diff --git a/shader-parser/.gitignore b/shader-parser/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a9d37c56
--- /dev/null
+++ b/shader-parser/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+target
+Cargo.lock
diff --git a/shader-parser/Cargo.toml b/shader-parser/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..755ab390
--- /dev/null
+++ b/shader-parser/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+[package]
+name = "shader-parser"
+version = "0.1.0"
+authors = ["Pierre Krieger <pierre.krieger1708@gmail.com>"]
diff --git a/shader-parser/src/lib.rs b/shader-parser/src/lib.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..70c9e9d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/shader-parser/src/lib.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+use std::io::Error as IoError;
+use std::io::Read;
+
+pub use parse::ParseError;
+
+mod parse;
+
+pub fn reflect<R>(mut spirv: R) -> Result<String, Error>
+    where R: Read
+{
+    let mut data = Vec::new();
+    try!(spirv.read_to_end(&mut data));
+
+    // now parsing the document
+    let doc = try!(parse::parse_spirv(&data));
+
+    unimplemented!()
+}
+
+pub enum Error {
+    IoError(IoError),
+    ParseError(ParseError),
+}
+
+impl From<IoError> for Error {
+    #[inline]
+    fn from(err: IoError) -> Error {
+        Error::IoError(err)
+    }
+}
+
+impl From<ParseError> for Error {
+    #[inline]
+    fn from(err: ParseError) -> Error {
+        Error::ParseError(err)
+    }
+}
diff --git a/shader-parser/src/parse.rs b/shader-parser/src/parse.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..dcfc12db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/shader-parser/src/parse.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,298 @@
+
+pub fn parse_spirv(data: &[u8]) -> Result<Spirv, ParseError> {
+    if data.len() < 20 {
+        return Err(ParseError::MissingHeader);
+    }
+
+    // we need to determine whether we are in big endian order or little endian order depending
+    // on the magic number at the start of the file
+    let data = if data[0] == 0x07 && data[1] == 0x23 && data[2] == 0x02 && data[3] == 0x03 {
+        // big endian
+        data.chunks(4).map(|c| {
+            ((c[0] as u32) << 24) | ((c[1] as u32) << 16) | ((c[2] as u32) << 8) | c[3] as u32
+        }).collect::<Vec<_>>()
+
+    } else if data[3] == 0x07 && data[2] == 0x23 && data[1] == 0x02 && data[0] == 0x03 {
+        // little endian
+        data.chunks(4).map(|c| {
+            ((c[3] as u32) << 24) | ((c[2] as u32) << 16) | ((c[1] as u32) << 8) | c[0] as u32
+        }).collect::<Vec<_>>()
+
+    } else {
+        return Err(ParseError::MissingHeader);
+    };
+
+    parse_u32s(&data)
+}
+
+fn parse_u32s(i: &[u32]) -> Result<Spirv, ParseError> {
+    if i.len() < 5 {
+        return Err(ParseError::MissingHeader);
+    }
+
+    if i[0] != 0x07230203 {
+        return Err(ParseError::WrongHeader);
+    }
+
+    let version = (((i[1] & 0x00ff0000) >> 16) as u8, ((i[1] & 0x0000ff00) >> 8) as u8);
+
+    let instructions = {
+        let mut ret = Vec::new();
+        let mut i = &i[5..];
+        while i.len() >= 1 {
+            let (instruction, rest) = try!(parse_instruction(i));
+            ret.push(instruction);
+            i = rest;
+        }
+        ret
+    };
+
+    Ok(Spirv {
+        version: version,
+        bound: i[3],
+        instructions: instructions,
+    })
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+pub enum ParseError {
+    MissingHeader,
+    WrongHeader,
+    IncompleteInstruction,
+    UnknownCapability(u32),
+    UnknownExecutionModel(u32),
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+pub struct Spirv {
+    pub version: (u8, u8),
+    pub bound: u32,
+    pub instructions: Vec<Instruction>,
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+pub enum Instruction {
+    Unknown(u16, Vec<u32>),
+    Nop,
+    ExtInstImport { result_id: u32, name: String },
+    EntryPoint { execution: ExecutionModel, id: u32, name: String, interface: Vec<u32> },
+    Capability(Capability),
+    FunctionEnd,
+    Kill,
+    Return,
+}
+
+fn parse_instruction(i: &[u32]) -> Result<(Instruction, &[u32]), ParseError> {
+    assert!(i.len() >= 1);
+
+    let word_count = (i[0] >> 16) as usize;
+    assert!(word_count >= 1);
+    let opcode = (i[0] & 0xffff) as u16;
+
+    if i.len() < word_count {
+        return Err(ParseError::IncompleteInstruction);
+    }
+
+    let opcode = try!(decode_instruction(opcode, &i[1 .. word_count]));
+    Ok((opcode, &i[word_count..]))
