diff --git a/LICENCE b/LICENCE
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENCE
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+Opinionated Haskell Interoperability
+
+Copyright © 2018-2019 Operational Dynamics Consulting, Pty Ltd and Others
+All rights reserved.
+
+Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
+modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
+are met:
+
+    1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
+       notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
+
+    2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
+       copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following
+       disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided
+       with the distribution.
+      
+    3. Neither the name of the project nor the names of its contributors
+       may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this 
+       software without specific prior written permission.
+
+THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
+"AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
+A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT
+OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
+SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
+DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
+THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
+(INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
+OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
diff --git a/core-program.cabal b/core-program.cabal
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core-program.cabal
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+cabal-version: 1.12
+name: core-program
+version: 0.2.0.0
+license: BSD3
+license-file: LICENCE
+copyright: © 2018-2019 Operational Dynamics Consulting Pty Ltd, and Others
+maintainer: Andrew Cowie <andrew@operationaldynamics.com>
+author: Andrew Cowie <andrew@operationaldynamics.com>
+stability: experimental
+tested-with: ghc ==8.6.5
+homepage: https://github.com/oprdyn/unbeliever#readme
+bug-reports: https://github.com/oprdyn/unbeliever/issues
+synopsis: Opinionated Haskell Interoperability
+description:
+    A library to help build command-line programs, both tools and
+    longer-running daemons.
+    .
+    A description of this package, a list of features, and some background
+    to its design is contained in the
+    <https://github.com/oprdyn/unbeliever/blob/master/README.markdown README>
+    on GitHub.
+    .
+    See "Core.Program.Execute" to get started.
+category: System
+build-type: Simple
+
+source-repository head
+    type: git
+    location: https://github.com/oprdyn/unbeliever
+
+library
+    exposed-modules:
+        Core.Program
+        Core.Program.Arguments
+        Core.Program.Execute
+        Core.Program.Logging
+        Core.Program.Metadata
+        Core.Program.Unlift
+        Core.System
+        Core.System.Base
+        Core.System.External
+    hs-source-dirs: lib
+    other-modules:
+        Core.Program.Context
+        Core.Program.Signal
+    default-language: Haskell2010
+    ghc-options: -Wall -Wwarn -fwarn-tabs
+    build-depends:
+        async >=2.2.2 && <2.3,
+        base >=4.11 && <5,
+        bytestring >=0.10.8.2 && <0.11,
+        chronologique >=0.3.1.1 && <0.4,
+        core-data >=0.2.0.0 && <0.3,
+        core-text >=0.2.0.0 && <0.3,
+        directory >=1.3.3.0 && <1.4,
+        exceptions >=0.10.2 && <0.11,
+        hashable >=1.2.7.0 && <1.3,
+        hourglass >=0.2.12 && <0.3,
+        mtl >=2.2.2 && <2.3,
+        prettyprinter >=1.2.1 && <1.3,
+        prettyprinter-ansi-terminal >=1.1.1.2 && <1.2,
+        safe-exceptions >=0.1.7.0 && <0.2,
+        stm >=2.5.0.0 && <2.6,
+        template-haskell >=2.14.0.0 && <2.15,
+        terminal-size >=0.3.2.1 && <0.4,
+        text >=1.2.3.1 && <1.3,
+        text-short >=0.1.2 && <0.2,
+        transformers >=0.5.6.2 && <0.6,
+        unix >=2.7.2.2 && <2.8
diff --git a/lib/Core/Program.hs b/lib/Core/Program.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/Core/Program.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+{-# OPTIONS_HADDOCK not-home #-}
+
+{-|
+Support for building command-line programs, ranging from simple tools to
+long-running daemons.
+
+This is intended to be used directly:
+
+@
+import "Core.Program"
+@
+
+the submodules are mostly there to group documentation.
+-}
+-- actually, they're there to group implementation too, but hey.
+module Core.Program
+    (
+        {-* Executing a program -}
+{-|
+A top-level Program type giving you unified access to logging, concurrency,
+and more.
+-}
+        module Core.Program.Execute
+      , module Core.Program.Unlift
+      , module Core.Program.Metadata
+
+        {-* Command-line argument parsing -}
+{-|
+Including declaring what options your program accepts, generating help, and
+for more complex cases [sub]commands, mandatory arguments, and environment
+variable handling.
+-}
+      , module Core.Program.Arguments
+        {-* Logging facilities -}
+{-|
+Facilities for noting events through your program and doing debugging.
+-}
+      , module Core.Program.Logging
+    ) where
+
+import Core.Program.Arguments
+import Core.Program.Execute
+import Core.Program.Logging
+import Core.Program.Metadata
+import Core.Program.Unlift
+
diff --git a/lib/Core/Program/Arguments.hs b/lib/Core/Program/Arguments.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/Core/Program/Arguments.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,841 @@
+{-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE QuasiQuotes #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE GeneralizedNewtypeDeriving #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE DeriveFunctor #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE StrictData #-}
+{-# OPTIONS_HADDOCK prune #-}
+
+{-|
+Invoking a command-line program (be it tool or daemon) consists of listing
+the name of its binary, optionally supplying various options to adjust the
+behaviour of the program, and then supplying mandatory arguments, if any
+are specified.
+
+On startup, we parse any arguments passed in from the shell into
+@name,value@ pairs and incorporated into the resultant configuration stored
+in the program's Context.
+
+Additionally, this module allows you to specify environment variables that,
+if present, will be incorporated into the stored configuration.
+-}
+module Core.Program.Arguments
+    ( 
+        {-* Setup -}
+        Config
+      , blank
+      , simple
+      , complex
+      , baselineOptions
+      , Parameters(..)
+      , ParameterValue(..)
+        {-* Options and Arguments -}
+      , LongName(..)
+      , ShortName
+      , Description
+      , Options(..)
+        {-* Programs with Commands -}
+      , Commands(..)
+        {-* Internals -}
+      , parseCommandLine
+      , extractValidEnvironments
+      , InvalidCommandLine(..)
+      , buildUsage
+      , buildVersion
+    ) where
+
+import Control.Exception.Safe (Exception(displayException))
+import Data.Hashable (Hashable)
+import qualified Data.List as List
+import Data.Maybe (fromMaybe)
+import Data.Text.Prettyprint.Doc (Doc, Pretty(..), nest, fillCat
+    , emptyDoc, hardline, softline, fillBreak, align, (<+>), fillSep, indent)
+import Data.Text.Prettyprint.Doc.Util (reflow)
+import Data.String
+import System.Environment (getProgName)
+
+import Core.Data.Structures
+import Core.System.Base
+import Core.Text.Rope
+import Core.Text.Utilities
+import Core.Program.Metadata
+
+{-|
+Single letter "short" options (omitting the "@-@" prefix, obviously).
+-}
+type ShortName = Char
+
+{-|
+The description of an option, command, or environment variable (for use
+when rendering usage information in response to @--help@ on the
+command-line).
+-}
+type Description = Rope
+
+{-|
+The name of an option, command, or agument (omitting the "@--@" prefix in
+the case of options). This identifier will be used to generate usage text
+in response to @--help@ and by you later when retreiving the values of the
+supplied parameters after the program has initialized.
+
+Turn on __@OverloadedStrings@__ when specifying configurations, obviously.
+-}
+newtype LongName = LongName String
+    deriving (Show, IsString, Eq, Hashable, Ord)
+
+instance Key LongName
+
+instance Pretty LongName where
+    pretty (LongName name) = pretty name
+
+{-|
+The setup for parsing the command-line arguments of your program. You build
+a @Config@ with 'simple' or 'complex', and pass it to
+'Core.Program.Context.configure'.
+-}
+data Config
+    = Blank
+    | Simple [Options]
+    | Complex [Commands]
+
+--
+-- Those constructors are not exposed [and functions wrapping them are] partly
+-- for documentation convenience, partly for aesthetics (after a point too many
+-- constructors got a bit hard to differentiate betwen), and mostly so that if
+-- configure's argument turns into a monad like RequestBuilder we have
+-- somewhere to make that change.
+--
+
+{-|
+A completely empty configuration, without the default debugging and logging
+options. Your program won't process any command-line options or arguments,
+which would be weird in most cases. Prefer 'simple'.
+-}
+blank :: Config
+blank = Blank
+
+{-|
+Declare a simple (as in normal) configuration for a program with any number
+of optional parameters and mandatory arguments. For example:
+
+@
+main :: 'IO' ()
+main = do
+    context <- 'Core.Program.Execute.configure' \"1.0\" 'Core.Program.Execute.None' ('simple'
+        [ 'Option' "host" ('Just' \'h\') 'Empty' ['quote'|
+            Specify an alternate host to connect to when performing the
+            frobnication. The default is \"localhost\".
+          |]
+        , 'Option' "port" ('Just' \'p\') 'Empty' ['quote'|
+            Specify an alternate port to connect to when frobnicating.
+          |]
+        , 'Option' "dry-run" 'Nothing' ('Value' \"TIME\") ['quote'|
+            Perform a trial run at the specified time but don't actually
+            do anything.
+          |]
+        , 'Option' "quiet" ('Just' \'q\') 'Empty' ['quote'|
+            Supress normal output.
+          |]
+        , 'Argument' "filename" ['quote'|
+            The file you want to frobnicate.
+          |]
+        ])
+
+    'Core.Program.Execute.executeWith' context program
+@
+
+which, if you build that into an executable called @snippet@ and invoke it
+with @--help@, would result in:
+
+@
+$ __./snippet --help__
+Usage:
+
+    snippet [OPTIONS] filename
+
+Available options:
+
+  -h, --host     Specify an alternate host to connect to when performing the
+                 frobnication. The default is \"localhost\".
+  -p, --port     Specify an alternate port to connect to when frobnicating.
+      --dry-run=TIME
+                 Perform a trial run at the specified time but don't
+                 actually do anything.
+  -q, --quiet    Supress normal output.
+  -v, --verbose  Turn on event tracing. By default the logging stream will go
+                 to standard output on your terminal.
+      --debug    Turn on debug level logging. Implies --verbose.
+
+Required arguments:
+
+  filename       The file you want to frobnicate.
+$ __|__
+@
+
+For information on how to use the multi-line string literals shown here,
+see 'quote' in "Core.Text.Utilities".
+-}
+simple :: [Options] -> Config
+simple options = Simple (options ++ baselineOptions)
+
+{-|
+Declare a complex configuration (implying a larger tool with various
+"[sub]commands" or "modes"} for a program. You can specify global options
+applicable to all commands, a list of commands, and environment variables
+that will be honoured by the program. Each command can have a list of local
+options and arguments as needed. For example:
+
+@
+program :: 'Core.Program.Execute.Program' MusicAppStatus ()
+program = ...
+
+main :: 'IO' ()
+main = do
+    context <- 'Core.Program.Execute.configure' ('Core.Program.Execute.fromPackage' version) 'mempty' ('complex'
+        [ 'Global'
+            [ 'Option' "station-name" 'Nothing' ('Value' \"NAME\") ['quote'|
+                Specify an alternate radio station to connect to when performing
+                actions. The default is \"BBC Radio 1\".
+              |]
+            , 'Variable' \"PLAYER_FORCE_HEADPHONES\" ['quote'|
+                If set to @1@, override the audio subsystem to force output
+                to go to the user's headphone jack.
