diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7fc161f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+*.out
+tests/*
+!tests/*.nims
+!tests/*.nim
+
diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..971ec81
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+MIT License
+
+Copyright (c) 2023 daylin
+
+Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
+SOFTWARE.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..903b682
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# bbansi
+
diff --git a/bbansi.nimble b/bbansi.nimble
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c5fc4bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bbansi.nimble
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# Package
+
+version       = "0.1.0"
+author        = "Daylin Morgan"
+description   = "bbcode -> ansi"
+license       = "MIT"
+srcDir        = "src"
+installExt    = @["nim"]
+
+
+# Dependencies
+
+requires "nim >= 1.6.12"
diff --git a/src/bbansi.nim b/src/bbansi.nim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1df650b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/bbansi.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+# This is just an example to get you started. A typical hybrid package
+# uses this file as the main entry point of the application.
+import std/[os, strutils]
+import bbansi/styles
+
+# TODO: add support for some kind of FORCE_COLOR
+let noColor = os.getEnv("NO_COLOR") != ""
+
+
+proc bb*(s: string): string =
+  ## convert bbcode markup to ansi escape codes
+  var
+    i = 0
+    addReset = false
+    pattern = ""
+    preChar = ' '
+
+  while i < s.len:
+    # start extracting pattern when you see '[' but not '[['
+    if s[i] == '[' and preChar notin {'\\','['} and s[i+1] != '[':
+      inc i
+      while i < s.len and s[i] != ']':
+        preChar = s[i]
+        pattern.add s[i]
+        inc i
+
+      if noColor:
+        inc i
+        continue
+      if pattern == "reset":
+        result.add bbReset
+        addReset = false
+      else:
+        for style in pattern.splitWhitespace():
+          if style in codeMap:
+            addReset = true
+            result.add "\e[" & codeMap[style] & "m"
+      pattern = ""
+      inc i
+    else:
+      preChar = s[i]
+      result.add s[i]
+      inc i
+
+  if addReset:
+    result.add "\e[0m"
+
+when isMainModule:
+  echo bb"[bold]bold"
+  echo bb"[red]red"
+  echo bb"[bold red]bold red"
+  echo bb"[bold red]bold red[reset] no more red" 
+  echo bb"[unknown]this text is red no?"
+  echo bb"\[red] <- not a pattern [[red] <- also not a pattern"
diff --git a/src/bbansi/styles.nim b/src/bbansi/styles.nim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4183fcb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/bbansi/styles.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+
+import strtabs
+
+export strtabs
+
+let bbReset* ="\e[0m"
+
+let
+  codeMap* = {
+    "reset":"0",
+    "bold": "1",
+    "faint": "2",
+    "italic":"3",
+    "underline":"4",
+    "blink":"5",
+    "reverse":"7",
+    "conceal":"8",
+    "strike":"9",
+    "black":"30",
+    "red": "31",
+    "green":"32",
+    "yellow":"33",
+    "blue":"34",
+    "magenta":"35",
+    "cyan":"36",
+    "white":"37",
+  }.newStringTable(modeCaseInsensitive)
diff --git a/tests/config.nims b/tests/config.nims
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..80091ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/config.nims
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+switch("path", "$projectDir/../src")
diff --git a/tests/tbasic.nim b/tests/tbasic.nim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ddc0d05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/tbasic.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# This is just an example to get you started. You may wish to put all of your
+# tests into a single file, or separate them into multiple `test1`, `test2`
+# etc. files (better names are recommended, just make sure the name starts with
+# the letter 't').
+#
+# To run these tests, simply execute `nimble test`.
+
+import unittest
+
+import bbansi
+test "basic":
+  check "\e[31mRed Text\e[0m" == bb"[red]Red Text"
+  check "No Style" == bb"No Style"
+  check "Unknown Style" == bb"[unknown]Unknown Style"
+  check "\e[1m\e[31mBold Red Text\e[0m" == bb"[bold red]Bold Red Text"
+  check "\e[1m\e[31mBold Red Text\e[0mPlain Text" == bb"[bold red]Bold Red Text[reset]Plain Text"
+  # not sure how rich handles this
+  check "[red] ignored pattern" == bb"[[red] ignored pattern"
diff --git a/todo.md b/todo.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fe9bb86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/todo.md
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# bbansi todo's
+
+- [ ] use an actual type and `$` mechanism
+- [ ] add better escaping mechanism for bracketed text
+- [ ] add support for custom 1-256 numbers and 8-bit numbers and truecolor
+- [ ] add binary to evaluate strings/show test card
+
+<!-- generated with <3 by daylinmorgan/todo -->