diff --git a/doctr/__init__.py b/doctr/__init__.py
index 53b3a702..e088bc23 100644
--- a/doctr/__init__.py
+++ b/doctr/__init__.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 from .local import (encrypt_variable, encrypt_to_file, GitHub_post,
     generate_GitHub_token, upload_GitHub_deploy_key, generate_ssh_key,
-    check_repo_exists, guess_github_repo)
+    check_repo_exists, guess_github_repo, activate_travis)
 from .travis import (decrypt_file, setup_deploy_key, get_token, run,
     setup_GitHub_push, checkout_deploy_branch, deploy_branch_exists,
     set_git_user_email, create_deploy_branch, copy_to_tmp, sync_from_log,
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 __all__ = [
     'encrypt_variable', 'encrypt_to_file', 'GitHub_post',
     'generate_GitHub_token', 'upload_GitHub_deploy_key', 'generate_ssh_key',
-    'check_repo_exists', 'guess_github_repo',
+    'check_repo_exists', 'guess_github_repo', 'activate_travis',
 
     'decrypt_file', 'setup_deploy_key', 'get_token', 'run',
     'setup_GitHub_push', 'set_git_user_email', 'checkout_deploy_branch', 'deploy_branch_exists',
diff --git a/doctr/__main__.py b/doctr/__main__.py
index 86bcbe93..34475f09 100644
--- a/doctr/__main__.py
+++ b/doctr/__main__.py
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
 
 from .local import (generate_GitHub_token, encrypt_variable, encrypt_to_file,
     upload_GitHub_deploy_key, generate_ssh_key, check_repo_exists,
-    GitHub_login, guess_github_repo, AuthenticationFailed)
+    GitHub_login, guess_github_repo, activate_travis, AuthenticationFailed)
 from .travis import (setup_GitHub_push, commit_docs, push_docs,
     get_current_repo, sync_from_log, find_sphinx_build_dir, run,
     get_travis_branch, copy_to_tmp, checkout_deploy_branch)
@@ -397,7 +397,27 @@ def configure(args, parser):
             else:
                 build_repo = input("What repo do you want to build the docs for (org/reponame, like 'drdoctr/doctr')? ")
             is_private = check_repo_exists(build_repo, service='github', **login_kwargs)
-            check_repo_exists(build_repo, service='travis')
+            try:
+                check_repo_exists(build_repo, service='travis')
+            except RuntimeError:
+                if not args.upload_key:
+                    # Activating a repo on Travis requires authentication
+                    raise
+                activate = 'x'
+                while activate not in 'yn':
+                    activate = input("{build_repo} is not activated on Travis. Would you like to activate it? [Y/n] ".format(build_repo=build_repo))
+                    if not activate:
+                        activate = 'y'
+                    activate = activate[0].lower()
+                if activate == 'n':
+                    raise
+                tld = ''
+                while tld not in ['.com', '.org']:
+                    tld = input("Would you like to activate on travis-ci.org or travis-ci.com? [.org] ")
+                    if not tld:
+                        tld = '.org'
+                activate_travis(build_repo, tld=tld, **login_kwargs)
+
             get_build_repo = True
         except RuntimeError as e:
             print(red('\n{!s:-^{}}\n'.format(e, 70)))
diff --git a/doctr/local.py b/doctr/local.py
index 9a6b1fdb..af241fb8 100644
--- a/doctr/local.py
+++ b/doctr/local.py
@@ -296,3 +296,33 @@ def guess_github_repo():
     if not m:
         return False
     return m.group(1)
+
+def activate_travis(repo, tld='.org', **login_kwargs):
+    APIv2 = {'Accept': 'application/vnd.travis-ci.2+json'}
+    APIv3 = {"Travis-API-Version": "3"}
+    _headers = {
+        'Content-Type': 'application/json',
+        'User-Agent': 'MyClient/1.0.0',
+    }
+    headersv2 = {**_headers, **APIv2}
+    headersv3 = {**_headers, **APIv3}
+
+    token_id = None
+    try:
+        print("I need to generate a temporary token with GitHub to authenticate with Travis.")
+        print("It will be deleted immediately. If you still see it after this at https://github.com/settings/tokens after please delete it manually.")
+        # /auth/github doesn't seem to exist in the Travis API v3.
+        tok_dict = generate_GitHub_token(scopes=["read:org", "user:email", "repo"],
+            note="temporary token for doctr to auth against travis (delete me)",
+            **login_kwargs)
+        data = {'github_token': tok_dict['token']}
+        token_id = tok_dict['id']
+        res = requests.post('https://api.travis-ci{tld}/auth/github'.format(tld=tld), data=json.dumps(data), headers=headersv2)
+        res.raise_for_status()
+        headersv3['Authorization'] = 'token {}'.format(res.json()['access_token'])
+        res = requests.get('https://api.travis-ci{tld}/repo/{repo}/activate'.format(tld=tld, repo=urllib.parse.quote(repo, safe='')), headers=headersv3)
+        res.raise_for_status()
+    finally:
+        # Remove temporary GH token
+        if token_id:
+            delete_GitHub_token(token_id, **login_kwargs)