diff --git a/parse.js b/parse.js
index e69de29..4d625af 100644
--- a/parse.js
+++ b/parse.js
@@ -0,0 +1,190 @@
+/*
+parse.js
+--------
+
+Parse tokenstream into AST
+
+convert:
+[
+{type:"int",val:1},
+{type:"int",val:2},
+{type:"ident",name:"+"},
+{type:"syntax",val:"("},
+{type:"ident",name:"name"},
+{type:"syntax",val:";"},
+{type:"ident",name:"args"},
+{type:"syntax",val:"->"},
+{type:"int",val:2},
+{type:"ident",name:"args"},
+{type:"ident",name:"+"},
+{type:"syntax",val:")"}
+]
+
+to:
+[
+    {type:"int", val:1},
+    {type:"int", val:2},
+    {type:"builtin", op:"+"},
+    {type:"func", name:"name", args:["args"], body:[
+        {type:"int", val:1},
+        {type:"ident", val:"args"},
+        {type:"builtin", op:"+"},
+        }]},
+]
+
+EXPORTED FUNCTIONS:
+parse - takes in tokenstream, outputs AST
+*/
+
+const builtin = [
+    "+",
+    "-",
+    "*",
+    "/",
+    "typeof",
+    "pair",
+    "unpair"
+];
+
+/* make parser safe */
+const attempt = (parser) => (stream) => {
+    let streamclone = [...stream];
+    try {
+        let out = parser(stream);
+        return out;
+    } catch(err) {
+        console.log(err);
+        return {parsed:null,stream:streamclone};
+    }
+}
+
+/* chain */
+const or = (a, b) => (stream) => {
+    let aout = a(stream);
+    if (aout.parsed === null) {
+        return b(stream);
+    } else {
+        return aout;
+    }
+}
+
+/* (parser) */
+const parens = (parser) => (stream) => {
+    let a = parseSyntax("(", stream);
+    if (a === null) {
+        return {parsed:null, stream:stream};
+    }
+    let dat = parser(stream);
+    a = parseSyntax(")", stream);
+    if (a === null) {
+        throw 'mismatched parens!';
+    }
+    return dat;
+}
+
+/* [parser] */
+const many = (parser) => (stream) => {
+    let parsed = [];
+    for (let i = parser(stream); i.parsed !== null; i = parser(stream)) {
+        idents.push(i.parsed);
+    }
+    return {parsed:parsed, stream:stream};
+}
+
+/* takes in stream, outputs {parsed, stream} */
+const parseBuiltin = (stream) => {
+    let e = stream[0];
+    if (e === undefined) {
+        return {parsed:null, stream:stream};
+    }
+    if (e.type !== "ident") {
+        return {parsed:null, stream:stream};
+    }
+    if (builtin.includes(e.name)) {
+        stream.shift();
+        return {parsed:{type:"builtin", val:e.name}, stream:stream};
+    } else {
+        return {parsed:null, stream:stream};
+    }
+}
+
+/* takes in stream, outputs parsed item or null */
+const parseIdent = (stream) => {
+    let e = stream[0];
+    if (e === undefined) {
+        return {parsed:null, stream:stream};
+    }
+    if (e.type !== "ident") {
+        return {parsed:null, stream:stream};
+    } else {
+        stream.shift();
+        return {parsed:{type:e.type, val:e.val}, stream:stream};
+    }
+}
+
+/* takes in stream, outputs parsed item or null */
+const parseInteger = (stream) => {
+    let e = stream[0];
+    if (e === undefined) {
+        return {parsed:null, stream:stream};
+    }
+    if (e.type !== "int") {
+        return {parsed:null, stream:stream};
+    } else {
+        stream.shift();
+        return {parsed:{type:e.type, val:e.val}, stream:stream};
+    }
+}
+
+/* takes in stream, outputs parsed item or null */
+const parseSyntax = (syntax, stream) => {
+    let e = stream[0];
+    if (e === undefined) {
+        return {parsed:null, stream:stream};
+    }
+    if (e.type !== "syntax") {
+        return {parsed:null, stream:stream};
+    }
+    if (e.val !== syntax) {
+        return {parsed:null, stream:stream};
+    } else {
+        stream.shift();
+        return {parsed:{type:"syntax", val:syntax}, stream:stream};
+    }
+}
+
+/* takes in stream, outputs string or null - FAILABLE */
+const parseName = (stream) => {
+    let id = parseIdent(stream);
+    if (id === null) {
+        return {parsed:null, stream:stream};
+    }
+    let syn = parseSyntax(";", stream);
+    if (syn === null) {
+        throw 'could not parse name!'
+    }
+    return id.val;
+}
+
+/* takes in stream, outputs parsed item or null - FAILABLE */
+const parseLambda = (stream) => {
+    let name = attempt(parseName)(stream).val;
+    if (name === null) {
+        name = "";
+    }
+    let args = many(parseIdent)(stream).parsed;
+    if (parseSyntax("->", stream).parsed === null) {
+        throw 'no lambda body found!';
+    }
+    let body = parseExprs(stream).parsed; // .parsed should never be null, but anyway...
+    if (body === null) {
+        throw 'no lambda body found!';
+    }
+    return {parsed:{type:func, name:name, args:args, body:body}, stream:stream};
+}
+
+/* takes in stream, outputs parsed item or null */
+const parseExpr = or(parseBuiltin, or(parseIdent, or(parseInteger, attempt(parens(parseLambda)))));
+
+/* takes in stream, outputs parsed items */
+export const parseExprs = (stream) => many(parseExpr);
\ No newline at end of file