diff --git a/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/channel/config/ThreadLocalChannelParser.java b/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/channel/config/ThreadLocalChannelParser.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..38fe4d5821
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/channel/config/ThreadLocalChannelParser.java
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2002-2008 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.springframework.integration.channel.config;
+
+import org.w3c.dom.Element;
+
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionBuilder;
+import org.springframework.integration.channel.DispatcherPolicy;
+import org.springframework.integration.channel.ThreadLocalChannel;
+
+/**
+ * Parser for the <thread-local-channel> element.
+ * 
+ * @author Mark Fisher
+ */
+public class ThreadLocalChannelParser extends AbstractChannelParser {
+
+	@Override
+	protected Class<?> getBeanClass(Element element) {
+		return ThreadLocalChannel.class;
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	protected void configureConstructorArgs(BeanDefinitionBuilder builder, Element element, DispatcherPolicy dispatcherPolicy) {
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/IntegrationNamespaceHandler.java b/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/IntegrationNamespaceHandler.java
index 2da47959ae..8224d6f8f1 100644
--- a/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/IntegrationNamespaceHandler.java
+++ b/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/IntegrationNamespaceHandler.java
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import org.springframework.integration.channel.config.DirectChannelParser;
 import org.springframework.integration.channel.config.PriorityChannelParser;
 import org.springframework.integration.channel.config.QueueChannelParser;
 import org.springframework.integration.channel.config.RendezvousChannelParser;
+import org.springframework.integration.channel.config.ThreadLocalChannelParser;
 import org.springframework.integration.router.config.SplitterParser;
 import org.springframework.util.ClassUtils;
 
@@ -58,6 +59,7 @@ public class IntegrationNamespaceHandler extends NamespaceHandlerSupport {
 		registerBeanDefinitionParser("direct-channel", new DirectChannelParser());
 		registerBeanDefinitionParser("priority-channel", new PriorityChannelParser());
 		registerBeanDefinitionParser("rendezvous-channel", new RendezvousChannelParser());
+		registerBeanDefinitionParser("thread-local-channel", new ThreadLocalChannelParser());
 		registerBeanDefinitionParser("source-adapter", new MethodInvokingAdapterParser());
 		registerBeanDefinitionParser("target-adapter", new MethodInvokingAdapterParser());
 		registerBeanDefinitionParser("source-endpoint", new SourceEndpointParser());
diff --git a/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/spring-integration-core-1.0.xsd b/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/spring-integration-core-1.0.xsd
index 9fed29d416..bc19a253dd 100644
--- a/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/spring-integration-core-1.0.xsd
+++ b/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/spring-integration-core-1.0.xsd
@@ -94,6 +94,8 @@
 
 	<xsd:element name="rendezvous-channel" type="channelType"/>
 
+	<xsd:element name="thread-local-channel" type="channelType"/>
+
 	<xsd:complexType name="capacityChannelType">
 		<xsd:annotation>
 			<xsd:documentation>
diff --git a/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/channel/config/ThreadLocalChannelParserTests.java b/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/channel/config/ThreadLocalChannelParserTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7e9005f497
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/channel/config/ThreadLocalChannelParserTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2002-2008 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.springframework.integration.channel.config;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;
+import org.springframework.integration.channel.MessageChannel;
+import org.springframework.integration.channel.ThreadLocalChannel;
+
+/**
+ * @author Mark Fisher
+ */
+public class ThreadLocalChannelParserTests {
+
+	@Test
+	public void testChannelType() {
+		ClassPathXmlApplicationContext context = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext(
+				"threadLocalChannelParserTests.xml", ThreadLocalChannelParserTests.class);
+		MessageChannel channel = (MessageChannel) context.getBean("channel");
+		assertEquals(ThreadLocalChannel.class, channel.getClass());
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/channel/config/threadLocalChannelParserTests.xml b/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/channel/config/threadLocalChannelParserTests.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e577e3a503
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/channel/config/threadLocalChannelParserTests.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<beans:beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration"
+	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	xmlns:beans="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-2.5.xsd
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration/spring-integration-core-1.0.xsd">
+
+	<thread-local-channel id="channel"/>
+
+</beans:beans>