diff --git a/src/main/db.zig b/src/main/db.zig
index 9d49186..07417f7 100644
--- a/src/main/db.zig
+++ b/src/main/db.zig
@@ -3,6 +3,70 @@ const sql = @import("sql");
 const models = @import("./models.zig");
 
 const Uuid = @import("util").Uuid;
+const String = []const u8;
+
+fn tableName(comptime T: type) String {
+    return switch (T) {
+        models.Note => "note",
+        models.User => "user",
+        else => unreachable,
+    };
+}
+
+fn join(comptime vals: anytype, comptime joiner: String) String {
+    comptime {
+        if (vals.len == 0) return "";
+
+        var result: String = "";
+        for (vals) |v| {
+            result = std.fmt.comptimePrint("{s}{s}{s}", .{ result, joiner, v });
+        }
+
+        return result[2..];
+    }
+}
+
+const Query = struct {
+    select: []const String,
+    from: String,
+    where: String = "id = ?",
+    limit: usize = 1,
+
+    pub fn str(comptime self: Query) String {
+        comptime {
+            return std.fmt.comptimePrint(
+                "SELECT {s} FROM {s} WHERE {s} LIMIT {};",
+                .{ join(self.select, ", "), self.from, self.where, self.limit },
+            );
+        }
+    }
+};
+
+fn filterOut(comptime vals: []const String, comptime to_ignore: []const String) []const String {
+    comptime {
+        var result: [vals.len]String = undefined;
+        var count = 0;
+
+        for (vals) |v| {
+            const keep = for (to_ignore) |x| {
+                if (std.mem.eql(u8, x, v)) break false;
+            } else true;
+
+            if (keep) {
+                result[count] = v;
+                count += 1;
+            }
+        }
+
+        return result[0..count];
+    }
+}
+
+fn fieldsExcept(comptime T: type, comptime to_ignore: []const String) []const String {
+    comptime {
+        return filterOut(std.meta.fieldNames(T), to_ignore);
+    }
+}
 
 pub const Database = struct {
     db: sql.Sqlite,
@@ -30,18 +94,38 @@ pub const Database = struct {
         self.db.close();
     }
 
-    pub fn getNoteById(self: *Database, id: Uuid, alloc: std.mem.Allocator) !?models.Note {
-        var stmt = try self.db.prepare("SELECT content FROM note WHERE id = ? LIMIT 1;");
+    pub fn getById(self: *Database, comptime T: type, id: Uuid, alloc: std.mem.Allocator) !?T {
+        const fields = comptime fieldsExcept(T, &.{"id"});
+        const q = comptime (Query{
+            .select = fields,
+            .from = tableName(T),
+            .where = "id = ?",
+            .limit = 1,
+        }).str();
+
+        var stmt = try self.db.prepare(q);
         defer stmt.finalize();
 
         const id_str = id.toCharArray();
         try stmt.bindText(1, &id_str);
 
         const row = (try stmt.step()) orelse return null;
-        return models.Note{
-            .id = id,
-            .content = try row.getTextAlloc(0, alloc),
-        };
+        var val: T = undefined;
+        val.id = id;
+
+        inline for (fields) |f, i| {
+            @field(val, f) = switch (@TypeOf(@field(val, f))) {
+                // TODO: Handle allocation failures gracefully
+                []const u8 => row.getTextAlloc(i, alloc) catch unreachable,
+                else => @compileError("unknown type"),
+            };
+        }
+
+        return val;
+    }
+
+    pub fn getNoteById(self: *Database, id: Uuid, alloc: std.mem.Allocator) !?models.Note {
+        return self.getById(models.Note, id, alloc);
     }
 
     pub fn insertNote(self: *Database, note: models.Note) !void {