diff --git a/tools/lib/provision.py b/tools/lib/provision.py
index fb475b1a98..deb1af8e01 100755
--- a/tools/lib/provision.py
+++ b/tools/lib/provision.py
@@ -385,6 +385,9 @@ def main(options):
     # Install shellcheck.
     run_as_root(["tools/setup/install-shellcheck"])
 
+    # Install sgrep.
+    run_as_root(["tools/setup/install-sgrep"])
+
     setup_venvs.main()
 
     run_as_root(["cp", REPO_STOPWORDS_PATH, TSEARCH_STOPWORDS_PATH])
diff --git a/tools/lint b/tools/lint
index 09404fe416..02ac0bb594 100755
--- a/tools/lint
+++ b/tools/lint
@@ -92,6 +92,11 @@ def run():
                                   description="Checks commit messages for common formatting errors."
                                   "(config: .gitlint)")
 
+    sgrep_command = ["sgrep-lint", "--config=./tools/sgrep.yml", "--error"]
+    linter_config.external_linter('sgrep-py', [*sgrep_command, "--lang=python"], ['py'],
+                                  description="Syntactic Grep (sgrep) Code Search Tool "
+                                  "(config: ./tools/sgrep.yml)")
+
     @linter_config.lint
     def custom_py():
         # type: () -> int
diff --git a/tools/linter_lib/custom_check.py b/tools/linter_lib/custom_check.py
index 5ad8755939..4307eee9c2 100644
--- a/tools/linter_lib/custom_check.py
+++ b/tools/linter_lib/custom_check.py
@@ -415,9 +415,6 @@ python_rules = RuleList(
          'description': "Don't use datetime in backend code.\n"
          "See https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/latest/contributing/code-style.html#naive-datetime-objects",
          },
-        {'pattern': r'render_to_response\(',
-         'description': "Use render() instead of render_to_response().",
-         },
         {'pattern': 'from os.path',
          'description': "Don't use from when importing from the standard library",
          },
diff --git a/tools/setup/install-sgrep b/tools/setup/install-sgrep
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..293f5b84d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/setup/install-sgrep
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -e
+
+version=0.4.9b5
+tarball=sgrep-$version-ubuntu-16.04.tgz
+sha256=9e57323fd0eb9133b7ff301a6be8361c073c3bfe6e6959ca1b622e5abc176e03
+tarball_url=https://github.com/returntocorp/sgrep/releases/download/v$version/$tarball
+
+if ! out="$(sgrep-lint --version 2>/dev/null)" || [[ "$out" != "$version" ]]
+then
+    tmpdir="$(mktemp -d)"
+    trap 'rm -r "$tmpdir"' EXIT
+    cd "$tmpdir"
+    wget -nv "$tarball_url"
+    sha256sum -c <<< "$sha256  $tarball"
+    tar -xzf "$tarball" -C /usr/local/lib/
+    ln -sf /usr/local/lib/sgrep-lint-files/sgrep-lint /usr/local/bin/sgrep-lint
+    ln -sf /usr/local/lib/sgrep-lint-files/sgrep /usr/local/bin/sgrep
+fi
diff --git a/tools/sgrep.yml b/tools/sgrep.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e99823e67d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/sgrep.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# See https://github.com/returntocorp/sgrep/blob/develop/docs/config.md for sgrep rule format
+
+rules:
+  - id: deprecated-render-usage
+    pattern: django.shortcuts.render_to_response(...)
+    message: Use render() (from django.shortcuts) instead of render_to_response()
+    languages: [python]
+    severity: ERROR
+  - id: useless-if-body
+    patterns:
+        - pattern: |
+            if $X:
+                $S
+            else:
+                $S
+    message: "useless if statment; both blocks have the same body"
+    languages: [python]
+    severity: ERROR
diff --git a/version.py b/version.py
index 4f642515ec..f610d0011d 100644
--- a/version.py
+++ b/version.py
@@ -34,4 +34,4 @@ DESKTOP_WARNING_VERSION = "5.0.0"
 #   historical commits sharing the same major version, in which case a
 #   minor version bump suffices.
 
-PROVISION_VERSION = '75.5'
+PROVISION_VERSION = '75.6'