+}
+
+fn decode_instruction(opcode: u16, operands: &[u32]) -> Result<Instruction, ParseError> {
+    Ok(match opcode {
+        0 => Instruction::Nop,
+        11 => Instruction::ExtInstImport {
+            result_id: operands[0],
+            name: parse_string(&operands[1..]).0
+        },
+        15 => {
+            let (n, r) = parse_string(&operands[2..]);
+            Instruction::EntryPoint {
+                execution: try!(ExecutionModel::from_num(operands[0])),
+                id: operands[1],
+                name: n,
+                interface: r.to_owned(),
+            }
+        },
+        17 => Instruction::Capability(try!(Capability::from_num(operands[0]))),
+        56 => Instruction::FunctionEnd,
+        252 => Instruction::Kill,
+        253 => Instruction::Return,
+        _ => Instruction::Unknown(opcode, operands.to_owned()),
+    })
+}
+
+fn parse_string(data: &[u32]) -> (String, &[u32]) {
+    let bytes = data.iter().flat_map(|&n| {
+        let b1 = (n & 0xff) as u8;
+        let b2 = ((n >> 8) & 0xff) as u8;
+        let b3 = ((n >> 16) & 0xff) as u8;
+        let b4 = ((n >> 24) & 0xff) as u8;
+        vec![b1, b2, b3, b4].into_iter()
+    }).take_while(|&b| b != 0).collect::<Vec<u8>>();
+
+    let r = 1 + bytes.len() / 4;
+    let s = String::from_utf8(bytes).expect("Shader content is not UTF-8");
+
+    (s, &data[r..])
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+pub enum Capability {
+    Matrix,
+    Shader,
+    Geometry,
+    Tessellation,
+    Addresses,
+    Linkage,
+    Kernel,
+    Vector16,
+    Float16Buffer,
+    Float16,
+    Float64,
+    Int64,
+    Int64Atomics,
+    ImageBasic,
+    ImageReadWrite,
+    ImageMipmap,
+    Pipes,
+    Groups,
+    DeviceEnqueue,
+    LiteralSampler,
+    AtomicStorage,
+    Int16,
+    TessellationPointSize,
+    GeometryPointSize,
+    ImageGatherExtended,
+    StorageImageMultisample,
+    UniformBufferArrayDynamicIndexing,
+    SampledImageArrayDynamicIndexing,
+    StorageBufferArrayDynamicIndexing,
+    StorageImageArrayDynamicIndexing,
+    ClipDistance,
+    CullDistance,
+    ImageCubeArray,
+    SampleRateShading,
+    ImageRect,
+    SampledRect,
+    GenericPointer,
+    Int8,
+    InputAttachment,
+    SparseResidency,
+    MinLod,
+    Sampled1D,
+    Image1D,
+    SampledCubeArray,
+    SampledBuffer,
+    ImageBuffer,
+    ImageMSArray,
+    StorageImageExtendedFormats,
+    ImageQuery,
+    DerivativeControl,
+    InterpolationFunction,
+    TransformFeedback,
+    GeometryStreams,
+    StorageImageReadWithoutFormat,
+    StorageImageWriteWithoutFormat,
+}
+
+impl Capability {
+    fn from_num(num: u32) -> Result<Capability, ParseError> {
+        match num {
+            0 => Ok(Capability::Matrix),
+            1 => Ok(Capability::Shader),
+            2 => Ok(Capability::Geometry),
+            3 => Ok(Capability::Tessellation),
+            4 => Ok(Capability::Addresses),
+            5 => Ok(Capability::Linkage),
+            6 => Ok(Capability::Kernel),
+            7 => Ok(Capability::Vector16),
+            8 => Ok(Capability::Float16Buffer),
+            9 => Ok(Capability::Float16),
+            10 => Ok(Capability::Float64),
+            11 => Ok(Capability::Int64),
+            12 => Ok(Capability::Int64Atomics),
+            13 => Ok(Capability::ImageBasic),
+            14 => Ok(Capability::ImageReadWrite),
+            15 => Ok(Capability::ImageMipmap),
