diff --git a/build.zig b/build.zig
index ba5a37e..947d5a7 100644
--- a/build.zig
+++ b/build.zig
@@ -6,15 +6,18 @@ pub fn build(b: *Builder) void {
     exe.setBuildMode(mode);
     exe.linkSystemLibrary("c");
 
-    //exe.addCompileFlags([][]const u8{"-W -O"});
-
-    const source_files = [][]const u8{
-        "src/journal/main.c",
-        "src/journal/journal.c",
-    };
+    const source_files = [][]const u8{"src/journal/main.c"};
 
     for (source_files) |source| {
-        exe.addCSourceFile(source, [][]const u8{});
+        exe.addCSourceFile(source, [][]const u8{"-W -O"});
+    }
+
+    const zig_sources = [][]const u8{"src/journal/journal.zig"};
+
+    for (zig_sources) |source| {
+        const obj = b.addObject("journal", source);
+        obj.linkSystemLibrary("c");
+        exe.addObject(obj);
     }
 
     // enable us to run the main journal executable via
diff --git a/src/journal/journal.zig b/src/journal/journal.zig
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..794845e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/journal/journal.zig
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+const c = @cImport({
+    @cInclude("stdio.h");
+    @cInclude("stdlib.h");
+    @cInclude("sys/stat.h");
+    @cInclude("string.h");
+    @cInclude("time.h");
+});
+
+const std = @import("std");
+const warn = std.debug.warn;
+const allocator = std.heap.c_allocator;
+
+fn alloc_str(size: c_ulong) [*c]u8 {
+    return @ptrCast([*c]u8, @alignCast(@alignOf(u8), c.malloc(c_ulong(size))));
+}
+
+export fn journal_open(topic: [*c]u8) [*c](c.FILE) {
+    var home_path: [*c]const u8 = c.getenv(c"HOME");
+
+    var journal_dir: [*c]u8 = alloc_str(512);
+    var journal_path: [*c]u8 = alloc_str(1024);
+
+    _ = c.snprintf(journal_dir, c_ulong(512), c"%s/.lunabot", home_path);
+
+    warn("uwu journal_dir = '{}'", journal_dir.*);
+
+    //c.mkdir(journal_dir, c.S_IRWXU | c.S_IRGRP | c.S_IROTH);
+
+    // taken off `zig translate-c`. this is cursed, i'm sorry.
+    _ = c.mkdir(journal_dir, c.__mode_t((((256 | 128) | 64) | (256 >> @import("std").math.Log2Int(c_int)(3))) | ((256 >> @import("std").math.Log2Int(c_int)(3)) >> @import("std").math.Log2Int(c_int)(3))));
+
+    _ = c.snprintf(journal_path, c_ulong(1024), c"%s/%s", journal_dir, topic);
+
+    warn("journal_path = {}", journal_path.*);
+
+    var res: [*c](c.FILE) = c.fopen(journal_path, c"a");
+
+    c.free(@ptrCast(?*c_void, journal_path));
+    c.free(@ptrCast(?*c_void, journal_dir));
+
+    return res;
+}
+
+export fn journal_write(journal: [*c]c.FILE, message: [*c]u8) void {
+    _ = c.fwrite(message, c.strlen(message), 1, journal);
+}
+
+export fn journal_close(journal: [*c]c.FILE) void {
+    _ = c.fclose(journal);
+}
+
+export fn journal_write_topic(journal: *c.FILE, topic: [*c]u8, message: [*c]u8) void {
+    var tstamp: [*c]u8 = alloc_str(128);
+    var fmt_msg: [*c]u8 = alloc_str(128);
+    var rawtime: c.time_t = undefined;
+
+    _ = c.time(&rawtime);
+    var cur_time: [*c]const c.struct_tm = c.gmtime(&rawtime);
+
+    _ = c.strftime(tstamp, usize(128), c"%c", cur_time);
+    _ = c.sprintf(fmt_msg, c"[%s] [%s]: %s\n", tstamp, topic, message);
+
+    c.free(@ptrCast(?*c_void, tstamp));
+
+    journal_write(journal, fmt_msg);
+}