+              |]
+            ]
+        , 'Command' \"play\" \"Play the music.\"
+            [ 'Option' "repeat" 'Nothing' 'Empty' ['quote'|
+                Request that they play the same song over and over and over
+                again, simulating the effect of listening to a Top 40 radio
+                station.
+              |]
+            ]
+        , 'Command' \"rate\" \"Vote on whether you like the song or not.\"
+            [ 'Option' "academic" 'Nothing' 'Empty' ['quote'|
+                The rating you wish to apply, from A+ to F. This is the
+                default, so there is no reason whatsoever to specify this.
+                But some people are obsessive, compulsive, and have time on
+                their hands.
+              |]
+            , 'Option' "numeric" 'Nothing' 'Empty' ['quote'|
+                Specify a score as a number from 0 to 100 instead of an
+                academic style letter grade. Note that negative values are
+                not valid scores, despite how vicerally satisfying that
+                would be for music produced in the 1970s.
+              |]
+            , 'Option' "unicode" ('Just' \'c\') 'Empty' ['quote'|
+                Instead of a score, indicate your rating with a single
+                character.  This allows you to use emoji, so that you can
+                rate a piece \'💩\', as so many songs deserve.
+              |]
+            , 'Argument' "score" ['quote'|
+                The rating you wish to apply.
+              |]
+            ]
+        ])
+
+    'Core.Program.Execute.executeWith' context program
+@
+
+is a program with one global option (in addition to the default ones) [and
+an environment variable] and two commands: @play@, with one option; and
+@rate@, with two options and a required argument. It also is set up to
+carry its top-level application state around in a type called
+@MusicAppStatus@ (implementing 'Monoid' and so initialized here with
+'mempty'. This is a good pattern to use given we are so early in the
+program's lifetime).
+
+The resultant program could be invoked as in these examples:
+
+@
+$ __./player --station-name=\"KBBL-FM 102.5\" play__
+$
+@
+
+@
+$ __./player -v rate --numeric 76__
+$
+@
+
+For information on how to use the multi-line string literals shown here,
+see 'quote' in "Core.Text.Utilities".
+-}
+complex :: [Commands] -> Config
+complex commands = Complex (commands ++ [Global baselineOptions])
+
+{-|
+Description of the command-line structure of a program which has
+\"commands\" (sometimes referred to as \"subcommands\") representing
+different modes of operation. This is familiar from tools like /git/
+and /docker/.
+-}
+data Commands 
+    = Global [Options]
+    | Command LongName Description [Options]
+
+{-|
+Declaration of an optional switch or mandatory argument expected by a
+program.
+
+'Option' takes a long name for the option, a short single character
+abbreviation if offered for convenience, whether or not the option takes a
+value (and what label to show in help output) and a description for use
+when displaying usage via @--help@.
+
+'Argument' indicates a mandatory argument and takes the long name used
+to identify the parsed value from the command-line, and likewise a
+description for @--help@ output.
+
+By convention option and argument names are both /lower case/. If the
+identifier is two or more words they are joined with a hyphen. Examples:
+
+@
+        [ 'Option' \"quiet\" ('Just' \'q'\) 'Empty' \"Keep the noise to a minimum.\"
+        , 'Option' \"dry-run\" 'Nothing' ('Value' \"TIME\") \"Run a simulation of what would happen at the specified time.\"
+        , 'Argument' \"username\" \"The user to delete from the system.\"
+        ]
+@
+
+By convention a /description/ is one or more complete sentences each of
+which ends with a full stop. For options that take values, use /upper case/
+when specifying the label to be used in help output.
+
+'Variable' declares an /environment variable/ that, if present, will be
+read by the program and stored in its runtime context. By convention these
+are /upper case/. If the identifier is two or more words they are joined
+with an underscore:
+
+@
+        [ ...
+        , 'Variable' \"CRAZY_MODE\" "Specify how many crazies to activate."
+        , ...
+        ]
+@
+-}
+data Options
+    = Option LongName (Maybe ShortName) ParameterValue Description
+    | Argument LongName Description
+    | Variable LongName Description
+
+
+{-|
+Individual parameters read in off the command-line can either have a value
+(in the case of arguments and options taking a value) or be empty (in the
+case of options that are just flags).
+-}
+data ParameterValue
+    = Value String
+    | Empty
+    deriving (Show, Eq)
+
+instance IsString ParameterValue where
+    fromString x = Value x
+
+{-|
+Result of having processed the command-line and the environment. You get at
+the parsed command-line options and arguments by calling
+'Core.Program.Execute.getCommandLine' within a
+'Core.Program.Execute.Program' block.
+
+Each option and mandatory argument parsed from the command-line is either
+standalone (in the case of switches and flags, such as @--quiet@) or has an
+associated value. In the case of options the key is the name of the option,
+and for arguments it is the implicit name specified when setting up the
+program. For example, in:
+
+@
+$ ./submit --username=gbmh GraceHopper_Resume.pdf
+@
+
+the option has parameter name \"@username@\" and value \"@gmbh@\"; the
+argument has parameter name \"filename\" (assuming that is what was
+declared in the 'Argument' entry) and a value being the Admiral's CV. This
+would be returned as:
+
+@
+'Parameters' 'Nothing' [("username","gbmh"), ("filename","GraceHopper_Resume.pdf")] []
+@
+
+The case of a complex command such as /git/ or /stack/, you get the specific
+mode chosen by the user returned in the first position:
+
+@
+$ missiles launch --all
+@
+
+would be parsed as:
+
+@
+'Parameters' ('Just' \"launch\") [("all",Empty)] []
+@
+
+-}
+data Parameters
+    = Parameters {
+          commandNameFrom :: Maybe LongName
+        , parameterValuesFrom :: Map LongName ParameterValue
+        , environmentValuesFrom :: Map LongName ParameterValue
+    } deriving (Show, Eq)
+
+
+baselineOptions :: [Options]
+baselineOptions =
+    [ Option "verbose" (Just 'v') Empty [quote|
+        Turn on event tracing. By default the logging stream will go to
+        standard output on your terminal.
+    |]
+    , Option "debug" Nothing Empty [quote|
+        Turn on debug level logging. Implies --verbose.
+    |]
+    ]
+
+{-|
+Different ways parsing a simple or complex command-line can fail.
+-}
+data InvalidCommandLine
+    = InvalidOption String  {-^ Something was wrong with the way the user specified [usually a short] option. -}
+    | UnknownOption String  {-^ User specified an option that doesn't match any in the supplied configuration. -}
+    | MissingArgument LongName
+                            {-^ Arguments are mandatory, and this one is missing. -}
+    | UnexpectedArguments [String]
+                            {-^ Arguments are present we weren't expecting. -}
+    | UnknownCommand String {-^ In a complex configuration, user specified a command that doesn't match any in the configuration. -}
+    | NoCommandFound        {-^ In a complex configuration, user didn't specify a command. -}
+    | HelpRequest (Maybe LongName)
+                            {-^ In a complex configuration, usage information was requested with @--help@, either globally or for the supplied command. -}
+    | VersionRequest
+                            {-^ Display of the program version requested with @--version@. -}
+    deriving (Show, Eq)
+
+instance Exception InvalidCommandLine where
+    displayException e = case e of
+        InvalidOption arg ->
+          let
+            one = "Option '" ++ arg ++ "' illegal.\n\n"
+            two = [quote|
+Options must either be long form with a double dash, for example:
+
+    --verbose
+
+or, when available with a short version, a single dash and a single
+character. They need to be listed individually:
+
+    -v -a
+
+When an option takes a value it has to be in long form and the value
+indicated with an equals sign, for example:
+
+    --tempdir=/tmp
+
+with complex values escaped according to the rules of your shell:
+
+    --username="Ada Lovelace"
+
+For options valid in this program, please see --help.
+        |]
+          in
+            one ++ two
+        UnknownOption name -> "Sorry, option '" ++ name ++ "' not recognized."
+        MissingArgument (LongName name) -> "Mandatory argument '" ++ name ++ "' missing."
+        UnexpectedArguments args ->
+          let
+            quoted = List.intercalate "', '" args
+          in [quote|
+Unexpected trailing arguments:
+
+|] ++ quoted ++ [quote|
+
+For arguments expected by this program, please see --help.
+|]
+        UnknownCommand first -> "Hm. Command '" ++ first ++ "' not recognized."
+        NoCommandFound -> [quote|
+No command specified.
+Usage is of the form:
+
+    |] ++ programName ++ [quote| [GLOBAL OPTIONS] COMMAND [LOCAL OPTIONS] [ARGUMENTS]
+
+See --help for details.
+|]
+        -- handled by parent module calling back into here buildUsage
+        HelpRequest _ -> ""
+
+        -- handled by parent module calling back into here buildVersion
+        VersionRequest -> ""
+
+programName :: String
+programName = unsafePerformIO getProgName
+
+{-|
+Given a program configuration schema and the command-line arguments,
+process them into key/value pairs in a Parameters object.
+
+This results in 'InvalidCommandLine' on the left side if one of the passed
+in options is unrecognized or if there is some other problem handling
+options or arguments (because at that point, we want to rabbit right back
+to the top and bail out; there's no recovering).
+
+This isn't something you'll ever need to call directly; it's exposed for
+testing convenience. This function is invoked when you call
+'Core.Program.Context.configure' or 'Core.Program.Execute.execute' (which
+calls 'configure' with a default @Config@ when initializing).
