diff --git a/.cpplint b/.cpplint
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f6e10f03963
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.cpplint
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+set noparent
+filter=-build/include_alpha,-build/include_subdir,-build/include_what_you_use,-legal/copyright,-readability/nolint
+linelength=80
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 41b7beb222d..86664b41461 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 !.nycrc
 !.travis.yml
 !.eslintrc.yaml
+!.cpplint
 
 core
 vgcore.*
diff --git a/tools/cpplint.py b/tools/cpplint.py
index 05c7923b350..2cc586ee5d9 100755
--- a/tools/cpplint.py
+++ b/tools/cpplint.py
@@ -6285,7 +6285,7 @@ def ProcessConfigOverrides(filename):
     if not base_name:
       break  # Reached the root directory.
 
-    cfg_file = os.path.join(abs_path, "CPPLINT.cfg")
+    cfg_file = os.path.join(abs_path, ".cpplint")
     abs_filename = abs_path
     if not os.path.isfile(cfg_file):
       continue