diff --git a/Network/Gearman/Protocol.hs b/Network/Gearman/Protocol.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Network/Gearman/Protocol.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+{-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE FlexibleContexts #-}
+module Network.Gearman.Protocol ( Packet(..)
+                                , PacketHdr(..)
+                                , MsgType(..)
+                                , readPacket
+                                , writePacket
+                                , mkRequest
+                                ) where
+
+import           Control.Monad.Trans
+import qualified Data.ByteString as B
+import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy as BL
+import           Data.Binary
+import           Data.Binary.Get
+import           Data.Binary.Put
+import           Network.Socket hiding (send, sendTo, recv, recvFrom)
+import           Network.Socket.ByteString
+
+import Network.Gearman.Internal
+
+data MsgType =
+      UNUSED_BEGIN
+    | CAN_DO
+    | CANT_DO
+    | RESET_ABILITIES
+    | PRE_SLEEP
+    | UNUSED
+    | NOOP
+    | SUBMIT_JOB
+    | JOB_CREATED
+    | GRAB_JOB
+    | NO_JOB
+    | JOB_ASSIGN
+    | WORK_STATUS
+    | WORK_COMPLETE
+    | WORK_FAIL
+    | GET_STATUS
+    | ECHO_REQ
+    | ECHO_RES
+    | SUBMIT_JOB_BG
+    | ERROR
+    | STATUS_RES
+    | SUBMIT_JOB_HIGH
+    | SET_CLIENT_ID
+    | CAN_DO_TIMEOUT
+    | ALL_YOURS
+    | WORK_EXCEPTION
+    | OPTION_REQ
+    | OPTION_RES
+    | WORK_DATA
+    | WORK_WARNING
+    | GRAB_JOB_UNIQ
+    | JOB_ASSIGN_UNIQ
+    | SUBMIT_JOB_HIGH_BG
+    | SUBMIT_JOB_LOW
+    | SUBMIT_JOB_LOW_BG
+    | SUBMIT_JOB_SCHED
+    | SUBMIT_JOB_EPOCH
+    deriving (Show, Eq, Enum)
+
+
+data PacketHdr = PacketHdr {
+                   _magic :: !B.ByteString
+                  ,_type  :: !MsgType
+                  ,_size  :: !Word32
+                 } deriving (Show, Eq)
+
+data Packet = Packet {
+                _hdr  :: !PacketHdr
+               ,_msg  :: !B.ByteString
+} deriving (Show, Eq)
+
+instance Binary PacketHdr where
+    get = do
+        magic <- getByteString 4
+        ptype <- getWord32be
+        size  <- getWord32be
+        return $ PacketHdr magic (toEnum $ fromIntegral ptype) size
+
+    put (PacketHdr magic ptype size) = do
+        putByteString magic
+        putWord32be (fromIntegral $ fromEnum ptype)
+        putWord32be size
+
+instance Binary Packet where
+    get = do
+        hdr <- get :: Get PacketHdr
+        msg  <- getByteString $ fromIntegral (_size hdr)
+        return $ Packet hdr msg
+
+    put (Packet hdr msg) = do
+        put hdr
+        putByteString msg
+
+recv' :: Socket -> Int -> IO B.ByteString
+recv' _ 0 = return ""
+recv' s n = do
+    msg <- recv s n
+    case n - B.length msg of
+        0 -> return msg
+        _ -> recv' s (n - B.length msg) >>= \x -> return $ msg `B.append` x
+
+readPacket :: Socket -> Gearman Packet
+readPacket = readSocket
+
+readSocket ::  Socket -> Gearman Packet
+readSocket s = do
+    hdr <- liftIO $ recv' s 12
+    let h = decode $ BL.fromStrict hdr
+    msg <- liftIO $ recv' s (fromIntegral $ _size h)
+    return $ Packet h msg
+
+writePacket :: Socket -> Packet -> Gearman ()
+writePacket s p = do
+    _ <- liftIO $ send s $ (BL.toStrict . encode) p
+    return ()
+
+mkRequest :: MsgType -> B.ByteString -> Packet
+mkRequest t d = Packet (PacketHdr "\0REQ" t (fromIntegral $ B.length d)) d
diff --git a/hgearman.cabal b/hgearman.cabal
--- a/hgearman.cabal
+++ b/hgearman.cabal
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 -- documentation, see http://haskell.org/cabal/users-guide/
 
 name:                hgearman
-version:             0.1.0.1
+version:             0.1.0.2
 synopsis:            A Gearman client for Haskell.
 description:         Gearman client for Haskell (not reccomended for production use).
 license:             MIT
@@ -37,5 +37,6 @@
                     , Network.Gearman.Client
                     , Network.Gearman.Worker
                     , Network.Gearman.Internal
+                    , Network.Gearman.Protocol
 
   default-language:   Haskell2010