diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+Copyright (c) 2015 justusadam
+
+Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
+a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
+"Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
+without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
+distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
+permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
+the following conditions:
+
+The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
+in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
+EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
+MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
+IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY
+CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
+TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
+SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
diff --git a/Setup.hs b/Setup.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Setup.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+import Distribution.Simple
+main = defaultMain
diff --git a/elm-init.cabal b/elm-init.cabal
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elm-init.cabal
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+-- Initial elm-init.cabal generated by cabal init.  For further
+-- documentation, see http://haskell.org/cabal/users-guide/
+
+name:                elm-init
+version:             0.1.0.0
+synopsis:            Set up basic structure for an elm project
+description:
+  Initialize a new empty elm project with some basic scaffolding according to 'https://github.com/evancz/elm-architecture-tutorial'.
+license:             MIT
+license-file:        LICENSE
+author:              justusadam
+maintainer:          development@justusadam.com
+-- copyright:
+category:            Development
+build-type:          Simple
+-- extra-source-files:
+cabal-version:       >=1.10
+
+executable elm-init
+  main-is:             Main.hs
+  -- other-modules:
+  -- other-extensions:
+  build-depends:
+      base >=4.5 && <4.9,
+      system-fileio >= 0.3,
+      system-filepath >= 0.4,
+      file-embed >= 0.0.8,
+      bytestring >= 0.10,
+      -- binary >= 0.7,
+      json >= 0.9
+  hs-source-dirs:      src
+  default-language:    Haskell2010
+
+source-repository head
+  type: git
+  location: git://github.com/JustusAdam/elm-init.git
diff --git a/src/Main.hs b/src/Main.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Main.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,169 @@
+{-# LANGUAGE TemplateHaskell #-}
+
+module Main (main) where
+
+import           Control.Applicative       (pure, (<*>))
+import qualified Control.Arrow             as Arrow (first)
+import           Control.Exception         (Exception, IOException, catch)
+import           Data.ByteString           as ByteString (ByteString, hPut)
+import           Data.FileEmbed            (embedFile)
+import           Data.List                 (intercalate)
+import           Data.Maybe                (fromMaybe)
+import           Filesystem                (createTree, getWorkingDirectory,
+                                            isDirectory, isFile)
+import           Filesystem.Path.CurrentOS as Path
+import           Prelude                   hiding (FilePath)
+import           System.IO                 (IOMode (WriteMode), withFile)
+import qualified Text.JSON                 as JSON
+
+
+type Result = Either String ()
+
+
+standardDirectories = map decodeString [
+    "elm-stuff"
+  ]
+
+
+standardFiles = map (Arrow.first decodeString) [
+    ("elm-package.json", Just $(embedFile "resources/elm-package.json")),
+    ("README.md", Nothing),
+    ("LICENSE", Nothing)
+  ]
+
+
+standardSourceFiles = map (Arrow.first decodeString) [
+    ("Main.elm", Just $(embedFile "resources/Main.elm"))
+  ]
+
+
+{-
+  embedding a file as String
+
+  import Data.Binary
+
+  file :: String
+  file = decode $(embedFile "filepath")
+-}
+
+
+sourceFolders = [
+    "src",
+    "lala"
+  ]
+
+
+enumerate :: Int -> [a] -> [(Int,a)]
+enumerate from l = zip [from..(length l)] l
+
+
+askChoices :: String -> Int -> [String] -> IO String
+askChoices m s l = askChoices' m s l >>= (\i -> return $ l !! i)
+
+
+getEither :: Read a => a -> IO a
+getEither x = do
+  Control.Exception.catch readLn (handler x)
+  where
+    handler :: a -> IOException -> IO a
+    handler x = const (return x)
+
+
+askChoices' :: String -> Int -> [String] -> IO Int
+askChoices' message selected choices = do
+  putStrLn message
+  let (l1, l2) = splitAt selected choices
+  let (selectedElem : l2tail) = l2
+  let out = intercalate "\n" (normFormat 1 l1 ++ (selectedFormat selected selectedElem : normFormat (selected + 1) l2tail))
+
+  ask out
+
+  where
+    enumF x = ((show x) ++ " )  ")
+    enumFn = (("    " ++).enumF)
+    enumFs = (("  * " ++).enumF)
+    normFormat f l = map ((uncurry (++)).(Arrow.first enumFn)) $ enumerate f l
+    selectedFormat x y = ((++ y).enumFs) x
+
+    ask out = do
+          putStrLn out
+          -- apparently using putStr here doe not print the full string but
+          -- omits the last line ... buffering?
+          i <- getEither selected
+
+          if i <= (length choices) then
+            return i
+          else do
+            putStrLn "invalid choice, please choose again"
+            ask out
+
+
+askChoicesWithOther :: String -> Int -> [String] -> IO String
+askChoicesWithOther m s l = do
+  i <- askChoices' m s (l ++ ["other (specify)"])
+  if i == (length l) then
+    getAlternative
+  else
+    return $ l !! i
+
+  where
+    verifyValidity = const True
+    getAlternative = do
+      putStrLn "please enter an alternative"
+      s <- getLine
+      if verifyValidity s then
+        return s
+      else
+        getAlternative
+
+
+exists :: FilePath -> IO Bool
+exists f = do
+  isF   <- isFile f
+  isDir <- isDirectory f
+  return $ isF || isDir
+
+
+mkFiles :: [(FilePath, Maybe ByteString)] -> IO [Result]
+mkFiles = mapM (uncurry mkFile)
+
+
+mkFile :: FilePath -> Maybe ByteString -> IO Result
+mkFile name defaultFile = do
+  e <- exists name
+  if e then
+    return $ Left $ "file " ++ encodeString name ++ " already exists"
+  else do
+    System.IO.withFile (encodeString name) WriteMode $ \h ->
+      maybe (return ()) (ByteString.hPut h) defaultFile
+
+    return $ Right ()
+
+
+mkSourceFiles :: FilePath -> IO [Result]
+mkSourceFiles sourceFolder = mkFiles $ map (Arrow.first (sourceFolder </>)) standardSourceFiles
+
+
+mkDirs :: FilePath -> [FilePath] -> IO ()
+mkDirs wd = mapM_ ( createTree . (wd </>))
+
+
+main :: IO ()
+main = do
+
+  wd <- getWorkingDirectory
+
+  srcFolder <- fmap ((wd </>).decodeString) (askChoicesWithOther "choose a source folder name" 0 sourceFolders)
+
+  -- putStrLn srcFolder
+
+  mkDirs wd (srcFolder : standardDirectories)
+  resStatic <- mkFiles standardFiles
+
+  resSource <- mkSourceFiles srcFolder
+
+  mapM_ (\r ->
+      case r of
+        Right _       -> return ()
+        Left message  -> putStrLn message
+    ) (resStatic ++ resSource)