diff --git a/src/hwylterm/hwylcli.nim b/src/hwylterm/hwylcli.nim
index 51842f4..28fa01e 100644
--- a/src/hwylterm/hwylcli.nim
+++ b/src/hwylterm/hwylcli.nim
@@ -138,6 +138,10 @@ proc bb*(cli: HwylCliHelp): BbString =
 type
   Count* = object ## Count type for an incrementing flag
     val*: int
+  KV*[X,Y] = object ## basic key value type
+    key*: X
+    val*: Y
+  KVString* = KV[string, string]
 
 type
   CliSetting* = enum
@@ -752,6 +756,29 @@ proc parse*(p: OptParser, target: var Count) =
   else:
     inc target.val
 
+proc extractKey(p: var OptParser): string =
+  var i: int
+  for c in p.val:
+    if c notin {'=',':'}: inc i
+    else: break
+  if i == p.val.len:
+    hwylCliError(
+      "failed to parse key val flag" &
+      "\nkey: " & p.key.bb("bold") &
+      "\nval: " & p.val.bb("bold") &
+      "\ndid you include a separator (= or :)?"
+    )
+  else:
+    result = p.val[0..<i]
+    p.key = p.key & ":" & result
+    p.val = p.val[(i+1) .. ^1]
+
+proc parse*[T](p: var OptParser, target: var KV[string, T]) =
+  checkVal p
+  let key = extractKey(p)
+  target.key = key
+  parse(p, target.val)
+
 func shortLongCaseStmt(cfg: CliCfg, printHelpName: NimNode, version: NimNode): NimNode =
   var caseStmt = nnkCaseStmt.newTree()
   if NoNormalize notin cfg.settings:
diff --git a/test.nim b/test.nim
deleted file mode 100644
index a37f821..0000000
--- a/test.nim
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-import std/macros
-
-dumpAstGen:
-  incl(flagSet, name)
diff --git a/tests/example.nim b/tests/example.nim
index 0afa866..f317e9c 100644
--- a/tests/example.nim
+++ b/tests/example.nim
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ type
   Color = enum
     red, blue, green
 
-
 hwylCli:
   name "example"
   V "0.1.0"
@@ -72,14 +71,14 @@ hwylCli:
     """
     flags:
       ^something
-      auto:
-        - a
-        ? "some help"
+      thing:
+        T KV[string, Color]
+        ? "some key value string"
       b:
         T seq[float]
         ? "multiple floats"
       h "this will override the builtin 'h' for help"
     run:
       echo "hello from `example b` command"
-      echo fmt"{auto=}, {b=}"
+      echo fmt"{thing=}, {b=}"