diff --git a/rust/Cargo.lock b/rust/Cargo.lock
index c4da8e7..8a0561a 100644
--- a/rust/Cargo.lock
+++ b/rust/Cargo.lock
@@ -11,11 +11,19 @@ dependencies = [
  "typenum",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "char_reader"
+version = "0.1.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "37a59b22dec21ca7d6c173bd543eeab4cd2f36cf21f039a4134905034c87ed3a"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "ginger"
 version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
+ "char_reader",
  "im-rc",
+ "unicode_categories",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -63,6 +71,12 @@ version = "1.16.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "497961ef93d974e23eb6f433eb5fe1b7930b659f06d12dec6fc44a8f554c0bba"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "unicode_categories"
+version = "0.1.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "39ec24b3121d976906ece63c9daad25b85969647682eee313cb5779fdd69e14e"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "version_check"
 version = "0.9.4"
diff --git a/rust/Cargo.toml b/rust/Cargo.toml
index ded0d37..6c6f68f 100644
--- a/rust/Cargo.toml
+++ b/rust/Cargo.toml
@@ -7,3 +7,5 @@ edition = "2021"
 
 [dependencies]
 im-rc = "15.1.0"
+char_reader = "0.1.1"
+unicode_categories = "0.1.1"
diff --git a/rust/src/gg.rs b/rust/src/gg.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2b39b1d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rust/src/gg.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+pub mod lexer;
+
+use super::graph::Graph;
+
+#[derive(Clone, Eq, Hash, PartialEq, Debug)]
+pub enum Value<'a>{
+    Name(&'a str),
+    Number(i64),
+    Graph(&'a Graph<Value<'a>, Value<'a>>),
+}
diff --git a/rust/src/gg/lexer.rs b/rust/src/gg/lexer.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..881968e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rust/src/gg/lexer.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,160 @@
+use std::fmt;
+use std::io::{self, Read, BufReader};
+use unicode_categories::UnicodeCategories;
+
+use char_reader::CharReader;
+
+pub struct Location {
+    pub row: i64,
+    pub col: i64,
+}
+
+impl fmt::Display for Location {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
+        write!(f, "{}:{}", self.row, self.col)
+    }
+}
+
+pub enum Error {
+    Tokenizing(&'static str, Location),
+    IO(io::Error),
+}
+
+impl From<io::Error> for Error{
+    fn from(e: io::Error) -> Self {
+        Error::IO(e)
+    }
+}
+
+pub enum TokenKind {
+    Name,
+    Number,
+    Punctuation,
+}
+
+pub struct Token {
+    pub kind: TokenKind,
+    pub value: String,
+    pub location: Location,
+}
+
+pub struct Lexer<R: Read> {
+    r: CharReader<BufReader<R>>,
+    buf: String,
+
+    prev_char: char,
+    prev_loc: Location,
+}
+
+impl<R: Read> Lexer<R>{
+
+    fn next_loc(&self) -> Location {
+
+        if self.prev_char == '\n' {
+            return Location{
+                row: self.prev_loc.row + 1,
+                col: 0
+            };
+        }
+
+        return Location{
+            row: self.prev_loc.row,
+            col: self.prev_loc.col + 1,
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn discard(&mut self) {
+
+        self.prev_char = self.r.next_char().
+            expect("discard should only get called after peek").
+            expect("discard should only get called after peek");
+
+        self.prev_loc = self.next_loc();
+    }
+
+    fn peek_a_bool(&mut self) -> Result<(char, bool), Error> {
+        if let Some(c) = self.r.peek_char()? {
+            Ok((c, true))
+        } else {
+            Ok(('0', false))
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn discard_while(&mut self, pred: impl Fn(char) -> bool) -> Result<(), Error> {
+
+        loop {
+            let (c, ok) = self.peek_a_bool()?;
+            if !ok || !pred(c) {
+                return Ok(());
+            }
+
+            self.discard();
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn collect_token(
+        &mut self,
+        kind: TokenKind,
+        pred: impl Fn(char) -> bool,
+    ) -> Result<Option<Token>, Error> {
+
+        let loc = self.next_loc();
+        self.buf.truncate(0);
+
+        loop {
+
+            let (c, ok) = self.peek_a_bool()?;
+
+            if !ok || !pred(c) {
+                return Ok(Some(Token{
+                    kind: kind,
+                    value: self.buf.clone(),
+                    location: loc,
+                }))
+            }
+
+            self.buf.push(c);
+            self.discard();
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn is_number(c: char) -> bool {
+        c == '-' || ('0' <= c && c <= '9')
+    }
+
+    pub fn next(&mut self) -> Result<Option<Token>, Error> {
+
+        loop {
+
+            let (c, ok) = self.peek_a_bool()?;
+            if !ok {
+                return Ok(None);
+
+            } else if c == '*' {
+                self.discard_while(|c| c != '\n')?;
+                // the terminating newline will be dealt with in the next loop
+
+            } else if c.is_letter() {
+                return self.collect_token(
+                    TokenKind::Name,
+                    |c| c.is_letter() || c.is_number() || c.is_mark() || c == '-',
+                );
+
+            } else if Self::is_number(c) {
+                return self.collect_token(TokenKind::Number, Self::is_number);
+
+            } else if c.is_punctuation() {
+                return self.collect_token(
+                    TokenKind::Punctuation,
+                    |c| c.is_punctuation() || c.is_symbol(),
+                );
+
+            } else if c.is_ascii_whitespace() {
+                self.discard_while(|c| c.is_ascii_whitespace())?;
+
+            } else {
+                return Err(Error::Tokenizing("unexpected character", self.next_loc()));
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/rust/src/lib.rs b/rust/src/lib.rs
index 39a113d..975fba2 100644
--- a/rust/src/lib.rs
+++ b/rust/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
-mod graph;
-
-pub use graph::Graph;
+pub mod graph;
+pub mod gg;
diff --git a/rust/src/main.rs b/rust/src/main.rs
index bfb62af..b048f2a 100644
--- a/rust/src/main.rs
+++ b/rust/src/main.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-use ginger::Graph;
+use ginger::graph::Graph;
 
 fn main() {