
+
+    # copy config
+    if not args.no_config:
+        shutil.copy2(os.path.join(qs_dir, "law.cfg"), out_dir)
+        print("created {}".format(os.path.join(out_dir, "law.cfg")))
+
+    # copy setup
+    if not args.no_setup:
+        shutil.copy2(os.path.join(qs_dir, "setup.sh"), out_dir)
+        print("created {}".format(os.path.join(out_dir, "setup.sh")))
diff --git a/law/config.py b/law/config.py
index 012a3383..9abdc12c 100644
--- a/law/config.py
+++ b/law/config.py
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ def __str__(self):
         "job": {
             "job_file_dir": os.getenv("LAW_JOB_FILE_DIR") or tempfile.gettempdir(),
             "job_file_dir_mkdtemp": True,
-            "job_file_dir_cleanup": True,
+            "job_file_dir_cleanup": False,
         },
         "notifications": {
             "mail_recipient": None,
diff --git a/law/contrib/cms/crab/crab_wrapper.sh b/law/contrib/cms/crab/crab_wrapper.sh
index f78fc370..96dc189d 100644
--- a/law/contrib/cms/crab/crab_wrapper.sh
+++ b/law/contrib/cms/crab/crab_wrapper.sh
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ action() {
     # get the job number
     export LAW_CRAB_JOB_NUMBER="$( ls -1 | grep -Po "jobReport\.json\.\K\d+" | head -n 1 )"
     if [ -z "${LAW_CRAB_JOB_NUMBER}" ]; then
-        2>&1 echo "could not determine crab job number"
+        >&2 echo "could not determine crab job number"
         return "1"
     fi
     echo "running ${this_file_base} for job number ${LAW_CRAB_JOB_NUMBER}"
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ action() {
     # get the comma-separated list of input files
     export LAW_CRAB_INPUT_FILES="$( python -c "from PSet import process; print(','.join(list(getattr(process.source, 'fileNames', []))))" )"
     if [ -z "${LAW_CRAB_INPUT_FILES}" ]; then
-        2>&1 echo "could not determine crab input files"
+        >&2 echo "could not determine crab input files"
         # do not consider this an error for now
         # return "2"
     fi
diff --git a/law/templates/quickstart/law.cfg b/law/templates/quickstart/law.cfg
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..84dd173a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/law/templates/quickstart/law.cfg
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+; law configuration example
+; for more info, see https://law.readthedocs.io/en/latest/config.html
+
+[modules]
+; the task modules that should be scanned by "law index"
+my_package.tasks
+
+
+[logging]
+; log levels mapped to python modules
+law: INFO
+luigi-interface: INFO
+gfal2: WARNING
+
+
+[luigi_core]
+; luigi core settings
+local_scheduler: True
+scheduler_host: 127.0.0.1
+scheduler_port: 8080
+parallel_scheduling: False
+no_lock: True
+log_level: INFO
+
+
+[luigi_scheduler]
+; luigi scheduler settings
+record_task_history: False
+remove_delay: 86400
+retry_delay: 30
+worker_disconnect_delay: 30
+
+
+[luigi_worker]
+; luigi worker settings
+ping_interval: 20
+wait_interval: 20
+check_unfulfilled_deps: False
+cache_task_completion: True
+keep_alive: True
+force_multiprocessing: False
diff --git a/law/templates/quickstart/my_package/__init__.py b/law/templates/quickstart/my_package/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..57d631c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/law/templates/quickstart/my_package/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+# coding: utf-8
diff --git a/law/templates/quickstart/my_package/tasks.py b/law/templates/quickstart/my_package/tasks.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..42dffc95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/law/templates/quickstart/my_package/tasks.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+# coding: utf-8
+
+"""
+Location of tasks.
+"""
+
+import law
+
+
+class MyTask(law.Task):
+
+    def output(self):
+        return law.LocalFileTarget("$QS_DATA/output.txt")
+
+    def run(self):
+        self.output().dump("output of {!r}".format(self))
diff --git a/law/templates/quickstart/setup.sh b/law/templates/quickstart/setup.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..89d089c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/law/templates/quickstart/setup.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# Setup script for the quickstart template. Custom environment variables are prefixed with "QS_".
+
+action() {
+    # local variables
+    local shell_is_zsh="$( [ -z "${ZSH_VERSION}" ] && echo "false" || echo "true" )"
+    local this_file="$( ${shell_is_zsh} && echo "${(%):-%x}" || echo "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )"
+    local this_dir="$( cd "$( dirname "${this_file}" )" && pwd )"
+
+    # global variables
+    export QS_BASE="${this_dir}"
+    export QS_DATA="${QS_BASE}/data"
+    export PYTHONPATH="${QS_BASE}:${PYTHONPATH}"
+    export LAW_HOME="${QS_BASE}/.law"
+    export LAW_CONFIG_FILE="${QS_BASE}/law.cfg"
+
+    # detect law
+    if ! type type &> /dev/null; then
+        >&2 echo "law not found, please adjust PATH and PYTHONPATH or 'pip install law'"
+    else
+        source "$( law completion )" ""
+    fi
+}
+action