+-}
+parseCommandLine :: Config -> [String] -> Either InvalidCommandLine Parameters
+parseCommandLine config argv = case config of
+    Blank -> return (Parameters Nothing emptyMap emptyMap)
+
+    Simple options -> do
+        params <- extractor Nothing options argv
+        return (Parameters Nothing params emptyMap)
+
+    Complex commands ->
+      let
+        globalOptions = extractGlobalOptions commands
+        modes = extractValidModes commands
+      in do
+        (possibles,first,remainingArgs) <- splitCommandLine argv
+        params1 <- extractor Nothing globalOptions possibles
+        (mode,localOptions) <- parseIndicatedCommand modes first
+        params2 <- extractor (Just mode) localOptions remainingArgs
+        return (Parameters (Just mode) ((<>) params1 params2) emptyMap)
+  where
+
+    extractor :: Maybe LongName -> [Options] -> [String] -> Either InvalidCommandLine (Map LongName ParameterValue)
+    extractor mode options args =
+      let
+        (possibles,arguments) = List.partition isOption args
+        valids = extractValidNames options
+        shorts = extractShortNames options
+        needed = extractRequiredArguments options
+      in do
+        list1 <- parsePossibleOptions mode valids shorts possibles
+        list2 <- parseRequiredArguments needed arguments
+        return ((<>) (intoMap list1) (intoMap list2))
+
+isOption :: String -> Bool
+isOption arg = case arg of
+    ('-':_) -> True
+    _ -> False
+
+parsePossibleOptions
+    :: Maybe LongName
+    -> Set LongName
+    -> Map ShortName LongName
+    -> [String]
+    -> Either InvalidCommandLine [(LongName,ParameterValue)]
+parsePossibleOptions mode valids shorts args = mapM f args
+  where
+    f arg = case arg of
+        "--help" -> Left (HelpRequest mode)
+        "-?"     -> Left (HelpRequest mode)
+        "--version" -> Left VersionRequest
+        ('-':'-':name) -> considerLongOption name
+        ('-':c:[]) -> considerShortOption c
+        _ -> Left (InvalidOption arg)
+
+    considerLongOption :: String -> Either InvalidCommandLine (LongName,ParameterValue)
+    considerLongOption arg =
+      let
+        (name,value) = List.span (/= '=') arg 
+        candidate = LongName name
+        -- lose the '='
+        value' = case List.uncons value of
+            Just (_,remainder) -> Value remainder
+            Nothing -> Empty
+      in
+        if containsElement candidate valids
+            then Right (candidate,value')
+            else Left (UnknownOption ("--" ++ name))
+
+    considerShortOption :: Char -> Either InvalidCommandLine (LongName,ParameterValue)
+    considerShortOption c =
+        case lookupKeyValue c shorts of
+            Just name -> Right (name,Empty)
+            Nothing -> Left (UnknownOption ['-',c])
+
+parseRequiredArguments
+    :: [LongName]
+    -> [String]
+    -> Either InvalidCommandLine [(LongName,ParameterValue)]
+parseRequiredArguments needed argv = iter needed argv
+  where
+    iter :: [LongName] -> [String] -> Either InvalidCommandLine [(LongName,ParameterValue)]
+
+    iter [] [] = Right []
+    -- more arguments supplied than expected
+    iter [] args = Left (UnexpectedArguments args)
+    -- more arguments required, not satisfied
+    iter (name:_) [] = Left (MissingArgument name)
+    iter (name:names) (arg:args) =
+        let
+            deeper = iter names args
+        in case deeper of
+            Left e -> Left e
+            Right list -> Right ((name,Value arg):list)
+
+parseIndicatedCommand
+    :: Map LongName [Options]
+    -> String
+    -> Either InvalidCommandLine (LongName,[Options])
+parseIndicatedCommand modes first =
+  let
+    candidate = LongName first
+  in
+    case lookupKeyValue candidate modes of
+        Just options -> Right (candidate,options)
+        Nothing -> Left (UnknownCommand first)
+
+--
+-- Ok, the f,g,h,... was silly. But hey :)
+--
+
+extractValidNames :: [Options] -> Set LongName
+extractValidNames options =
+    foldr f emptySet options
+  where
+    f :: Options -> Set LongName -> Set LongName
+    f (Option longname _ _ _) valids = insertElement longname valids
+    f _ valids = valids
+
+extractShortNames :: [Options] -> Map ShortName LongName
+extractShortNames options =
+    foldr g emptyMap options
+  where
+    g :: Options -> Map ShortName LongName -> Map ShortName LongName
+    g (Option longname shortname _ _) shorts = case shortname of
+        Just shortchar -> insertKeyValue shortchar longname shorts
+        Nothing -> shorts
+    g _ shorts = shorts
+
+extractRequiredArguments :: [Options] -> [LongName]
+extractRequiredArguments arguments =
+    foldr h [] arguments
+  where
+    h :: Options -> [LongName] -> [LongName]
+    h (Argument longname _) needed = longname:needed
+    h _ needed = needed
+
+extractGlobalOptions :: [Commands] -> [Options]
+extractGlobalOptions commands =
+    foldr j [] commands
+  where
+    j :: Commands -> [Options] -> [Options]
+    j (Global options) valids = options ++ valids
+    j _ valids = valids
+
+extractValidModes :: [Commands] -> Map LongName [Options]
+extractValidModes commands =
+    foldr k emptyMap commands
+  where
+    k :: Commands -> Map LongName [Options] -> Map LongName [Options]
+    k (Command longname _ options) modes = insertKeyValue longname options modes
+    k _ modes = modes
+
+splitCommandLine :: [String] -> Either InvalidCommandLine ([String], String, [String])
+splitCommandLine args =
+  let
+    (possibles,remainder) = List.span isOption args
+    x = List.uncons remainder
+  in
+    case x of
+        Just (mode,remainingArgs) -> Right (possibles,mode,remainingArgs)
+        Nothing -> if (List.elem "--help" possibles)
+            then Left (HelpRequest Nothing)
+            else Left NoCommandFound
+
+--
+-- Environment variable handling
+--
+
+extractValidEnvironments :: Maybe LongName -> Config -> Set LongName
+extractValidEnvironments mode config = case config of
+    Blank -> emptySet
+
+    Simple options -> extractVariableNames options
+
+    Complex commands ->
+      let
+        globals = extractGlobalOptions commands
+        variables1 = extractVariableNames globals
+
+        locals = extractLocalVariables commands (fromMaybe "" mode)
+        variables2 = extractVariableNames locals
+      in
+        variables1 <> variables2
+
+extractLocalVariables :: [Commands] -> LongName -> [Options]
+extractLocalVariables commands mode =
+    foldr k [] commands
+  where
+    k :: Commands -> [Options] -> [Options]
+    k (Command name _ options) acc = if name == mode then options else acc
+    k _ acc = acc
+
+
+extractVariableNames :: [Options] -> Set LongName
+extractVariableNames options =
+    foldr f emptySet options
+  where
+    f :: Options -> Set LongName -> Set LongName
+    f (Variable longname _) valids = insertElement longname valids
+    f _ valids = valids
+
+
+
+--
+-- The code from here on is formatting code. It's fairly repetative
+-- and crafted to achieve a specific aesthetic output. Rather messy.
+-- I'm sure it could be done "better" but no matter; this is on the
+-- path to an exit and return to user's command line.
+--
+
+buildUsage :: Config -> Maybe LongName -> Doc ann
+buildUsage config mode = case config of
+    Blank -> emptyDoc
+
+    Simple options ->
+      let
+        (o,a) = partitionParameters options
+      in
+        "Usage:" <> hardline <> hardline
+            <> indent 4 (nest 4 (fillCat
+                [ pretty programName
+                , optionsSummary o
+                , argumentsSummary a
+                ])) <> hardline
+            <> optionsHeading o
+            <> formatParameters o
+            <> argumentsHeading a
+            <> formatParameters a
+
+    Complex commands ->
+      let
+        globalOptions = extractGlobalOptions commands
+        modes = extractValidModes commands
+
+        (oG,_) = partitionParameters globalOptions
+      in
+        "Usage:" <> hardline <> hardline <> case mode of
+            Nothing ->
+                indent 2 (nest 4 (fillCat
+                    [ pretty programName
+                    , globalSummary oG
+                    , commandSummary modes
+                    ])) <> hardline
+                <> globalHeading oG
+                <> formatParameters oG
+                <> commandHeading modes
+                <> formatCommands commands
+
+            Just longname ->
+              let
+                (oL,aL) = case lookupKeyValue longname modes of
+                    Just localOptions -> partitionParameters localOptions
+                    Nothing -> error "Illegal State"
+              in
+                indent 2 (nest 4 (fillCat
+                    [ pretty programName
+                    , globalSummary oG
+                    , commandSummary modes
+                    , localSummary oL
+                    , argumentsSummary aL
+                    ])) <> hardline
+                <> localHeading oL
+                <> formatParameters oL
+                <> argumentsHeading aL
+                <> formatParameters aL
+
+  where
+    partitionParameters :: [Options] -> ([Options],[Options])
+    partitionParameters options = foldr f ([],[]) options
+
+    optionsSummary :: [Options] -> Doc ann
+    optionsSummary os = if length os > 0 then softline <> "[OPTIONS]" else emptyDoc
+
+    optionsHeading os = if length os > 0 then hardline <> "Available options:" <> hardline else emptyDoc
+
+    globalSummary os = if length os > 0 then softline <> "[GLOBAL OPTIONS]" else emptyDoc
+    globalHeading os = if length os > 0
+        then hardline <> "Global options:" <> hardline
+        else emptyDoc
+
+    localSummary os = if length os > 0 then softline <> "[LOCAL OPTIONS]" else emptyDoc
+    localHeading os = if length os > 0
+        then hardline <> "Options to the '" <> commandName <> "' command:" <> hardline
+        else emptyDoc
+
+    commandName :: Doc ann
+    commandName = case mode of
+        Just (LongName name) -> pretty name
+        Nothing -> "COMMAND..."
+
+    argumentsSummary :: [Options] -> Doc ann
+    argumentsSummary as = " " <> fillSep (fmap pretty (extractRequiredArguments as))
+
+    argumentsHeading as = if length as > 0 then hardline <> "Required arguments:" <> hardline else emptyDoc
+
+    -- there is a corner case of complex config with no commands
+    commandSummary modes = if length modes > 0 then softline <> commandName else emptyDoc
+    commandHeading modes = if length modes > 0 then hardline <> "Available commands:" <> hardline else emptyDoc
+
+    f :: Options -> ([Options],[Options]) -> ([Options],[Options])
+    f o@(Option _ _ _ _) (opts,args) = (o:opts,args)
+    f a@(Argument _ _) (opts,args) = (opts,a:args)
+    f (Variable _ _) (opts,args) = (opts,args)
+
+    formatParameters :: [Options] -> Doc ann
+    formatParameters [] = emptyDoc
+    formatParameters options = hardline <> foldr g emptyDoc options
+
+--
+-- 16 characters width for short option, long option, and two spaces. If the
+-- long option's name is wider than this the description will be moved to
+-- the next line.
+--
+-- Arguments are aligned to the character of the short option; looks
+-- pretty good and better than waiting until column 8.
+--
+
+    g :: Options -> Doc ann -> Doc ann
+    g (Option longname shortname valued description) acc =
+      let
+        s = case shortname of
+                Just shortchar -> "  -" <> pretty shortchar <> ", --"
+                Nothing -> "      --"
+        l = pretty longname
+        d = fromRope description
+      in case valued of
+        Empty ->
+            fillBreak 16 (s <> l <> " ") <+> align (reflow d) <> hardline <> acc
+        Value label ->
+            fillBreak 16 (s <> l <> "=" <> pretty label <> " ") <+> align (reflow d) <> hardline <> acc
+
+    g (Argument longname description) acc =
+      let
+        l = pretty longname
+        d = fromRope description
+      in
+        fillBreak 16 ("  " <> l <> " ") <+> align (reflow d) <> hardline <> acc
+    g (Variable longname description) acc =
+      let
+        l = pretty longname
+        d = fromRope description
+      in
+        fillBreak 16 ("  " <> l <> " ") <+> align (reflow d) <> hardline <> acc
+
+    formatCommands :: [Commands] -> Doc ann
+    formatCommands commands = hardline <> foldr h emptyDoc commands
+
+    h :: Commands -> Doc ann -> Doc ann
+    h (Command longname description _) acc =
+      let
+        l = pretty longname
+        d = fromRope description
+      in
+        fillBreak 16 ("  " <> l <> " ") <+> align (reflow d) <> hardline <> acc
+    h _ acc = acc
+
+buildVersion :: Version -> Doc ann
+buildVersion version =
+    pretty (projectNameFrom version)
+    <+> "v"
+    <> pretty (versionNumberFrom version)
+    <> hardline
+
diff --git a/lib/Core/Program/Context.hs b/lib/Core/Program/Context.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/Core/Program/Context.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,346 @@
+{-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE MultiParamTypeClasses #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE StrictData #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE DeriveGeneric #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE DeriveFunctor #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE GeneralizedNewtypeDeriving #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE StandaloneDeriving #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE InstanceSigs #-}
+{-# OPTIONS_GHC -fno-warn-orphans #-}
+{-# OPTIONS_HADDOCK hide #-}
+
+-- This is an Internal module, hidden from Haddock
+module Core.Program.Context
+    (
+        Context(..)
