diff --git a/include/xo/parser/reader.hpp b/include/xo/parser/reader.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..39dcd6b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/xo/parser/reader.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+/* file reader.hpp
+ *
+ * author: Roland Conybeare, Aug 2024
+ */
+
+#pragma once
+
+#include "parser.hpp"
+#include "xo/tokenizer/tokenizer.hpp"
+
+namespace xo {
+    namespace scm {
+        /**
+         *  Use:
+         *  @code
+         *    reader rdr;
+         *
+         *    bool eof = false;
+         *    while (!eof) {
+         *        auto input = ins.read_some();
+         *        // eof: true if no more input will be forthcoming from this stream
+         *        eof = ins.eof();
+         *
+         *        for (auto rem = input; ; !rem.empty()) {
+         *            // res: (parsed-expr, used)
+         *            auto res = rdr.read_expr(rem, eof);
+         *
+         *            if (res.first) {
+         *                // do something with res.first (parsed expr)
+         *                ...
+         *            }
+         *
+         *            rem = rem.suffix_after(res.second);
+         *        }
+         *    }
+         *
+         *    // expect !rdr.has_prefix()
+         *
+         *  @endcode
+         **/
+        class reader {
+        public:
+            reader() = default;
+
+        private:
+            /** tokenizer: text -> tokens **/
+            tokenizer tokenizer_;
+
+            /** parser: tokens -> expressions (TODO: reanme ->reader) **/
+            parser parser_;
+        };
+    } /*namespace scm*/
+} /*namespace xo*/
+
+
+/* end Repl.hpp */