diff --git a/bin/dune b/bin/dune
index a1fae45..f0f8d79 100644
--- a/bin/dune
+++ b/bin/dune
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 (executables
  (names main)
- (libraries dreamtt.core))
+ (libraries dreamtt.frontend cmdliner))
 
 (install
  (section bin)
diff --git a/bin/main.ml b/bin/main.ml
index 53800fa..84cc4f4 100644
--- a/bin/main.ml
+++ b/bin/main.ml
@@ -1,2 +1,41 @@
-let () = 
-  print_endline "Hello, world"
+open Frontend
+open Cmdliner
+
+type options = { mode : [ `Stdin | `File of string ] }
+
+let main { mode } =
+  match Driver.process_file mode with
+  | Ok () -> `Ok ()
+  | Error () -> `Error (false, "encountered one or more errors")
+
+let proginfo =
+  let doc =
+    "A pedagogic abstract bidirectional elaborator for dependent type theory."
+  in
+  let err_exit = Term.exit_info ~doc:"on ill-formed types or terms." 1 in
+  Term.info "dreamtt" ~version:"0.0" ~doc
+    ~exits:(err_exit :: Term.default_exits)
+
+let opt_input_file =
+  let doc = "The file to typecheck. When $(docv) is -, read stdin." in
+  let parse_dash =
+    Term.(
+      app @@ const @@ Option.map
+      @@ fun str -> if str = "-" then `Stdin else `File str)
+  in
+  Arg.(
+    parse_dash & value
+    & pos ~rev:true 0 (some string) None
+    & info [] ~doc ~docv:"FILE")
+
+let consolidate_options input_file : options Term.ret =
+  match input_file with
+  | Some input_file -> `Ok { mode = input_file }
+  | None -> `Error (true, "scripting mode expects an input file")
+
+let () =
+  let options : options Term.t =
+    Term.(ret (const consolidate_options $ opt_input_file))
+  in
+  let t = Term.ret @@ Term.(const main $ options) in
+  Term.exit @@ Term.eval ~catch:true ~err:Format.std_formatter (t, proginfo)
diff --git a/frontend/Driver.ml b/frontend/Driver.ml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..14ed66f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/Driver.ml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+let process_file input =
+  match input with
+  | `Stdin ->
+      print_endline "stdin";
+      Ok ()
+  | `File f ->
+      print_endline f;
+      Ok ()
diff --git a/frontend/Driver.mli b/frontend/Driver.mli
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0cf19c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/Driver.mli
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+val process_file : [ `Stdin | `File of string ] -> (unit, unit) result
+(** Process a file from stdin or filename *)
diff --git a/frontend/Frontend.ml b/frontend/Frontend.ml
index 646a078..6b70a79 100644
--- a/frontend/Frontend.ml
+++ b/frontend/Frontend.ml
@@ -171,3 +171,5 @@ struct
       and+ code1 = distill_ltm tm1 in
       R (Pair (code0, code1))
 end
+
+module Driver = Driver
diff --git a/frontend/Frontend.mli b/frontend/Frontend.mli
index 3286265..e965eff 100644
--- a/frontend/Frontend.mli
+++ b/frontend/Frontend.mli
@@ -60,3 +60,6 @@ module Distiller : sig
   val run : string Env.t -> 'a m -> 'a Error.M.m
   val distill_ltm : Syntax.ltm -> code m
 end
+
+module Driver = Driver
+(** Toplevel driver for dreamtt *)
diff --git a/frontend/dune b/frontend/dune
index cd8bb39..66915af 100644
--- a/frontend/dune
+++ b/frontend/dune
@@ -4,5 +4,3 @@
  (flags
   (:standard -w -37))
  (public_name dreamtt.frontend))
-
-