+      , None(..)
+      , isNone
+      , configure
+      , Message(..)
+      , Verbosity(..)
+      , Program(..)
+      , unProgram
+      , getContext
+      , subProgram
+      , getConsoleWidth
+    ) where
+
+import Prelude hiding (log)
+import Chrono.TimeStamp (TimeStamp, getCurrentTimeNanoseconds)
+import Control.Concurrent.MVar (MVar, newMVar, newEmptyMVar)
+import Control.Concurrent.STM.TQueue (TQueue, newTQueueIO)
+import Control.Exception.Safe (displayException)
+import qualified Control.Exception.Safe as Safe (throw, catch)
+import Control.Monad.Catch (MonadThrow(throwM), MonadCatch(catch))
+import Control.Monad.IO.Class (MonadIO, liftIO)
+import Control.Monad.Reader.Class (MonadReader(..))
+import Control.Monad.Trans.Reader (ReaderT(..))
+import Data.Foldable (foldrM)
+import Data.Text.Prettyprint.Doc (layoutPretty, LayoutOptions(..), PageWidth(..))
+import Data.Text.Prettyprint.Doc.Render.Text (renderIO)
+import qualified System.Console.Terminal.Size as Terminal (Window(..), size)
+import System.Environment (getArgs, getProgName, lookupEnv)
+import System.Exit (ExitCode(..), exitWith)
+
+import Core.Data.Structures
+import Core.System.Base hiding (throw, catch)
+import Core.Text.Rope
+import Core.Program.Arguments
+import Core.Program.Metadata
+
+{-|
+Internal context for a running program. You access this via actions in the
+'Program' monad. The principal item here is the user-supplied top-level
+application data of type @τ@ which can be retrieved with
+'Core.Program.Execute.getApplicationState' and updated with
+'Core.Program.Execute.setApplicationState'.
+-}
+--
+-- The fieldNameFrom idiom is an experiment. Looks very strange,
+-- certainly, here in the record type definition and when setting
+-- fields, but for the common case of getting a value out of the
+-- record, a call like
+--
+--     fieldNameFrom context
+--
+-- isn't bad at all, and no worse than the leading underscore
+-- convention.
+--
+--     _fieldName context
+--
+-- (I would argue better, since _ is already so overloaded as the
+-- wildcard symbol in Haskell). Either way, the point is to avoid a
+-- bare fieldName because so often you have want to be able to use
+-- that field name as a local variable name.
+--
+data Context τ = Context {
+      programNameFrom :: MVar Rope
+    , versionFrom :: Version
+    , commandLineFrom :: Parameters
+    , exitSemaphoreFrom :: MVar ExitCode
+    , startTimeFrom :: TimeStamp
+    , terminalWidthFrom :: Int
+    , verbosityLevelFrom :: MVar Verbosity
+    , outputChannelFrom :: TQueue Rope
+    , loggerChannelFrom :: TQueue Message
+    , applicationDataFrom :: MVar τ
+}
+
+{-|
+A 'Program' with no user-supplied state to be threaded throughout the
+computation.
+
+The "Core.Program.Execute" framework makes your top-level application state
+available at the outer level of your process. While this is a feature that
+most substantial programs rely on, it is /not/ needed for many simple
+tasks or when first starting out what will become a larger project.
+
+This is effectively the unit type, but this alias is here to clearly signal
+a user-data type is not a part of the program semantics.
+
+-}
+-- Bids are open for a better name for this
+data None = None
+    deriving (Show, Eq)
+
+isNone :: None -> Bool
+isNone _ = True
+
+
+data Message = Message TimeStamp Verbosity Rope (Maybe Rope)
+
+data Verbosity = Output | Event | Debug
+    deriving Show
+
+{-|
+The type of a top-level program.
+
+You would use this by writing:
+
+@
+module Main where
+
+import "Core.Program"
+
+main :: 'IO' ()
+main = 'Core.Program.Execute.execute' program
+@
+
+and defining a program that is the top level of your application:
+
+@
+program :: 'Program' 'None' ()
+@
+
+Such actions are combinable; you can sequence them (using bind in
+do-notation) or run them in parallel, but basically you should need one
+such object at the top of your application.
+
+/Type variables/
+
+A 'Program' has a user-supplied application state and a return type.
+
+The first type variable, @τ@, is your application's state. This is an
+object that will be threaded through the computation and made available to
+your code in the 'Program' monad. While this is a common requirement of the
+outer code layer in large programs, it is often /not/ necessary in small
+programs or when starting new projects. You can mark that there is no
+top-level application state required using 'None' and easily change it
+later if your needs evolve.
+
+The return type, @α@, is usually unit as this effectively being called
+directly from @main@ and Haskell programs have type @'IO' ()@. That is,
+they don't return anything; I/O having already happened as side effects.
+
+/Programs in separate modules/
+
+One of the quirks of Haskell is that it is difficult to refer to code in
+the Main module when you've got a number of programs kicking around in a
+project each with a @main@ function. So you're best off putting your
+top-level 'Program' actions in a separate modules so you can refer to them
+from test suites and example snippets.
+-}
+newtype Program τ α = Program (ReaderT (Context τ) IO α)
+    deriving (Functor, Applicative, Monad, MonadIO, MonadReader (Context τ))
+
+unProgram :: Program τ α -> ReaderT (Context τ) IO α
+unProgram (Program r) = r
+
+{-|
+Get the internal @Context@ of the running @Program@. There is ordinarily no
+reason to use this; to access your top-level application data @τ@ within
+the @Context@ use 'Core.Program.Execute.getApplicationState'.
+-}
+getContext :: Program τ (Context τ)
+getContext = do
+    context <- ask
+    return context
+
+{-|
+Run a subprogram from within a lifted @IO@ block.
+-}
+subProgram :: Context τ -> Program τ α -> IO α
+subProgram context (Program r) = do
+    runReaderT r context
+
+--
+-- This is complicated. The **safe-exceptions** library exports a
+-- `throwM` which is not the `throwM` class method from MonadThrow.
+-- See https://github.com/fpco/safe-exceptions/issues/31 for
+-- discussion. In any event, the re-exports flow back to
+-- Control.Monad.Catch from **exceptions** and Control.Exceptions in
+-- **base**. In the execute actions, we need to catch everything (including
+-- asynchronous exceptions); elsewhere we will use and wrap/export
+-- **safe-exceptions**'s variants of the functions.
+--
+instance MonadThrow (Program τ) where
+    throwM = liftIO . Safe.throw
+
+unHandler :: (ε -> Program τ α) -> (ε -> ReaderT (Context τ) IO α)
+unHandler = fmap unProgram
+
+instance MonadCatch (Program τ) where
+    catch :: Exception ε => (Program τ) α -> (ε -> (Program τ) α) -> (Program τ) α
+    catch program handler =
+      let
+        r = unProgram program
+        h = unHandler handler
+      in do
+        context <- ask
+        liftIO $ do
+            Safe.catch
+                (runReaderT r context)
+                (\e -> runReaderT (h e) context)
+
+{-|
+Initialize the programs's execution context. This takes care of various
+administrative actions, including setting up output channels, parsing
+command-line arguments (according to the supplied configuration), and
+putting in place various semaphores for internal program communication.
+See "Core.Program.Arguments" for details.
+
+This is also where you specify the initial {blank, empty, default) value
+for the top-level user-defined application state, if you have one. Specify
+'None' if you aren't using this feature.
+-}
+configure :: Version -> τ -> Config -> IO (Context τ)
+configure version t config = do
+    start <- getCurrentTimeNanoseconds
+
+    arg0 <- getProgName
+    n <- newMVar (intoRope arg0)
+    p <- handleCommandLine version config
+    q <- newEmptyMVar
+    columns <- getConsoleWidth
+    out <- newTQueueIO
+    log <- newTQueueIO
+    u <- newMVar t
+
+    l <- handleVerbosityLevel p
+
+    return $! Context {
+          programNameFrom = n
+        , versionFrom = version
+        , commandLineFrom = p
+        , exitSemaphoreFrom = q
+        , startTimeFrom = start
+        , terminalWidthFrom = columns
+        , verbosityLevelFrom = l
+        , outputChannelFrom = out
+        , loggerChannelFrom = log
+        , applicationDataFrom = u
+    }
+
+--
+-- | Probe the width of the terminal, in characters. If it fails to retrieve,
+-- for whatever reason, return a default of 80 characters wide.
+--
+getConsoleWidth :: IO (Int)
+getConsoleWidth = do
+    window <- Terminal.size
+    let columns =  case window of
+            Just (Terminal.Window _ w) -> w
+            Nothing -> 80
+    return columns
+
+--
+-- | Process the command line options and arguments. If an invalid
+-- option is encountered or a [mandatory] argument is missing, then
+-- the program will terminate here.
+--
+{-
+    We came back here with the error case so we can pass config in to
+    buildUsage (otherwise we could have done it all in displayException and
+    called that in Core.Program.Arguments). And, returning here lets us set
+    up the layout width to match (one off the) actual width of console.
+-}
+handleCommandLine :: Version -> Config -> IO Parameters
+handleCommandLine version config = do
+    argv <- getArgs
+    let result = parseCommandLine config argv
+    case result of
+        Right parameters -> do
+            pairs <- lookupEnvironmentVariables config parameters
+            return parameters { environmentValuesFrom = pairs }
+        Left e -> case e of
+            HelpRequest mode -> do
+                render (buildUsage config mode)
+                exitWith (ExitFailure 1)
+            VersionRequest -> do
+                render (buildVersion version)
+                exitWith (ExitFailure 1)
+            _ -> do
+                putStr "error: "
+                putStrLn (displayException e)
+                hFlush stdout
+                exitWith (ExitFailure 1)
+  where
+    render message = do
+        columns <- getConsoleWidth
+        let options = LayoutOptions (AvailablePerLine (columns - 1) 1.0)
+        renderIO stdout (layoutPretty options message)
+        hFlush stdout
+
+
+lookupEnvironmentVariables :: Config -> Parameters -> IO (Map LongName ParameterValue)
+lookupEnvironmentVariables config params = do
+    let mode = commandNameFrom params
+    let valids = extractValidEnvironments mode config
+
+    result <- foldrM f emptyMap valids
+    return result
+  where
+    f :: LongName -> (Map LongName ParameterValue) -> IO (Map LongName ParameterValue)
+    f name@(LongName var) acc = do
+        result <- lookupEnv var
+        return $ case result of
+            Just value  -> insertKeyValue name (Value value) acc
+            Nothing     -> acc
+
+
+handleVerbosityLevel :: Parameters -> IO (MVar Verbosity)
+handleVerbosityLevel params = do
+    let result = queryVerbosityLevel params
+    case result of
+        Right level -> do
+            newMVar level
+        Left exit -> do
+            putStrLn "error: To set logging level use --verbose or --debug; neither take values."
