diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index cef8fa511..9a89e3cbf 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -100,6 +100,13 @@ func init() {
 }
 ```
 
+### Input Plugin Development
+
+* Run `make static` followed by `make plugin-[pluginName]` to spin up a docker dev environment
+using docker-compose.
+* ***[Optional]*** When developing a plugin, add a `dev` directory with a `docker-compose.yml` and `telegraf.conf`
+as well as any other supporting files, where sensible.
+
 ## Adding Typed Metrics
 
 In addition the the `AddFields` function, the accumulator also supports an
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 8650df267..2f3fcecea 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -92,4 +92,15 @@ docker-image:
 plugins/parsers/influx/machine.go: plugins/parsers/influx/machine.go.rl
 	ragel -Z -G2 $^ -o $@
 
-.PHONY: deps telegraf install test test-windows lint vet test-all package clean docker-image fmtcheck uint64
+static:
+	@echo "Building static linux binary..."
+	@CGO_ENABLED=0 \
+	GOOS=linux \
+	GOARCH=amd64 \
+	go build -ldflags "$(LDFLAGS)" ./cmd/telegraf
+
+plugin-%:
+	@echo "Starting dev environment for $${$(@)} input plugin..."
+	@docker-compose -f plugins/inputs/$${$(@)}/dev/docker-compose.yml up
+
+.PHONY: deps telegraf install test test-windows lint vet test-all package clean docker-image fmtcheck uint64 static
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/logparser/dev/docker-compose.yml b/plugins/inputs/logparser/dev/docker-compose.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..dfb8e7843
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/inputs/logparser/dev/docker-compose.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+version: '3'
+
+services:
+    telegraf:
+        image: glinton/scratch
+        volumes:
+          - ./telegraf.conf:/telegraf.conf
+          - ../../../../telegraf:/telegraf
+          - ./test.log:/var/log/test.log
+        entrypoint:
+          - /telegraf
+          - --config
+          - /telegraf.conf
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/logparser/dev/telegraf.conf b/plugins/inputs/logparser/dev/telegraf.conf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..77e26528c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/inputs/logparser/dev/telegraf.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+[agent]
+  interval="1s"
+  flush_interval="1s"
+
+[[inputs.logparser]]
+   files = ["/var/log/test.log"]
+   from_beginning = true
+   [inputs.logparser.grok]
+      patterns = [ "%{COMBINED_LOG_FORMAT}", "%{CLIENT:client_ip} %{NOTSPACE:ident} %{NOTSPACE:auth} \\[%{TIMESTAMP_ISO8601:timestamp}\\] \"(?:%{WORD:verb:tag} %{NOTSPACE:request}(?: HTTP/%{NUMBER:http_version:float})?|%{DATA})\" %{NUMBER:resp_code:tag} (?:%{NUMBER:resp_bytes:int}|-) %{QS:referrer} %{QS:agent}"]
+
+[[outputs.file]]
+  files = ["stdout"]
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/logparser/dev/test.log b/plugins/inputs/logparser/dev/test.log
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2ff2e4ef6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/inputs/logparser/dev/test.log
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+127.0.0.1 ident auth [10/Oct/2000:13:55:36 -0700] "GET /anything HTTP/1.0" 200 2326 "http://localhost:8083/" "Chrome/51.0.2704.84"
+127.0.0.1 ident auth [2018-02-21 13:10:34,555] "GET /peter HTTP/1.0" 200 2326 "http://localhost:8083/" "Chrome/51.0.2704.84"
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/mongodb/dev/docker-compose.yml b/plugins/inputs/mongodb/dev/docker-compose.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9bf80f244
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/inputs/mongodb/dev/docker-compose.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+version: '3'
+services:
+    mongodb:
+        image: mongo
+
+    telegraf:
+        image: glinton/scratch
+        volumes:
+          - ./telegraf.conf:/telegraf.conf
+          - ../../../../telegraf:/telegraf
+        depends_on:
+          - mongodb
