diff --git a/platformio/package/manifest/parser.py b/platformio/package/manifest/parser.py
index 689de80b..8949f43e 100644
--- a/platformio/package/manifest/parser.py
+++ b/platformio/package/manifest/parser.py
@@ -662,6 +662,7 @@ class PackageJsonManifestParser(BaseManifestParser):
             data["keywords"] = self.str_to_list(data["keywords"], sep=",")
         data = self._parse_system(data)
         data = self._parse_homepage(data)
+        data = self._parse_repository(data)
         return data
 
     @staticmethod
@@ -682,3 +683,14 @@ class PackageJsonManifestParser(BaseManifestParser):
             data["homepage"] = data["url"]
             del data["url"]
         return data
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _parse_repository(data):
+        if isinstance(data.get("repository", {}), dict):
+            return data
+        data["repository"] = dict(type="git", url=str(data["repository"]))
+        if data["repository"]["url"].startswith(("github:", "gitlab:", "bitbucket:")):
+            data["repository"]["url"] = "https://{0}.com/{1}".format(
+                *(data["repository"]["url"].split(":", 1))
+            )
+        return data
diff --git a/platformio/util.py b/platformio/util.py
index aeeaf55b..f950a364 100644
--- a/platformio/util.py
+++ b/platformio/util.py
@@ -28,8 +28,8 @@ import click
 
 from platformio import __version__, exception, proc
 from platformio.compat import PY2, WINDOWS
-from platformio.fs import cd  # pylint: disable=unused-import
-from platformio.fs import load_json  # pylint: disable=unused-import
+from platformio.fs import cd, load_json  # pylint: disable=unused-import
+from platformio.package.version import pepver_to_semver  # pylint: disable=unused-import
 from platformio.proc import exec_command  # pylint: disable=unused-import
 
 
diff --git a/tests/package/test_manifest.py b/tests/package/test_manifest.py
index 9dd5b878..426cbdf1 100644
--- a/tests/package/test_manifest.py
+++ b/tests/package/test_manifest.py
@@ -672,6 +672,20 @@ def test_package_json_schema():
     )
     assert mp.as_dict()["system"] == ["darwin_x86_64"]
 
+    # shortcut repository syntax (npm-style)
+    contents = """
+{
+    "name": "tool-github",
+    "version": "1.2.0",
+    "repository": "github:user/repo"
+}
+"""
+    raw_data = parser.ManifestParserFactory.new(
+        contents, parser.ManifestFileType.PACKAGE_JSON
+    ).as_dict()
+    data = ManifestSchema().load_manifest(raw_data)
+    assert data["repository"]["url"] == "https://github.com/user/repo.git"
+
 
 def test_parser_from_dir(tmpdir_factory):
     pkg_dir = tmpdir_factory.mktemp("package")