+            hFlush stdout
+            exitWith exit
+
+queryVerbosityLevel :: Parameters -> Either ExitCode Verbosity
+queryVerbosityLevel params =
+  let
+    debug = lookupKeyValue "debug" (parameterValuesFrom params)
+    verbose = lookupKeyValue "verbose" (parameterValuesFrom params)
+  in
+    case debug of
+        Just value -> case value of
+            Empty   -> Right Debug
+            Value _ -> Left (ExitFailure 2)
+        Nothing -> case verbose of
+            Just value -> case value of
+                Empty   -> Right Event
+                Value _ -> Left (ExitFailure 2)
+            Nothing -> Right Output
diff --git a/lib/Core/Program/Execute.hs b/lib/Core/Program/Execute.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/Core/Program/Execute.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,538 @@
+{-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE MultiParamTypeClasses #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE StrictData #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE ScopedTypeVariables #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE RankNTypes #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE BangPatterns #-}
+{-# OPTIONS_GHC -fno-warn-orphans #-}
+{-# OPTIONS_HADDOCK prune #-}
+
+{-|
+Embelish a Haskell command-line program with useful behaviours.
+
+/Runtime/
+
+Sets number of capabilities (heavy-weight operating system threads used by
+the GHC runtime to run Haskell green threads) to the number of CPU cores
+available (for some reason the default is 1 capability only, which is a bit
+silly on a multicore system).
+
+Install signal handlers to properly terminate the program performing
+cleanup as necessary.
+
+/Logging and output/
+
+The 'Program' monad provides functions for both normal output and debug
+logging. A common annoyance when building command line tools and daemons is
+getting program output to @stdout@ and debug messages interleaved, made
+even worse when error messages written to @stderr@ land in the same
+console. To avoid this, when all output is sent through a single channel.
+This includes both normal output and log messages.
+
+/Exceptions/
+
+Ideally your code should handle (and not leak) exceptions, as is good
+practice anywhere in the Haskell ecosystem. As a measure of last resort
+however, if an exception is thrown (and not caught) by your program it will
+be caught at the outer 'execute' entrypoint, logged for debugging, and then
+your program will exit.
+
+/Customizing the execution context/
+
+The 'execute' function will run your 'Program' in a basic 'Context'
+initialized with appropriate defaults. Most settings can be changed at
+runtime, but to specify the allowed command-line options and expected
+arguments you can initialize your program using 'configure' and then run
+with 'executeWith'.
+-}
+module Core.Program.Execute
+    (   Program ()
+        {-* Running programs -}
+      , configure
+      , execute
+      , executeWith
+        {-* Exiting a program -}
+      , terminate
+        {-* Accessing program context -}
+      , getCommandLine
+      , lookupOptionFlag
+      , lookupOptionValue
+      , lookupArgument
+      , getProgramName
+      , setProgramName
+      , getVerbosityLevel
+      , setVerbosityLevel
+      , getApplicationState
+      , setApplicationState
+      , retrieve
+      , update
+        {-* Useful actions -}
+      , output
+      , input
+        {-* Concurrency -}
+      , Thread
+      , fork
+      , sleep
+        {-* Internals -}
+      , Context
+      , None(..)
+      , isNone
+      , unProgram
+      , unThread
+      , invalid
+    ) where
+
+import Prelude hiding (log)
+import Control.Concurrent (threadDelay)
+import Control.Concurrent.Async (Async, async, link, cancel
+    , ExceptionInLinkedThread(..), AsyncCancelled, race_)
+import Control.Concurrent.MVar (readMVar, putMVar, modifyMVar_)
+import Control.Concurrent.STM (atomically, check)
+import Control.Concurrent.STM.TQueue (TQueue, readTQueue, isEmptyTQueue)
+import qualified Control.Exception as Base (throwIO)
+import Control.Exception.Safe (SomeException, Exception(displayException))
+import qualified Control.Exception.Safe as Safe (throw, catchesAsync)
+import Control.Monad (when, forever)
+import Control.Monad.Catch (Handler(..))
+import Control.Monad.IO.Class (liftIO)
+import Control.Monad.Reader.Class (MonadReader(ask))
+import qualified Data.ByteString as B (hPut)
+import qualified Data.ByteString.Char8 as C (singleton)
+import GHC.Conc (numCapabilities, getNumProcessors, setNumCapabilities)
+import GHC.IO.Encoding (setLocaleEncoding, utf8)
+import System.Exit (ExitCode(..))
+import qualified System.Posix.Process as Posix (exitImmediately)
+
+import Core.Data.Structures
+import Core.Text.Bytes
+import Core.Text.Rope
+import Core.System.Base
+import Core.Program.Context
+import Core.Program.Logging
+import Core.Program.Signal
+import Core.Program.Arguments
+
+-- execute actual "main"
+executeAction :: Context τ -> Program τ α -> IO ()
+executeAction context program =
+  let
+    quit = exitSemaphoreFrom context
+  in do
+    _ <- subProgram context program
+    putMVar quit ExitSuccess
+
+--
+-- If an exception escapes, we'll catch it here. The displayException
+-- value for some exceptions is really quit unhelpful, so we pattern
+-- match the wrapping gumpf away for cases as we encounter them. The
+-- final entry is the catch-all; the first is what we get from the
+-- terminate action.
+--
+escapeHandlers :: Context c -> [Handler IO ()]
+escapeHandlers context = [
+    Handler (\ (exit :: ExitCode) -> done exit)
+  , Handler (\ (_ :: AsyncCancelled) -> pass)
+  , Handler (\ (ExceptionInLinkedThread _ e) -> bail e)
+  , Handler (\ (e :: SomeException) -> bail e)
+  ]
+  where
+    quit = exitSemaphoreFrom context
+
+    pass :: IO ()
+    pass = return ()
+
+    done :: ExitCode -> IO ()
+    done exit = do
+        putMVar quit exit
+
+    bail :: Exception e => e -> IO ()
+    bail e =
+      let
+        text = intoRope (displayException e)
+      in do
+        subProgram context $ do
+            setVerbosityLevel Debug
+            event text
+        putMVar quit (ExitFailure 127)
+
+--
+-- If an exception occurs in one of the output handlers, its failure causes
+-- a subsequent race condition when the program tries to clean up and drain
+-- the queues. So we use `exitImmediately` (which we normally avoid, as it
+-- unhelpfully destroys the parent process if you're in ghci) because we
+-- really need the process to go down and we're in an inconsistent state
+-- where debug or console output is no longer possible.
+--
+collapseHandlers :: [Handler IO ()]
+collapseHandlers =
+  [ Handler (\ (e :: AsyncCancelled) -> do
+                Base.throwIO e)
+  , Handler (\ (e :: SomeException) -> do
+                putStrLn "error: Output handler collapsed"
+                print e
+                Posix.exitImmediately (ExitFailure 99))
+  ]
+
+{-|
+Embelish a program with useful behaviours. See module header
+"Core.Program.Execute" for a detailed description. Internally this function
+calls 'configure' with an appropriate default when initializing.
+-}
+execute :: Program None α -> IO ()
+execute program = do
+    context <- configure "" None (simple [])
+    executeWith context program
+
+{-|
+Embelish a program with useful behaviours, supplying a configuration
+for command-line options & argument parsing and an initial value for
+the top-level application state, if appropriate.
+-}
+executeWith :: Context τ -> Program τ α -> IO ()
+executeWith context program = do
+    -- command line +RTS -Nn -RTS value
+    when (numCapabilities == 1) (getNumProcessors >>= setNumCapabilities)
+
+    -- force UTF-8 working around bad VMs
+    setLocaleEncoding utf8
+
+    let quit = exitSemaphoreFrom context
+        level = verbosityLevelFrom context
+        out = outputChannelFrom context
+        log = loggerChannelFrom context
+
+    -- set up standard output
+    o <- async $ do
+        Safe.catchesAsync
+            (processStandardOutput out)
+            (collapseHandlers)
+
+    -- set up debug logger
+    l <- async $ do
+        Safe.catchesAsync
+            (processDebugMessages log)
+            (collapseHandlers)
+
+    -- set up signal handlers
+    _ <- async $ do
+        setupSignalHandlers quit level
+
+    -- run actual program, ensuring to trap uncaught exceptions
+    m <- async $ do
+        Safe.catchesAsync
+            (executeAction context program)
+            (escapeHandlers context)
+
+    code <- readMVar quit
+    cancel m
+
+    -- drain message queues. Allow 0.1 seconds, then timeout, in case
+    -- something has gone wrong and queues don't empty.
+    race_
+        (do
+            atomically $ do
+                done2 <- isEmptyTQueue log
+                check done2
+
+                done1 <- isEmptyTQueue out
+                check done1)
+        (do
+            threadDelay 100000
+            putStrLn "error: Timeout")
+
+    threadDelay 100 -- instead of yield
+    hFlush stdout
+
+    cancel l
+    cancel o
+
+    -- exiting this way avoids "Exception: ExitSuccess" noise in GHCi
+    if code == ExitSuccess
+        then return ()
+        else (Base.throwIO code)
+
+
+processStandardOutput :: TQueue Rope -> IO ()
+processStandardOutput out = do
+    forever $ do
+        text <- atomically (readTQueue out)
+
+        hWrite stdout text
+        B.hPut stdout (C.singleton '\n')
+
+processDebugMessages :: TQueue Message -> IO ()
+processDebugMessages log = do
+    forever $ do
+        -- TODO do sactually do something with log messages
+        -- Message now severity text potentialValue <- ...
+        _ <- atomically (readTQueue log)
+
+        return ()
+
+{-|
+Safely exit the program with the supplied exit code. Current output and
+debug queues will be flushed, and then the process will terminate.
+-}
+-- putting to the quit MVar initiates the cleanup and exit sequence,
+-- but throwing the exception also aborts execution and starts unwinding
+-- back up the stack.
+terminate :: Int -> Program τ α
+terminate code =
+  let
+    exit = case code of
+        0 -> ExitSuccess
+        _ -> ExitFailure code
+  in do
+    context <- ask
+    let quit = exitSemaphoreFrom context
+    liftIO $ do
+        putMVar quit exit
+        Safe.throw exit
+
+-- undocumented
+getVerbosityLevel :: Program τ Verbosity
+getVerbosityLevel = do
+    context <- ask
+    liftIO $ do
+        level <- readMVar (verbosityLevelFrom context)
+        return level
+
+{-|
+Change the verbosity level of the program's logging output. This changes
+whether 'event' and the 'debug' family of functions emit to the logging
+stream; they do /not/ affect 'write'ing to the terminal on the standard
+output stream.
+-}
+setVerbosityLevel :: Verbosity -> Program τ ()
+setVerbosityLevel level = do
+    context <- ask
+    liftIO $ do
+        let v = verbosityLevelFrom context
+        modifyMVar_ v (\_ -> pure level)
+
+
+{-|
+Override the program name used for logging, etc. At least, that was the
+idea. Nothing makes use of this at the moment. @:/@
+-}
+setProgramName :: Rope -> Program τ ()
+setProgramName name = do
+    context <- ask
+    liftIO $ do
+        let v = programNameFrom context
+        modifyMVar_ v (\_ -> pure name)
+
+{-|
+Get the program name as invoked from the command-line (or as overridden by
+'setProgramName').
+-}
+getProgramName :: Program τ Rope
+getProgramName = do
+    context <- ask
+    liftIO $ do
+        let v = programNameFrom context
+        readMVar v
+
+{-|
+Get the user supplied application state as originally supplied to
+'configure' and modified subsequntly by replacement with
+'setApplicationState'.
