diff --git a/src/codegen.zig b/src/codegen.zig
index b7212eb..45d369d 100644
--- a/src/codegen.zig
+++ b/src/codegen.zig
@@ -339,7 +339,6 @@ pub const Codegen = struct {
                     _ = llvm.LLVMBuildUnreachable(builder);
             },
 
-            // TODO
             .VarDecl => |vardecl| {
                 // we alaready inferred the type of the variable in the
                 // analyze pass and the current scope contains the variable's
@@ -352,14 +351,15 @@ pub const Codegen = struct {
 
                 var fn_symbol = self.getFnSymbol(self.current_function_name.?);
 
-                _ = llvm.LLVMBuildAlloca(
+                // TODO add llvm value ref to var metadata as well
+                var variable = llvm.LLVMBuildAlloca(
                     builder,
                     try self.typeToLLVM(var_metadata.typ),
                     name_cstr.ptr,
                 );
 
-                // TODO generate the store for the initializer
-                //var llvm_expr = try self.emitExpr(vardecl.value);
+                var llvm_expr = try self.emitExpr(builder, vardecl.value);
+                _ = llvm.LLVMBuildStore(builder, llvm_expr, variable);
             },
 
             else => {