diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..857bcc0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+int main(int argc, const char *argv[]) {
+    return 0;
+}
diff --git a/src/sekrits.c b/src/sekrits.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..57b3048
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/sekrits.c
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <string.h>
+
+#include "sekrits.h"
+
+/// SEKRITS CODE
+
+struct sekrits_node {
+    struct sekrits_node *next;
+    char *name;
+    char *value;
+};
+
+struct sekrits {
+    struct sekrits_node *root;
+};
+
+int sekrits_create_from_filename(struct sekrits **ppsekrits, const char *filename) {
+    FILE *stream = fopen(filename, "r");
+    if (stream == NULL) {
+        perror("couldn't open file");
+        return SEKRITS_ERROR;
+    }
+    int result = sekrits_create_from_file(ppsekrits, stream);
+    fclose(stream);
+    return result;
+}
+
+/* used to define how long a sekrit line is allowed to be (this includes the
+ * sekrit name and value) */
+#define SEKRIT_MAX_LINE_LEN 8096
+
+int sekrits_create_from_file(struct sekrits **ppsekrits, FILE *file) {
+    struct sekrits *out = (struct sekrits *)malloc(sizeof(struct sekrits));
+    if (file == NULL) {
+        return SEKRITS_ERROR;
+    }
+    char sekrit_buf[SEKRIT_MAX_LINE_LEN] = {0};
+    char *line_end;
+    size_t line_num = 0;
+    while ((line_end = fgets(sekrit_buf, SEKRIT_MAX_LINE_LEN, file)) != NULL) {
+        ++line_num;
+        ssize_t total_len = line_end - sekrit_buf;
+        char *iter;
+        for (iter = sekrit_buf; iter < line_end; ++iter) {
+            if (*iter == '\\') {
+                ++iter;
+                continue;
+            } else if (*iter == '=') {
+                *iter = '\0';
+                ++iter;
+                break;
+            }
+        }
+        char *name = sekrit_buf;
+        size_t name_len = iter - sekrit_buf;
+        char *value = iter;
+        size_t value_len = line_end - iter;
+//        char name_buf[SEKRIT_MAX_LINE_LEN] = {0};
+//        char value_buf[SEKRIT_MAX_LINE_LEN] = {0};
+//        char terminator = 0;
+//        int read_bytes = 0;
+//        do {
+//            int res = sscanf(file, "%[^\\=]%n%[\=]c%s", name_buf, &read_bytes, );
+//        } while (res != 2);
+    };
+    *ppsekrits = out;
+    return SEKRITS_OK;
+}
+
+int sekrits_destroy(struct sekrits *thing) {
+    if (thing != NULL) {
+        free(thing);
+    }
+    return SEKRITS_OK;
+}
+int sekrits_fetch(const struct sekrits *, const char *name, char *buf, size_t len);
+
+const char *sekrits_get(struct sekrits *secrets, const char *name) {
+    if (secrets == NULL) {
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    struct sekrits_node *curr = secrets->root;
+    while (curr != NULL) {
+        if (strcmp(curr->name, name)) {
+            return curr->value;
+        }
+        curr = curr->next;
+    };
+    return NULL;
+}
diff --git a/src/sekrits.h b/src/sekrits.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1f4f07e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/sekrits.h
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+#ifndef WTFTRAINS_SEKRITS_H
+#define WTFTRAINS_SEKRITS_H
+
+/**
+ * Library for loading/storing secrets encoded as simple NAME=VALUE,
+ * newline-delimited pairs in a text file.
+ */
+
+#define SEKRITS_ERROR -1
+#define SEKRITS_OK     0
+
+/* opaque struct for storing sekrit information */
+struct sekrits;
+
+/* load a secret store from an opened file handle */
+int sekrits_create_from_file(struct sekrits **, FILE *file);
+/* load a secret store from a filename */
+int sekrits_create_from_filename(struct sekrits **, const char *filename);
+/* destroys an object created with sekrits_create_* */
+int sekrits_destroy(struct sekrits *);
+
+/* lists all of the names */
+int sekrits_list_names(const struct sekrits *, char ** names, size_t len);
+/* fetches one specific value, given a name */
+int sekrits_fetch(const struct sekrits *, const char *name, char *buf, size_t len);
+
+/* convenience function to get the value of a sekrit */
+const char *sekrits_get(struct sekrits *secrets, const char *name);
+
+#endif // WTFTRAINS_SEKRITS_H
diff --git a/tests/check_sekrits.c b/tests/check_sekrits.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1404be3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/check_sekrits.c
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <check.h>
+
+#include "../src/sekrits.h"
+
+START_TEST(test_create_from_file) {
+    const char *cases[] ={
+        "hello=true",
+        "OK=FINE\n",
+        "notok"
+    };
+    for (int i = 0; i < sizeof(cases); ++ i) {
+        struct sekrits *secrets = NULL;
+        FILE *data = fmemopen((char *)cases[i], strlen(cases[i]) + 1, "r");
+        ck_assert_msg(
+                sekrits_create_from_file(&secrets, data) == SEKRITS_OK,
+                "Was expecting valid secret data to load from %s", cases[i]
+        );
+        sekrits_destroy(secrets);
+        fclose(data);
+    }
+}
+END_TEST
+
+START_TEST(test_create_from_file_neg) {
+    const char *cases[] ={
+        "notok"
+    };
+    for (int i = 0; i < sizeof(cases); ++ i) {
+        printf("running case");
+        struct sekrits *secrets = NULL;
+        FILE *data = fmemopen((char *)cases[i], strlen(cases[i]) + 1, "r");
+        ck_assert_msg(
+                sekrits_create_from_file(&secrets, data) == SEKRITS_ERROR,
+                "Was expecting invalid secret data to load from %s", cases[i]
+        );
+        sekrits_destroy(secrets);
+        fclose(data);
+    }
+}
+END_TEST
+
+Suite * sekrits_suite(void) {
+    TCase *tc_create_file;
+    tc_create_file = tcase_create("create_from_file");
+    tcase_add_test(tc_create_file, test_create_from_file);
+
+    TCase *tc_create_file_neg;
+    tc_create_file_neg = tcase_create("create_from_file_neg");
+    tcase_add_test(tc_create_file_neg, test_create_from_file_neg);
+
+    Suite *s = suite_create("sekrits");
+    suite_add_tcase(s, tc_create_file);
+    suite_add_tcase(s, tc_create_file_neg);
+    return s;
+}
+
+int main(void) {
+    int number_failed;
+    SRunner *srunner = srunner_create(sekrits_suite());
+
+    srunner_run_all(srunner, CK_VERBOSE);
+    number_failed = srunner_ntests_failed(srunner);
+    srunner_free(srunner);
+
+    return (number_failed == 0) ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
+}