+
+@
+    state <- getApplicationState
+@
+-}
+getApplicationState :: Program τ τ
+getApplicationState = do
+    context <- ask
+    liftIO $ do
+        let v = applicationDataFrom context
+        readMVar v
+
+{-|
+Update the user supplied top-level application state.
+
+@
+    let state' = state { answer = 42 }
+    setApplicationState state'
+@
+-}
+setApplicationState :: τ -> Program τ ()
+setApplicationState user = do
+    context <- ask
+    liftIO $ do
+        let v = applicationDataFrom context
+        modifyMVar_ v (\_ -> pure user)
+
+{-|
+Alias for 'getApplicationState'.
+-}
+retrieve :: Program τ τ
+retrieve = getApplicationState
+
+{-|
+Alias for 'setApplicationState'.
+-}
+update :: τ -> Program τ ()
+update = setApplicationState
+
+{-|
+Write the supplied @Bytes@ to the given @Handle@. Note that in contrast to
+'write' we don't output a trailing newline.
+
+@
+    'output' h b
+@
+
+Do /not/ use this to output to @stdout@ as that would bypass the mechanism
+used by the 'write'*, 'event', and 'debug'* functions to sequence output
+correctly. If you wish to write to the terminal use:
+
+@
+    'write' ('intoRope' b)
+@
+
+(which is not /unsafe/, but will lead to unexpected results if the binary
+blob you pass in is other than UTF-8 text).
+-}
+output :: Handle -> Bytes -> Program τ ()
+output handle contents = liftIO (hOutput handle contents)
+
+{-|
+Read the (entire) contents of the specified @Handle@.
+-}
+input :: Handle -> Program τ Bytes
+input handle = liftIO (hInput handle)
+
+{-|
+A thread for concurrent computation. Haskell uses green threads: small
+lines of work that are scheduled down onto actual execution contexts, set
+by default by this library to be one per core. They are incredibly
+lightweight, and you are encouraged to use them freely. Haskell provides a
+rich ecosystem of tools to do work concurrently and to communicate safely
+between threads
+
+(this wraps __async__'s 'Async')
+-}
+newtype Thread α = Thread (Async α)
+
+unThread :: Thread α -> Async α
+unThread (Thread a) = a
+
+{-|
+Fork a thread. The child thread will run in the same @Context@ as the
+calling @Program@, including sharing the user-defined application state
+type.
+
+(this wraps __async__'s 'async' which in turn wraps __base__'s 'Control.Concurrent.forkIO')
+-}
+fork :: Program τ α -> Program τ (Thread α)
+fork program = do
+    context <- ask
+    liftIO $ do
+        a <- async $ do
+            subProgram context program
+        link a
+        return (Thread a)
+
+{-|
+Pause the current thread for the given number of seconds. For
+example, to delay a second and a half, do:
+
+@
+    'sleep' 1.5
+@
+
+(this wraps __base__'s 'threadDelay')
+-}
+--
+-- FIXME is this the right type, given we want to avoid type default warnings?
+--
+sleep :: Rational -> Program τ ()
+sleep seconds =
+  let
+    us = floor (toRational (seconds * 1e6))
+  in
+    liftIO $ threadDelay us
+
+{-|
+Retrieve the values of parameters parsed from options and arguments
+supplied by the user on the command-line.
+
+The command-line parameters are returned in a 'Map', mapping from from the
+option or argument name to the supplied value. You can query this map
+directly:
+
+@
+program = do
+    params <- 'getCommandLine'
+    let result = 'lookupKeyValue' \"silence\" (paramterValuesFrom params)
+    case result of
+        'Nothing' -> 'return' ()
+        'Just' quiet = case quiet of
+            'Value' _ -> 'throw' NotQuiteRight               -- complain that flag doesn't take value
+            'Empty'   -> 'write' \"You should be quiet now\"   -- much better
+    ...
+@
+
+which is pattern matching to answer "was this option specified by the
+user?" or "what was the value of this [mandatory] argument?", and then "if
+so, did the parameter have a value?"
+
+This is available should you need to differentiate between a @Value@ and an
+@Empty@ 'ParameterValue', but for many cases as a convenience you can use
+the 'lookupOptionFlag', 'lookupOptionValue', and 'lookupArgument' functions
+below (which are just wrappers around a code block like the example shown
+here).
+-}
+getCommandLine :: Program τ (Parameters)
+getCommandLine = do
+    context <- ask
+    return (commandLineFrom context)
+
+{-|
+Arguments are mandatory, so by the time your program is running a value
+has already been identified. This returns the value for that parameter.
+-}
+-- this is Maybe because you can inadvertently ask for an unconfigured name
+-- this could be fixed with a much stronger Config type, potentially.
+lookupArgument :: LongName -> Parameters -> Maybe String
+lookupArgument name params =
+    case lookupKeyValue name (parameterValuesFrom params) of
+        Nothing -> Nothing
+        Just argument -> case argument of
+            Empty -> error "Invalid State"
+            Value value -> Just value
+
+{-|
+Look to see if the user supplied a valued option and if so, what its value
+was.
+-}
+-- Should this be more severe if it encounters Empty?
+lookupOptionValue :: LongName -> Parameters -> Maybe String
+lookupOptionValue name params =
+    case lookupKeyValue name (parameterValuesFrom params) of
+        Nothing -> Nothing
+        Just argument -> case argument of
+            Empty -> Nothing
+            Value value -> Just value
+
+{-|
+Returns @Just True@ if the option is present, and @Nothing@ if it is not.
+-}
+-- The type is boolean to support a possible future extension of negated
+-- arguments.
+lookupOptionFlag :: LongName -> Parameters -> Maybe Bool
+lookupOptionFlag name params =
+    case lookupKeyValue name (parameterValuesFrom params) of
+        Nothing -> Nothing
+        Just argument -> case argument of
+            _ -> Just True        -- nom, nom
+
+
+{-|
+Illegal internal state resulting from what should be unreachable code
+or otherwise a programmer error.
+-}
+invalid :: Program τ α
+invalid = error "Invalid State"
diff --git a/lib/Core/Program/Logging.hs b/lib/Core/Program/Logging.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/Core/Program/Logging.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,358 @@
+{-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE MultiParamTypeClasses #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE FlexibleContexts #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE GeneralizedNewtypeDeriving #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE BangPatterns #-}
+{-# OPTIONS_HADDOCK prune #-}
+
+{-|
+Output and Logging from your program.
+
+Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of program: console tools invoked for
+a single purpose, and long-running daemons that effectively run forever.
+
+Tools tend to be run to either have an effect (in which case they tend not
+to a say much of anything) or to report a result. This tends to be written
+to \"standard output\"—traditionally abbreviated in code as @stdout@—which
+is usually printed to your terminal.
+
+Daemons, on the other hand, don't write their output to file descriptor 1;
+rather they tend to respond to requests by writing to files, replying over
+network sockets, or sending up smoke signals (@ECPUTOOHOT@, in case you're
+curious). What daemons /do/ output, however, is log messages.
+
+While there are many sophisticated logging services around that you can
+interact with directly, from the point of view of an individual /program/
+these tend to have faded away and have become more an aspect of the
+Infrastructure- or Platform-as-a-Service you're running on. Over the past
+few years containerization mechanisms like __docker__, then more recently
+container orchestration layers like __kubernetes__, have generally simply
+captured programs' standard output /as if it were the program's log output/
+and then sent that down external logging channels to whatever log analysis
+system is available. Even programs running locally under __systemd__ or
+similar tend to follow the same pattern; services write to @stdout@ and
+that output, as "logs", ends up being fed to the system journal.
+
+So with that in mind, in your program you will either be outputting results
+to @stdout@ or not writing there at all, and you will either be describing
+extensively what your application is up to, or not at all. 
+
+There is also a \"standard error\" file descriptor available. We recommend
+not using it. At best it is unclear what is written to @stderr@ and what
+isn't; at worse it is lost as many environments in the wild discard
+@stderr@ entirely. To avoid this most of the time people just combine them
+in the invoking shell with @2>&1@, which inevitably results in @stderr@
+text appearing in the middle of normal @stdout@ lines corrupting them.
+
+The original idea of standard error was to provde a way to report adverse
+conditions without interrupting normal text output, but as we have just
+observed if it happens without context or out of order there isn't much
+point. Instead this library offers a mechanism which caters for the
+different /kinds/ of output in a unified, safe manner.
+
+== Three kinds of output/logging messages
+
+/Standard output/
+
+Your program's normal output to the terminal. This library provides the
+'write' (and 'writeS' and 'writeR') functions to send output to @stdout@.
+
+/Events/
+
+When running a tool, you sometimes need to know /what it is doing/ as it is
+carrying out its steps. The 'event' function allows you to emit descriptive
+messages to the log channel tracing the activities of your program.
+
+Ideally you would never need to turn this on in a command-line tool, but
+sometimes a user or operations engineer needs to see what an application is
+up to. These should be human readable status messages to convey a sense of
+progress.
+
+In the case of long-running daemons, 'event' can be used to describe
+high-level lifecycle events, to document individual requests, or even
+describing individual transitions in a request handler's state machine, all
+depending on the nature of your program.
+
+/Debugging/
+
+Programmers, on the other hand, often need to see the internal state of
+the program when /debugging/.
+
+You almost always you want to know the value of some variable or parameter,
+so the 'debug' (and 'debugS' and 'debugR') utility functions here send
+messages to the log channel prefixed with a label that is, by convention,
+the name of the value you are examining.
+
+The important distinction here is that such internal values are almost
+never useful for someone other than the person or team who wrote the code
+emitting it. Operations engineers might be asked by developers to turn on
+@--debug@ing and report back the results; but a user of your program is not
+going to do that in and of themselves to solve a problem.
+
+== Single output channel
+
+It is the easy to make the mistake of having multiple subsystems attempting
+to write to @stdout@ and these outputs corrupting each other, especially in
+a multithreaded language like Haskell. The output actions described here
+send all output to terminal down a single thread-safe channel. Output will
+be written in the order it was executed, and (so long as you don't use the
+@stdout@ Handle directly yourself) your terminal output will be sound.
+
+Passing @--verbose@ on the command-line of your program will cause 'event'
+to write its tracing messages to the terminal. This shares the same output
+channel as the 'write'@*@ functions and will /not/ cause corruption of your
+program's normal output.
+
+Passing @--debug@ on the command-line of your program will cause the
+'debug'@*@ actions to write their debug-level messages to the terminal.
+This shares the same output channel as above and again will not cause
+corruption of your program's normal output.
+
+== Logging channel
+
+/Event and debug messages are internally also sent to a "logging channel",/
+/as distinct from the "output" one. This would allow us to send them/
+/directly to a file, syslog, or network logging service, but this is/
+/as-yet unimplemented./
+-}
+module Core.Program.Logging
+    (
+        putMessage
+      , Verbosity
+        {-* Normal output -}
+      , write
+      , writeS
+      , writeR
+        {-* Event tracing -}
+      , event
+        {-* Debugging -}
+      , debug
+      , debugS
+      , debugR
+    ) where
+
+import Chrono.TimeStamp (TimeStamp(..), getCurrentTimeNanoseconds)
+import Control.Concurrent.MVar (readMVar)
+import Control.Concurrent.STM (atomically)
+import Control.Concurrent.STM.TQueue (writeTQueue)
+import Control.Exception (evaluate)
+import Control.Monad (when)
+import Control.Monad.Reader.Class (MonadReader(ask))
+import Data.Fixed
+import Data.Hourglass (timePrint, TimeFormatElem(..))
