diff --git a/server/handler/hook.go b/server/handler/hook.go
index 2b08a0130..3aeebf6ef 100644
--- a/server/handler/hook.go
+++ b/server/handler/hook.go
@@ -2,9 +2,11 @@ package handler
 
 import (
 	"net/http"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/drone/drone/plugin/remote"
 	"github.com/drone/drone/server/database"
+	"github.com/drone/drone/shared/build/script"
 	"github.com/drone/drone/shared/httputil"
 	"github.com/drone/drone/shared/model"
 	"github.com/gorilla/pat"
@@ -49,7 +51,7 @@ func (h *HookHandler) PostHook(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) error {
 	// in some cases we have neither a hook nor error. An example
 	// would be GitHub sending a ping request to the URL, in which
 	// case we'll just exit quiely with an 'OK'
-	if hook == nil {
+	if hook == nil || strings.Contains(hook.Message, "[CI SKIP]") {
 		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
 		return nil
 	}
@@ -80,6 +82,15 @@ func (h *HookHandler) PostHook(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) error {
 		return badRequest{err}
 	}
 
+	// verify the commit hooks branch matches the list of approved
+	// branches (unless it is a pull request). Note that we don't really
+	// care if parsing the yaml fails here.
+	s, _ := script.ParseBuild(yml, map[string]string{})
+	if len(hook.PullRequest) != 0 && !s.MatchBranch(hook.Branch) {
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	c := model.Commit{
 		RepoID:      repo.ID,
 		Status:      model.StatusEnqueue,
diff --git a/shared/build/script/script.go b/shared/build/script/script.go
index bb6ddc002..9f7d2d6ed 100644
--- a/shared/build/script/script.go
+++ b/shared/build/script/script.go
@@ -71,6 +71,9 @@ type Build struct {
 	// linked to the build environment.
 	Services []string
 
+	// White-list of Branches that are built.
+	Branches []string
+
 	Deploy        *deploy.Deploy       `yaml:"deploy,omitempty"`
 	Publish       *publish.Publish     `yaml:"publish,omitempty"`
 	Notifications *notify.Notification `yaml:"notify,omitempty"`
@@ -119,6 +122,18 @@ func (b *Build) WriteBuild(f *buildfile.Buildfile) {
 	}
 }
 
+func (b *Build) MatchBranch(branch string) bool {
+	if len(b.Branches) == 0 {
+		return true
+	}
+	for _, item := range b.Branches {
+		if item == branch {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
 type Publish interface {
 	Write(f *buildfile.Buildfile)
 }