diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1e0a91932a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+[package]
+name = "coreos-assembler"
+version = "0.1.0"
+authors = ["Colin Walters <walters@verbum.org>"]
+
+[dependencies]
+clap = "~2.28"
+failure = "0.1.1"
+
+[[bin]]
+name = "coreos-assembler-rs"
+path = "src/coreos-assembler.rs"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 597abdf843..d0a1ec358c 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,15 +1,19 @@
 PREFIX ?= /usr
 DESTDIR ?=
 
-.PHONY: all mantle install
+.PHONY: all rust mantle install
 
-all: mantle
+all: mantle rust
+
+rust:
+	cargo build --release
 
 mantle:
 	cd mantle && ./build ore kola kolet
 
 install:
 	install -D -t $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/bin coreos-assembler $$(find src/compat -maxdepth 1 -type f)
+	install -D -t $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/libexec target/release/coreos-assembler-rs
 	install -D -t $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/libexec/coreos-assembler $$(find src/ -maxdepth 1 -type f)
 	install -D -t $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/bin mantle/bin/{ore,kola}
 	install -D -m 0755 -t $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/lib/kola/amd64 mantle/bin/amd64/kolet
diff --git a/src/coreos-assembler.rs b/src/coreos-assembler.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5547ad8005
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/coreos-assembler.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+extern crate clap;
+#[macro_use]
+extern crate failure;
+
+use failure::Error;
+use clap::{App, SubCommand};
+
+fn hello() -> Result<(), Error> {
+    println!("🦀");
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+fn run() -> Result<(), Error> {
+    let matches = App::new("coreos-assembler")
+        .version("0.1")
+        .about("CoreOS assembler")
+        .subcommand(
+            SubCommand::with_name("hello")
+                .about("Say hello")
+        )
+        .get_matches();
+
+    match matches.subcommand() {
+        ("hello", _) => hello(),
+        ("", _) => bail!("No command given"),
+        _ => unreachable!(),
+    }
+}
+
+fn main() {
+    match run() {
+        Ok(_) => {}
+        Err(e) => {
+            eprintln!("{:?}", e);
+            std::process::exit(1)
+        }
+    }
+}