diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 12a0ed5..ebb8a8d 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 *.pyc
 __pycache__/*
 .env
+config.json
 result
 todo.md
diff --git a/config.example.json b/config.example.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..58cf7d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config.example.json
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+{
+  "host": "0.0.0.0",
+  "port": 8080,
+  "logging": {
+    "level": "info"
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/__init__.py b/src/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/src/config/__init__.py b/src/config/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7b09571
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/config/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+import json
+from logging import INFO
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+from typing import Any
+
+from .logging import Logging
+from .parse import ConfigParseError, assert_key_of_type
+
+
+@dataclass
+class Config:
+    host: str | None
+    port: int | None
+    logging: Logging
+
+    @classmethod
+    def from_dict(cls, config: dict[str, Any]) -> 'Config':
+        assert_key_of_type(config, 'logging', dict)
+        assert_key_of_type(config, 'host', str)
+        assert_key_of_type(config, 'port', int)
+        try:
+            log_config = Logging.from_dict(config['logging'])
+            return Config(host=config['host'], port=config['port'], logging=log_config)
+
+        except ConfigParseError as e:
+            raise ConfigParseError(['logging', *e.keypath], e.issue) from e
+
+
+DEFAULT_CONFIG = Config(logging=Logging(level=INFO), port=None, host=None)
+
+
+def parse_config(filename: str) -> Config:
+    with open(filename, 'r') as infile:
+        config = json.loads(infile.read())
+    return Config.from_dict(config)
+
+
+__all__ = ['Config', 'parse_config', 'DEFAULT_CONFIG']
diff --git a/src/config/logging.py b/src/config/logging.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..43a3071
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/config/logging.py
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+from typing import Any
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+import logging
+
+from .parse import assert_key_of_type, ConfigParseError
+
+LOG_LEVELS = {
+    'critical': logging.CRITICAL,
+    'fatal': logging.FATAL,
+    'error': logging.ERROR,
+    'warning': logging.WARNING,
+    'warn': logging.WARN,
+    'info': logging.INFO,
+    'debug': logging.DEBUG,
+    'notset': logging.NOTSET,
+}
+
+
+@dataclass
+class Logging:
+    level: int
+
+    @classmethod
+    def from_dict(cls, config: dict[str, Any]) -> 'Logging':
+        assert_key_of_type(config, 'level', str)
+        log_level_setting = config['level']
+        if log_level_setting not in LOG_LEVELS:
+            raise ConfigParseError(
+                ['level'], f'unknown log level "{log_level_setting}". Expected one of: {", ".join(LOG_LEVELS.keys())}'
+            )
+
+        return Logging(level=LOG_LEVELS[config['level']])
diff --git a/src/config/parse.py b/src/config/parse.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c940175
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/config/parse.py
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+from typing import Any
+
+
+class ConfigParseError(Exception):
+    """An error for when parsing a config fails"""
+
+    def __init__(self, keypath: list[str], issue: str):
+        path = '.'.join(keypath)
+        message = f'{path}: {issue}'
+        super().__init__(message)
+        self.keypath = keypath
+        self.issue = issue
+
+
+def assert_key_of_type(config: dict[str, Any], key: str, kind: Any):
+    if key not in config:
+        raise ConfigParseError([key], 'missing')
+
+    if not isinstance(config[key], kind):
+        raise ConfigParseError([key], f'type of "{key}" was {type(config[key])}, expected {kind}')
diff --git a/src/main.py b/src/main.py
index 536cb12..2203566 100644
--- a/src/main.py
+++ b/src/main.py
@@ -1,3 +1,35 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 
-print('hello, world!')
+from waitress import serve
+from flask import Flask
+import argparse
+import logging
+
+from src.config import parse_config, DEFAULT_CONFIG, Config
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+def create_app(name: str, config: Config) -> Flask:
+    logging.basicConfig(level=config.logging.level, format=('%(asctime)s %(levelname)s [%(name)s] %(message)s'))
+
+    app = Flask(name)
+
+    if config.host:
+        app.config['SERVER_NAME'] = config.host
+
+    return app
+
+
+def main():
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser('Cereal', description='run the Cereal server')
+    parser.add_argument('--config', '-c', help='The path to the configuration file, expects JSON')
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+    config = parse_config(args.config) if args.config else DEFAULT_CONFIG
+    app = create_app('Cereal', config)
+    logger.info(str(config))
+    serve(app, host='0.0.0.0' if config.host is None else config.host, port=config.port)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()