diff --git a/src/initialize/src/classes/ProjectInitializer.ts b/src/initialize/src/classes/ProjectInitializer.ts
index a315d874f..de9d3cea5 100644
--- a/src/initialize/src/classes/ProjectInitializer.ts
+++ b/src/initialize/src/classes/ProjectInitializer.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import { detectType } from '../controllers/typeDetectionController';
 import { writeCwSettings } from '../controllers/cwSettingsController';
 import { importProjectFromGitRepo } from '../controllers/gitController';
 import { InitializeResult } from 'initializeTypes';
+import { importProjectFromTar } from '../controllers/tarController';
 
 export default class ProjectInitializer {
   projectName: string;
@@ -47,6 +48,16 @@ export default class ProjectInitializer {
     return this.initializeExistingProject();
   }
 
+  async initializeProjectFromTar(
+    tarFile: string
+    ): Promise<InitializeResult> {
+      await importProjectFromTar(tarFile,
+        this.projectName,
+        this.projectMountDirectory
+        );
+    return this.initializeExistingProject();
+  }
+
   copyFiles() {
     this.traverseFileSystem(this.projectMountDirectory);
   }
diff --git a/src/initialize/src/controllers/tarController.ts b/src/initialize/src/controllers/tarController.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..151912f60
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/initialize/src/controllers/tarController.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+/*******************************************************************************
+ * Copyright (c) 2019 IBM Corporation and others.
+ * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
+ * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v2.0
+ * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
+ * http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v20.html
+ *
+ * Contributors:
+ *     IBM Corporation - initial API and implementation
+ *******************************************************************************/
+
+import fs from 'fs-extra';
+import { exec } from 'child_process';
+import request from 'request';
+
+export function importProjectFromTar(tarFile: string, name: string, dest: string): Promise<void> {
+
+    const fileName = `/tmp/${name}.tar.gz`;
+    const file = fs.createWriteStream(fileName);
+
+    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    request(tarFile)
+    .pipe(file)
+    .on('finish', () => {
+          exec(`tar -xvf ${fileName} -C ${dest}`, (err: any, stdout: any, stderr: any) => {
+            try {
+                fs.removeSync(fileName);
+            }
+            catch (err) {
+                /* Logging error when removing temp dir fails */
+                console.log(err);
+            }
+            if (err) {
+                return reject(err);
+            }
+            resolve();
+          });
+    })
+    .on('error', (err) => {
+        try {
+            fs.removeSync(fileName);
+        }
+        catch (err) {
+            console.log(err);
+        }
+        reject(err);
+    });
+    });
+
+}
diff --git a/src/initialize/src/main.ts b/src/initialize/src/main.ts
index 95d3654cf..b88e25736 100644
--- a/src/initialize/src/main.ts
+++ b/src/initialize/src/main.ts
@@ -42,7 +42,9 @@ export async function initializeProject(projectName: string, projectDirectory: s
   const projectInitializer = new ProjectInitializer(projectName, projectDirectory);
 
   try {
-    if (isGitCloneRequired(projectName, gitRepository)) {
+    if (process.env.TAR_FILE) {
+      initializeResult = await projectInitializer.initializeProjectFromTar(process.env.TAR_FILE);
+    } else if (isGitCloneRequired(projectName, gitRepository)) {
       initializeResult = await projectInitializer.initializeProjectFromGit(gitRepository, gitBranch);
     } else {
       initializeResult = await projectInitializer.initializeExistingProject();
diff --git a/src/pfe/portal/modules/projectInitializer.js b/src/pfe/portal/modules/projectInitializer.js
index a680c2073..255179509 100644
--- a/src/pfe/portal/modules/projectInitializer.js
+++ b/src/pfe/portal/modules/projectInitializer.js
@@ -189,12 +189,19 @@ const createEnvForContainerCreation = (user, projectName, gitInfo) => {
   env.push(`CW_EXTENSIONS=${JSON.stringify(cwExtensions)}`);
 
   if (projectName && gitInfo.repo) {
-    env.push(
-      `PROJ_NAME=${projectName}`,
-      `GIT_REPO=${gitInfo.repo}`,
-    );
-    if (gitInfo.branch) {
-      env.push(`GIT_BRANCH=${gitInfo.branch}`);
+    if (gitInfo.repo.endsWith(".tar.gz")) {
+      env.push(
+        `PROJ_NAME=${projectName}`,
+        `TAR_FILE=${gitInfo.repo}`,
+      );
+    } else {
+      env.push(
+        `PROJ_NAME=${projectName}`,
+        `GIT_REPO=${gitInfo.repo}`,
+      );
+      if (gitInfo.branch) {
+        env.push(`GIT_BRANCH=${gitInfo.branch}`);
+      }
     }
   }
   return env;