+        entrypoint:
+          - /telegraf
+          - --config
+          - /telegraf.conf
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/mongodb/dev/telegraf.conf b/plugins/inputs/mongodb/dev/telegraf.conf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..35077b161
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/inputs/mongodb/dev/telegraf.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+[agent]
+  interval="1s"
+  flush_interval="3s"
+
+[[inputs.mongodb]]
+  servers = ["mongodb://mongodb:27017"]
+
+[[outputs.file]]
+  files = ["stdout"]
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/mysql/dev/docker-compose.yml b/plugins/inputs/mysql/dev/docker-compose.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5f1773fbc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/inputs/mysql/dev/docker-compose.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+version: '3'
+
+services:
+  mysql:
+    image: mysql:5.7
+    restart: always
+    environment:
+      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: telegraf
+      MYSQL_DATABASE: telegraf
+      MYSQL_USER: telegraf
+      MYSQL_PASSWORD: telegraf
+  maria:
+    image: mariadb
+    restart: always
+    environment:
+      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: telegraf
+      MYSQL_DATABASE: telegraf
+      MYSQL_USER: telegraf
+      MYSQL_PASSWORD: telegraf
+    command: mysqld --userstat=1
+  percona:
+    image: percona
+    restart: always
+    environment:
+      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: telegraf
+      MYSQL_DATABASE: telegraf
+      MYSQL_USER: telegraf
+      MYSQL_PASSWORD: telegraf
+
+  telegraf:
+    image: glinton/scratch
+    depends_on:
+      - mysql
+      - maria
+      - percona
+    volumes:
+      - ./telegraf.conf:/telegraf.conf
+      - ../../../../telegraf:/telegraf
+    entrypoint:
+      - /telegraf
+      - --config
+      - /telegraf.conf
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/mysql/dev/telegraf.conf b/plugins/inputs/mysql/dev/telegraf.conf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9aa4801ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/inputs/mysql/dev/telegraf.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+# Uncomment each input as needed to test plugin
+
+## mysql
+#[[inputs.mysql]]
+#  servers = ["root:telegraf@tcp(mysql:3306)/"]
+#  gather_table_schema = true
+#  gather_process_list = true
+#  gather_user_statistics = true
+#  gather_info_schema_auto_inc = true
+#  gather_innodb_metrics = true
+#  gather_slave_status = true
+#  gather_binary_logs = false
+#  gather_table_io_waits = true
+#  gather_table_lock_waits = true
+#  gather_index_io_waits = true
+#  gather_event_waits = true
+#  gather_file_events_stats = true
+#  gather_perf_events_statements = true
+#  interval_slow = "30m"
+#  table_schema_databases = []
+#
+## mariadb
+#[[inputs.mysql]]
+#  servers = ["root:telegraf@tcp(maria:3306)/"]
+#  gather_table_schema = true
+#  gather_process_list = true
+#  gather_user_statistics = true
+#  gather_info_schema_auto_inc = true
+#  gather_innodb_metrics = true
+#  gather_slave_status = true
+#  gather_binary_logs = false
+#  gather_table_io_waits = true
+#  gather_table_lock_waits = true
+#  gather_index_io_waits = true
+#  gather_event_waits = true
+#  gather_file_events_stats = true
+#  gather_perf_events_statements = true
+#  interval_slow = "30m"
+#  table_schema_databases = []
+
+# percona
+[[inputs.mysql]]
+  servers = ["root:telegraf@tcp(percona:3306)/"]
+  gather_table_schema = true
+  gather_process_list = true
+  gather_user_statistics = true
+  gather_info_schema_auto_inc = true
+  gather_innodb_metrics = true
+  gather_slave_status = true
+  gather_binary_logs = false
+  gather_table_io_waits = true
+  gather_table_lock_waits = true
+  gather_index_io_waits = true
+  gather_event_waits = true
+  gather_file_events_stats = true
+  gather_perf_events_statements = true
+  interval_slow = "30m"
+  table_schema_databases = []
+
+[[outputs.file]]
+  files = ["stdout"]