+import qualified Data.Text.Short as S (replicate)
+
+import Core.Text.Rope
+import Core.Text.Utilities
+import Core.System.Base
+import Core.Program.Context
+
+{-
+class Monad m => MonadLog a m where
+    logMessage :: Monoid a => Severity -> a -> m () 
+-}
+
+putMessage :: Context τ -> Message -> IO ()
+putMessage context message@(Message now _ text potentialValue) = do
+    let start = startTimeFrom context
+    let output = outputChannelFrom context
+    let logger = loggerChannelFrom context
+
+    let display = case potentialValue of
+            Just value ->
+                if containsCharacter '\n' value
+                    then text <> " =\n" <> value
+                    else text <> " = " <> value
+            Nothing -> text
+
+    let result = formatLogMessage start now display
+
+    atomically $ do
+        writeTQueue output result
+        writeTQueue logger message
+
+
+formatLogMessage :: TimeStamp -> TimeStamp -> Rope -> Rope
+formatLogMessage start now message =
+  let
+    start' = unTimeStamp start
+    now' = unTimeStamp now
+    stampZ = timePrint
+        [ Format_Hour
+        , Format_Text ':'
+        , Format_Minute
+        , Format_Text ':'
+        , Format_Second
+        , Format_Text 'Z'
+        ] now
+
+    -- I hate doing math in Haskell
+    elapsed = fromRational (toRational (now' - start') / 1e9) :: Fixed E3
+  in
+    mconcat
+        [ intoRope stampZ
+        , " ("
+        , padWithZeros 9 (show elapsed)
+        , ") "
+        , message
+        ]
+
+--
+-- | Utility function to prepend \'0\' characters to a string representing a
+-- number.
+--
+{-
+    Cloned from **locators** package Data.Locators.Hashes, BSD3 licence
+-}
+padWithZeros :: Int -> String -> Rope
+padWithZeros digits str =
+    intoRope pad <> intoRope str
+  where
+    pad = S.replicate len "0"
+    len = digits - length str
+
+{-|
+Write the supplied text to @stdout@.
+
+This is for normal program output.
+
+@
+     'write' "Beginning now"
+@
+-}
+write :: Rope -> Program τ ()
+write text = do
+    context <- ask
+    liftIO $ do
+        let out = outputChannelFrom context
+
+        !text' <- evaluate text
+        atomically (writeTQueue out text')
+
+{-|
+Call 'show' on the supplied argument and write the resultant text to
+@stdout@.
+
+(This is the equivalent of 'print' from __base__)
+-}
+writeS :: Show α => α -> Program τ ()
+writeS = write . intoRope . show
+
+{-|
+Pretty print the supplied argument and write the resultant text to
+@stdout@. This will pass the detected terminal width to the 'render'
+function, resulting in appopriate line wrapping when rendering your value.
+-}
+writeR :: Render α => α -> Program τ ()
+writeR thing = do
+    context <- ask
+    liftIO $ do
+        let out = outputChannelFrom context
+        let columns = terminalWidthFrom context
+
+        let text = render columns thing
+        !text' <- evaluate text
+        atomically (writeTQueue out text')
+
+{-|
+Note a significant event, state transition, status, or debugging
+message. This:
+
+@
+    'event' "Starting..."
+@
+
+will result in
+
+> 13:05:55Z (0000.001) Starting...
+
+appearing on stdout /and/ the message being sent down the logging
+channel. The output string is current time in UTC, and time elapsed
+since startup shown to the nearest millisecond (our timestamps are to
+nanosecond precision, but you don't need that kind of resolution in
+in ordinary debugging).
+
+Messages sent to syslog will be logged at @Info@ level severity.
+-}
+event :: Rope -> Program τ ()
+event text = do
+    context <- ask
+    liftIO $ do
+        level <- readMVar (verbosityLevelFrom context)
+        when (isEvent level) $ do
+            now <- getCurrentTimeNanoseconds
+            putMessage context (Message now Event text Nothing)
+
+isEvent :: Verbosity -> Bool
+isEvent level = case level of
+    Output -> False
+    Event  -> True
+    Debug  -> True
+
+isDebug :: Verbosity -> Bool
+isDebug level = case level of
+    Output -> False
+    Event  -> False
+    Debug  -> True
+
+{-|
+Output a debugging message formed from a label and a value. This is like
+'event' above but for the (rather common) case of needing to inspect or
+record the value of a variable when debugging code.  This:
+
+@
+    'setProgramName' \"hello\"
+    name <- 'getProgramName'
+    'debug' \"programName\" name
+@
+
+will result in
+
+> 13:05:58Z (0003.141) programName = hello
+
+appearing on stdout /and/ the message being sent down the logging channel,
+assuming these actions executed about three seconds after program start.
+
+Messages sent to syslog will be logged at @Debug@ level severity.
+-}
+debug :: Rope -> Rope -> Program τ ()
+debug label value = do
+    context <- ask
+    liftIO $ do
+        level <- readMVar (verbosityLevelFrom context)
+        when (isDebug level) $ do
+            now <- getCurrentTimeNanoseconds
+            !value' <- evaluate value
+            putMessage context (Message now Debug label (Just value'))
+
+{-|
+Convenience for the common case of needing to inspect the value
+of a general variable which has a 'Show' instance
+-}
+debugS :: Show α => Rope -> α -> Program τ ()
+debugS label value = debug label (intoRope (show value))
+
+{-|
+Convenience for the common case of needing to inspect the value of a
+general variable for which there is a 'Render' instance and so can pretty
+print the supplied argument to the log. This will pass the detected
+terminal width to the 'render' function, resulting in appopriate line
+wrapping when rendering your value (if logging to something other than
+console the default width of @80@ will be applied).
+-}
+debugR :: Render α => Rope -> α -> Program τ ()
+debugR label thing = do
+    context <- ask
+    liftIO $ do
+        level <- readMVar (verbosityLevelFrom context)
+        when (isDebug level) $ do
+            now <- getCurrentTimeNanoseconds
+
+            let columns = terminalWidthFrom context
+
+            -- TODO take into account 22 width already consumed by timestamp
+            -- TODO move render to putMessage? putMessageR?
+            let value = render columns thing
+            !value' <- evaluate value
+            putMessage context (Message now Debug label (Just value'))
+
diff --git a/lib/Core/Program/Metadata.hs b/lib/Core/Program/Metadata.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/Core/Program/Metadata.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,171 @@
+{-# LANGUAGE TemplateHaskell #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE DeriveLift #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-}
+
+{-|
+Dig metadata out of the description of your project.
+
+This uses the evil /Template Haskell/ to run code at compile time that
+parses the /.cabal/ file for your Haskell project and extracts various
+meaningful fields.
+-}
+module Core.Program.Metadata
+(
+      Version
+      {-* Splice -}
+    , fromPackage
+      {-* Internals -}
+    , versionNumberFrom
+    , projectNameFrom
+    , projectSynopsisFrom
+)
+where
+
+import Core.Data
+import Core.Text
+import Core.System (withFile, IOMode(..))
+import Data.List (intersperse)
+import qualified Data.List as List (isSuffixOf, find)
+import Data.Maybe (fromMaybe)
+import Data.String
+import Language.Haskell.TH (Q, runIO)
+import Language.Haskell.TH.Syntax (Lift, Exp(..))
+import System.Directory (listDirectory)
+
+{-|
+Information about the version number of this piece of software and other
+related metadata related to the project it was built from. This is supplied
+to your program when you call 'Core.Program.Execute.configure'. This value
+is used if the user requests it by specifying the @--version@ option on the
+command-line.
+
+Simply providing an overloaded string literal such as version @\"1.0\"@
+will give you a 'Version' with that value:
+
+@
+\{\-\# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings \#\-\}
+
+main :: 'IO' ()
+main = do
+    context <- 'Core.Program.Execute.configure' \"1.0\" 'Core.Program.Execute.None' ('Core.Program.Arguments.simple' ...
+@
+
+
+For more complex usage you can populate a 'Version' object using the
+'fromPackage' splice below. You can then call various accessors like
+'versionNumberFrom' to access individual fields.
+-}
+data Version = Version {
+      projectNameFrom :: String
+    , projectSynopsisFrom :: String
+    , versionNumberFrom :: String
+} deriving (Show, Lift)
+
+emptyVersion :: Version
+emptyVersion = Version "" "" "0"
+
+instance IsString Version where
+    fromString x = emptyVersion { versionNumberFrom = x }
+
+{-|
+This is a splice which includes key built-time metadata, including the
+number from the version field from your project's /.cabal/ file (as written
+by hand or generated from /package.yaml/).
+
+While we generally discourage the use of Template Haskell by beginners
+(there are more important things to learn first) it is a way to execute
+code at compile time and that is what what we need in order to have the
+version number extracted from the /.cabal/ file rather than requiring the
+user to specify (and synchronize) it in multiple places.
+
+To use this, enable the Template Haskell language extension in your
+/Main.hs/ file. Then use the special @$( ... )@ \"insert splice here\"
+syntax that extension provides to get a 'Version' object with the desired
+metadata about your project:
+
+@
+\{\-\# LANGUAGE TemplateHaskell \#\-\}
+
+version :: 'Version'
+version = $('fromPackage')
+
+main :: 'IO' ()
+main = do
+    context <- 'Core.Program.Execute.configure' version 'Core.Program.Execute.None' ('Core.Program.Arguments.simple' ...
+@
+
+(Using Template Haskell slows down compilation of this file, but the upside
+of this technique is that it avoids linking the Haskell build machinery
+into your executable, saving you about 10 MB in the size of the resultant
+binary)
+-}
+fromPackage :: Q Exp
+fromPackage = do
+    pairs <- readCabalFile
+
+    let name = fromMaybe "" . lookupKeyValue "name" $ pairs
+    let synopsis = fromMaybe "" . lookupKeyValue "synopsis" $ pairs
+    let version = fromMaybe "" . lookupKeyValue "version" $ pairs
+
+    let result = Version
+            { projectNameFrom = fromRope name
+            , projectSynopsisFrom = fromRope synopsis
+            , versionNumberFrom = fromRope version
+            }
+
+--  I would have preferred
+--
+--  let e = AppE (VarE ...
+--  return e
+--
+--  but that's not happening. So more voodoo TH nonsense instead.
+
+    [e|result|]
+
+
+{-
+Locate the .cabal file in the present working directory (assumed to be the
+build root) and use the **Cabal** library to parse the few bits we need out
+of it.
+-}
+
+findCabalFile :: IO FilePath
+findCabalFile = do
+    files <- listDirectory "."
