diff --git a/src/dependencies.ts b/src/dependencies.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..63aa273
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/dependencies.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+import * as core from '@actions/core'
+import {GRAALVM_PLATFORM} from './constants'
+import {exec} from '@actions/exec'
+
+const APT_GET_INSTALL_BASE = 'sudo apt-get -y --no-upgrade install'
+const COMPONENT_TO_DEPS = new Map<string, Map<string, string>>([
+  [
+    'linux',
+    new Map<string, string>([
+      ['nodejs', `${APT_GET_INSTALL_BASE} g++ make`],
+      ['ruby', `${APT_GET_INSTALL_BASE} make gcc libssl-dev libz-dev`],
+      [
+        'R',
+        `${APT_GET_INSTALL_BASE} libgomp1 build-essential gfortran libxml2 libc++-dev`
+      ]
+    ])
+  ],
+  ['darwin', new Map<string, string>([['ruby', 'brew install openssl']])]
+])
+
+export async function setUpDependencies(components: string[]): Promise<void> {
+  const platformDeps = COMPONENT_TO_DEPS.get(GRAALVM_PLATFORM)
+  if (platformDeps) {
+    for (const component of components) {
+      const depCommand = platformDeps.get(component)
+      if (depCommand) {
+        core.startGroup(`Installing dependencies for ${component}...`)
+        await exec(depCommand)
+        core.endGroup()
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/main.ts b/src/main.ts
index 0ed2ece..1af24c4 100644
--- a/src/main.ts
+++ b/src/main.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import * as core from '@actions/core'
 import * as graalvm from './graalvm'
 import {join} from 'path'
 import {mkdirP} from '@actions/io'
+import {setUpDependencies} from './dependencies'
 import {setUpGraalVMTrunk} from './graalvm-trunk'
 import {setUpWindowsEnvironment} from './msvc'
 
@@ -18,6 +19,7 @@ async function run(): Promise<void> {
     if (c.IS_WINDOWS) {
       setUpWindowsEnvironment()
     }
+    setUpDependencies(components)
 
     await mkdirP(c.GRAALVM_BASE)