diff --git a/boards/native/Makefile.include b/boards/native/Makefile.include
index 213c3f6e53..b62e487081 100644
--- a/boards/native/Makefile.include
+++ b/boards/native/Makefile.include
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ else
   DEBUGGER ?= gdb
 endif
 
+RESET ?= $(RIOTBOARD)/$(BOARD)/dist/reset.sh
 FLASHER = true
 FLASHFILE ?= $(ELFFILE)
 
diff --git a/boards/native/dist/reset.sh b/boards/native/dist/reset.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..61b8af5f8c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/boards/native/dist/reset.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2019 Freie Universität Berlin
+#
+# This file is subject to the terms and conditions of the GNU Lesser
+# General Public License v2.1. See the file LICENSE in the top level
+# directory for more details.
+
+case ${DEBUG_ADAPTER_ID} in
+    # check if ${DEBUG_ADAPTER_ID} is empty or contains a number
+    ''|*[!0-9]*)
+        echo "Please provide native instance's PID using DEBUG_ADAPTER_ID" >&2
+        exit 1
+        ;;
+    *)  ;;
+esac
+
+kill -USR1 "${DEBUG_ADAPTER_ID}"