diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+Copyright (c) 2014 Allen Nelson
+
+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
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/Setup.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+import Distribution.Simple
+main = defaultMain
diff --git a/src/Text/Render.hs b/src/Text/Render.hs
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Text/Render.hs
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+{-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-}
+module Text.Render (
+    Render(..),
+    renderTicks
+  ) where
+
+import qualified Prelude as P
+import Prelude (($), (.), map, Int, Double, Functor(..), Show(..),
+                Eq(..), Bool, Integer, Double, Monad(..))
+import Control.Monad.Trans (MonadIO(..))
+import Data.Monoid
+import Data.Text (Text)
+import qualified Data.Text as T
+import Text.Parsec (ParseError)
+
+type Name = Text
+
+-- | A class for pretty printing, and in general, for "showing" as a `Text`.
+class Show a => Render a where
+  -- | Render the object as a `Text`.
+  render :: a -> Text
+  render = T.pack . P.show
+  -- | Many types of objects need to be rendered in parentheses.
+  renderParens :: a -> Text
+  renderParens = render
+  -- | Render in the `IO` monad. Useful for objects containing IORefs.
+  renderIO :: MonadIO m => a -> m Text
+  renderIO = return . render
+
+instance Render Int
+instance Render Bool
+instance Render Integer
+instance Render Double
+instance Render Text
+instance Render ParseError
+instance (Render a, Render b) => Render (a, b) where
+  render (a, b) = "(" <> render a <> ", " <> render b <> ")"
+instance Render a => Render [a] where
+  render list = "[" <> T.intercalate ", " (map render list) <> "]"
+
+-- | Renders and surrounds in backticks. Useful for printing user input.
+renderTicks :: Render a => a -> Text
+renderTicks x = "`" <> render x <> "`"
diff --git a/text-render.cabal b/text-render.cabal
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/text-render.cabal
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+-- Initial text-render.cabal generated by cabal init.  For further
+-- documentation, see http://haskell.org/cabal/users-guide/
+
+name:                text-render
+version:             0.1.0.0
+synopsis:            A type class for rendering objects as text, pretty-printing, etc.
+-- description:
+homepage:            http://github.com/thinkpad20/text-render
+license:             MIT
+license-file:        LICENSE
+author:              Allen Nelson
+maintainer:          ithinkican@gmail.com
+-- copyright:
+category:            Text
+build-type:          Simple
+-- extra-source-files:
+cabal-version:       >=1.10
+
+library
+  exposed-modules:     Text.Render
+  hs-source-dirs:      src
+-- other-modules:
+  -- other-extensions:
+  build-depends:       base ==4.8, text, parsec, mtl
+  -- hs-source-dirs:
+  default-language:    Haskell2010