+    let found = List.find (List.isSuffixOf ".cabal") files
+    case found of
+        Just file -> return file
+        Nothing -> error "No .cabal file found"
+
+readCabalFile :: Q (Map Rope Rope)
+readCabalFile = runIO $ do
+    -- Find .cabal file
+    file <- findCabalFile
+
+    -- Parse .cabal file
+    contents <- withFile file ReadMode hInput
+    let pairs = parseCabalFile contents
+    -- pass to calling program
+    return pairs
+
+parseCabalFile :: Bytes -> Map Rope Rope
+parseCabalFile contents =
+  let
+    breakup = intoMap . fmap (breakRope (== ':')) . breakLines . fromBytes
+  in
+    breakup contents
+
+-- this should probably be a function in Core.Text.Rope
+breakRope :: (Char -> Bool) -> Rope -> (Rope,Rope)
+breakRope predicate text =
+  let
+    pieces = take 2 (breakPieces predicate text)
+  in
+    case pieces of
+        [] -> ("","")
+        [one] -> (one,"")
+        (one:two:_) -> (one, trimRope two)
+
+-- knock off the whitespace in "name:      hello"
+trimRope :: Rope -> Rope
+trimRope = mconcat . intersperse " " . breakWords
diff --git a/lib/Core/Program/Signal.hs b/lib/Core/Program/Signal.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/Core/Program/Signal.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+{-# OPTIONS_GHC -fno-warn-unused-do-bind #-}
+
+module Core.Program.Signal
+(
+    setupSignalHandlers
+)
+where
+
+import Control.Concurrent.MVar (MVar, putMVar, modifyMVar_)
+import Foreign.C.Types (CInt)
+import System.Exit (ExitCode(..))
+import System.IO (hPutStrLn, hFlush, stdout)
+import System.Posix.Signals (Handler(Catch), installHandler,
+    sigINT, sigTERM, sigUSR1)
+
+import Core.Program.Context
+
+--
+-- | Make a non-zero exit code which is 0b1000000 + the number of the
+-- signal. Probably never need this (especaially given our attempt to
+-- write out a human readable name for the signal caught) but it's a
+-- convention we're happy to observe.
+--
+code :: CInt -> ExitCode
+code signal = ExitFailure (128 + fromIntegral signal)
+
+{-
+    Technique to have a blocking MVar and signal handlers to set it
+    adapted from code in vaultaire-common package's Vaultaire.Program,
+    BSD3 licenced.
+-}
+
+interruptHandler :: MVar ExitCode -> Handler
+interruptHandler quit = Catch $ do
+    hPutStrLn stdout "\nInterrupt"
+    hFlush stdout
+    putMVar quit (code sigINT)
+
+terminateHandler :: MVar ExitCode -> Handler
+terminateHandler quit = Catch $ do
+    hPutStrLn stdout "Terminating"
+    hFlush stdout
+    putMVar quit (code sigTERM)
+
+logLevelHandler :: MVar Verbosity -> Handler
+logLevelHandler v = Catch $ do
+    hPutStrLn stdout "Signal"
+    hFlush stdout
+    modifyMVar_ v (\level -> case level of
+            Output -> pure Debug
+            Event  -> pure Debug
+            Debug  -> pure Output)
+
+--
+-- | Install signal handlers for SIGINT and SIGTERM that set the exit
+-- semaphore so that a Program's [minimal] cleanup can occur.
+--
+setupSignalHandlers :: MVar ExitCode -> MVar Verbosity -> IO ()
+setupSignalHandlers quit level = do
+    installHandler sigINT (interruptHandler quit) Nothing
+    installHandler sigTERM (terminateHandler quit) Nothing
+    installHandler sigUSR1 (logLevelHandler level) Nothing
+    return ()
diff --git a/lib/Core/Program/Unlift.hs b/lib/Core/Program/Unlift.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/Core/Program/Unlift.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,160 @@
+{-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE MultiParamTypeClasses #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE RankNTypes #-}
+{-# OPTIONS_GHC -fno-warn-unused-imports #-}
+{-# OPTIONS_HADDOCK prune #-}
+
+{-|
+The 'Program' monad is an instance of 'MonadIO', which makes sense; it's
+just a wrapper around doing 'IO' and you call it using
+'execute' from the top-level @main@ action that is the
+entrypoint to any program.  So when you need to actually do some I/O or
+interact with other major libraries in the Haskell ecosystem, you need to
+get back to 'IO' and you use 'liftIO' to do it:
+
+@
+main :: 'IO' ()
+main = 'execute' $ do
+    -- now in the Program monad
+    'write' "Hello there"
+
+    'liftIO' $ do
+        -- now something in IO
+        source <- readFile "hello.c"
+        compileSourceCode source
+
+    -- back in Program monad
+    'write' \"Finished\"
+@
+
+and this is a perfectly reasonable pattern.
+
+Sometimes, however, you want to get to the 'Program' monad from /there/,
+and that's tricky; you can't just 'execute' a new
+program (and don't try: we've already initialized output and logging
+channels, signal handlers, your application context, etc).
+
+@
+main :: 'IO' ()
+main = 'execute' $ do
+    -- now in the Program monad
+    'write' "Hello there"
+
+    'liftIO' $ do
+        -- now something in IO
+        source <- readFile "hello.c"
+        -- log that we're starting compile      ... FIXME how???
+        result <- compileSourceCode source
+        case result of
+            Right object -> linkObjectCode object
+            Left err     -> -- debug the error  ... FIXME how???
+
+    -- back in Program monad
+    'write' \"Finished\"
+@
+
+We have a problem, because we'd like to do is use, say, 'debug' to log the
+compiler error, but we have no way to unlift back out of 'IO' to get to the
+'Program' monad.
+
+To workaround this, we offer 'withContext'. It gives you a function that
+you can then use within your lifted 'IO' to run a (sub)'Program' action:
+
+@
+main :: 'IO' ()
+main = 'execute' $ do
+    -- now in the Program monad
+    'write' "Hello there"
+
+    'withContext' $ \\runProgram -> do
+        -- now lifted to IO
+        source <- readFile "hello.c"
+
+        runProgram $ do
+            -- now \"unlifted\" back to Program monad!
+            'event' \"Starting compile...\"
+            'event' \"Nah. Changed our minds\"
+            'event' \"Ok, fine, compile the thing\"
+
+        -- more IO
+        result <- compileSourceCode source
+        case result of
+            'Right' object -> linkObjectCode object
+            'Left' err     -> runProgram ('debugS' err)
+
+    -- back in Program monad
+    'write' \"Finished\"
+@
+
+Sometimes Haskell type inference can give you trouble because it tends to
+assume you mean what you say with the last statement of do-notation block.
+If you've got the type wrong you'll get an error, but in an odd place,
+probably at the top where you have the lambda. This can be confusing. If
+you're having trouble with the types try putting @return ()@ at the end of
+your subprogram.
+-}
+module Core.Program.Unlift
+    (
+        {-* Unlifting -}
+        withContext
+        {-* Internals -}
+      , getContext
+      , subProgram
+    ) where
+
+import Core.Program.Context
+import Core.Program.Execute
+import Core.Program.Logging
+import Core.System.Base
+
+{-|
+This gives you a function that you can use within your lifted 'IO' actions
+to return to the 'Program' monad.
+
+The type signature of this function is a bit involved, but the example below
+shows that the lambda gives you a /function/ as its argument (we recommend
+you name it @__runProgram__@ for consistency) which gives you a way to run a
+subprogram, be that a single action like writing to terminal or logging, or
+a larger action in a do-notation block:
+
+@
+main :: IO ()
+main = 'execute' $ do
+    'withContext' $ \\runProgram -> do
+        -- in IO monad, lifted
+        -- (just as if you had used liftIO)
+
+        ...
+
+        runProgram $ do
+            -- now unlifted, back to Program monad
+
+        ...
+@
+
+Think of this as 'liftIO' with an escape hatch.
+
+This function is named 'withContext' because it is a convenience around the
+following pattern:
+
+@
+    context <- 'getContext'
+    liftIO $ do
+        ...
+        'subProgram' context $ do
+            -- now in Program monad
+        ...
+@
+-}
+-- I think I just discovered the same pattern as **unliftio**? Certainly
+-- the signature is similar. I'm not sure if there is any benefit to
+-- restating this as a `withRunInIO` action; we're deliberately trying to
+-- constrain the types.
+withContext
+    :: ((forall β. Program τ β -> IO β) -> IO α)
+    -> Program τ α
+withContext action = do
+    context <- getContext
+    let runThing = subProgram context
+    liftIO (action runThing)
+
diff --git a/lib/Core/System.hs b/lib/Core/System.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/Core/System.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+{-# OPTIONS_HADDOCK not-home #-}
+
+{-|
+Common elements from the rest of the Haskell ecosystem. This is mostly
+about re-exports. There are numerous types and functions that are more or
+less assumed to be in scope when you're doing much of anything in Haskell;
+this module is a convenience to pull in the ones we rely on for the rest of
+this library.
+
+You can just import this directly:
+
+@
+import "Core.System"
+@
+
+as there's no particular benefit to cherry-picking the various sub-modules.
+
+-}
+module Core.System
+    (
+        {-* Base libraries -}
+{-|
+Re-exports from foundational libraries supplied by the compiler runtime,
+or from re-implementations of those areas.
+-}
+        module Core.System.Base
+
+        {-* External dependencies -}
+{-|
+Dependencies from libraries outside the traditional ecosystem of Haskell.
+These are typically special cases or custom re-implementations of things
+which are maintained either by ourselves or people we are in regular
+contact with.
+-}
+      , module Core.System.External
+    ) where
+
+import Core.System.Base
+import Core.System.External
+
diff --git a/lib/Core/System/Base.hs b/lib/Core/System/Base.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/Core/System/Base.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+{-# OPTIONS_GHC -fno-warn-orphans #-}
+{-# OPTIONS_GHC -fno-warn-unused-imports #-}
+{-# OPTIONS_HADDOCK not-home #-}
+
+--
+-- | Re-exports of Haskell base and GHC system libraries.
+--
+module Core.System.Base
+    ( {-* Input/Output -}
+      {-** from Control.Monad.IO.Class -}
+      {-| Re-exported from "Control.Monad.IO.Class" in __base__: -}
+      liftIO
+    , MonadIO
+      {-** from System.IO -}
+      {-| Re-exported from "System.IO" in __base__: -}
+    , Handle
+    , IOMode(..)
+    , withFile
+    , stdin, stdout, stderr
+    , hFlush
+    , unsafePerformIO
+      {-* Exception handling -}
+      {-** from Control.Exception.Safe -}
+      {-| Re-exported from "Control.Exception.Safe" in the __safe-exceptions__ package: -}
+    , Exception(..)
+    , SomeException
+    , throw
+    , impureThrow
+    , bracket
+    , catch
+    , finally
+    ) where
+
+import Control.Exception.Safe (Exception(..), SomeException, throw
+    , bracket, catch, finally, impureThrow)
+import Control.Monad.IO.Class (MonadIO, liftIO)
+import System.IO (Handle, IOMode(..), withFile, stdin, stdout, stderr, hFlush)
+import System.IO.Unsafe (unsafePerformIO)
+
diff --git a/lib/Core/System/External.hs b/lib/Core/System/External.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/Core/System/External.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+{-# OPTIONS_HADDOCK not-home #-}
+
+--
+-- | Re-exports of dependencies from various external libraries.
+--
+module Core.System.External
+    ( {-* Time -}
+      {-** from Chrono.TimeStamp -}
+      {-| Re-exported from "Chrono.TimeStamp" in __chronologique__: -}
+      TimeStamp(..)
+    , getCurrentTimeNanoseconds
+    ) where
+
+import Chrono.TimeStamp (TimeStamp(..), getCurrentTimeNanoseconds)
+
