diff --git a/tester/Makefile b/tester/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ba6cdc8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tester/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+BIN := $(shell basename $$(pwd))
+
+SRCS := $(wildcard *.cpp)
+OBJS := $(subst .cpp,.o,$(SRCS))
+DEPS := $(subst .cpp,.d,$(SRCS))
+
+CXX ?= g++
+PKG_CONFIG ?= pkg-config
+
+PREFIX ?= /usr/local
+BINDIR ?= $(PREFIX)/bin
+DATADIR ?= $(PREFIX)/share
+MANDIR ?= $(DATADIR)/man
+
+RM := /bin/rm -f
+INSTALL := /usr/bin/install -c
+
+CXXFLAGS := $(CXXFLAGS) -Wshadow -Wall -Wpedantic -Wextra -g -fno-strict-aliasing -std=c++17 -pthread
+ifeq ($(DEBUG),1)
+	CXXFLAGS += -D DEBUG -O0
+else
+	CXXFLAGS += -D NDEBUG -O3
+endif
+
+LDLIBS := -lm -lpthread -lsclogging
+
+all: $(BIN)
+
+$(BIN): $(OBJS) $(DEPS)
+	$(CXX) $(OBJS) $(LDFLAGS) $(LDLIBS) -o $(BIN)
+
+%.o: %.cpp %.d Makefile
+	$(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) -MMD -MP -MT $@ -MF $*.d -c $<
+
+-include *.d
+
+%.d: ;
+
+.PHONY: clean install
+
+clean:
+	$(RM) $(OBJS) $(DEPS) $(BIN)
+
+install: $(BIN)
+	$(INSTALL) $(BIN) $(DESTDIR)$(BINDIR)
diff --git a/tester/main.cpp b/tester/main.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..42a20f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tester/main.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+//
+// main.cpp
+// tester
+//
+// Created by Bob Polis at 2020-04-29
+// Copyright (c) 2020 SwiftCoder. All rights reserved.
+//
+
+#include <iostream>
+#include <cstdlib>
+#include <string>
+#include <getopt.h>
+#include <libsclogging.hpp>
+
+void print_help() {
+    std::cout << "usage: tester [-h][-v]\n";
+    std::cout << "  -h, --help    show this help text and exit\n";
+    std::cout << "  -v, --version show version number and exit\n";
+}
+
+void print_version() {
+    std::cout << "tester version 1.0\n";
+}
+
+int main(int argc, const char * argv[]) {
+    try {
+        struct option long_options[] = {
+            {"help", no_argument, nullptr, 'h'},
+            {"test", required_argument, nullptr, 't'},
+            {"version", no_argument, nullptr, 'v'},
+            {nullptr, 0, nullptr, 0}
+        };
+        int opt_char, option_index;
+        while ((opt_char = getopt_long(argc, const_cast<char* const *>(argv), "ht:v", long_options, &option_index)) != -1) {
+            switch (opt_char) {
+                case 0: {
+                    // handle long-only options here
+                    std::string optname {long_options[option_index].name};
+                    break;
+                }
+                case 'h':
+                    print_help();
+                    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
+                case 'v':
+                    print_version();
+                    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
+                case '?':
+                    throw std::runtime_error("unrecognized option");
+            }
+        }
+        if (optind == argc) {
+            // here when no file args
+        }
+        for (int i = optind; i < argc; ++i) {
+            try {
+                // process file argv[i]
+            } catch (const std::runtime_error& ex) {
+                std::cerr << "tester: " << ex.what() << '\n';
+            }
+        }
+        std::cout << "hello, tester\n";
+		sc::logger logger(sc::loglevel::debug);
+		logger.msg(sc::loglevel::info, 42, " = ", 6, " x ", 7);
+    } catch (const std::exception& ex) {
+        std::cerr << "tester: " << ex.what() << '\n';
+        return EXIT_FAILURE;
+    }
+    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
+}
diff --git a/tester/tester b/tester/tester
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..1be82c3
Binary files /dev/null and b/tester/tester differ