+            17 => Ok(Capability::Pipes),
+            18 => Ok(Capability::Groups),
+            19 => Ok(Capability::DeviceEnqueue),
+            20 => Ok(Capability::LiteralSampler),
+            21 => Ok(Capability::AtomicStorage),
+            22 => Ok(Capability::Int16),
+            23 => Ok(Capability::TessellationPointSize),
+            24 => Ok(Capability::GeometryPointSize),
+            25 => Ok(Capability::ImageGatherExtended),
+            27 => Ok(Capability::StorageImageMultisample),
+            28 => Ok(Capability::UniformBufferArrayDynamicIndexing),
+            29 => Ok(Capability::SampledImageArrayDynamicIndexing),
+            30 => Ok(Capability::StorageBufferArrayDynamicIndexing),
+            31 => Ok(Capability::StorageImageArrayDynamicIndexing),
+            32 => Ok(Capability::ClipDistance),
+            33 => Ok(Capability::CullDistance),
+            34 => Ok(Capability::ImageCubeArray),
+            35 => Ok(Capability::SampleRateShading),
+            36 => Ok(Capability::ImageRect),
+            37 => Ok(Capability::SampledRect),
+            38 => Ok(Capability::GenericPointer),
+            39 => Ok(Capability::Int8),
+            40 => Ok(Capability::InputAttachment),
+            41 => Ok(Capability::SparseResidency),
+            42 => Ok(Capability::MinLod),
+            43 => Ok(Capability::Sampled1D),
+            44 => Ok(Capability::Image1D),
+            45 => Ok(Capability::SampledCubeArray),
+            46 => Ok(Capability::SampledBuffer),
+            47 => Ok(Capability::ImageBuffer),
+            48 => Ok(Capability::ImageMSArray),
+            49 => Ok(Capability::StorageImageExtendedFormats),
+            50 => Ok(Capability::ImageQuery),
+            51 => Ok(Capability::DerivativeControl),
+            52 => Ok(Capability::InterpolationFunction),
+            53 => Ok(Capability::TransformFeedback),
+            54 => Ok(Capability::GeometryStreams),
+            55 => Ok(Capability::StorageImageReadWithoutFormat),
+            56 => Ok(Capability::StorageImageWriteWithoutFormat),
+            _ => Err(ParseError::UnknownCapability(num)),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+pub enum ExecutionModel {
+    Vertex,
+    TessellationControl,
+    TessellationEvaluation,
+    Geometry,
+    Fragment,
+    GLCompute,
+    Kernel,
+}
+
+impl ExecutionModel {
+    fn from_num(num: u32) -> Result<ExecutionModel, ParseError> {
+        match num {
+            0 => Ok(ExecutionModel::Vertex),
+            1 => Ok(ExecutionModel::TessellationControl),
+            2 => Ok(ExecutionModel::TessellationEvaluation),
+            3 => Ok(ExecutionModel::Geometry),
+            4 => Ok(ExecutionModel::Fragment),
+            5 => Ok(ExecutionModel::GLCompute),
+            6 => Ok(ExecutionModel::Kernel),
+            _ => Err(ParseError::UnknownExecutionModel(num)),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod test {
+    use parse;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test() {
+        let data = include_bytes!("../tests/frag.spv");
+        let doc = parse::parse_spirv(data).unwrap();
+
+        println!("{:?}", doc);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/shader-parser/tests/frag.spv b/shader-parser/tests/frag.spv
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3e8a07b7
Binary files /dev/null and b/shader-parser/tests/frag.spv differ