diff --git a/cmd/api/README.md b/cmd/api/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2b7e998
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/api/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+## api is the root of the cli for interacting with the rest api
diff --git a/cmd/api/api b/cmd/api/api
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..a9a84ee
Binary files /dev/null and b/cmd/api/api differ
diff --git a/cmd/api/main.go b/cmd/api/main.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..12ea67d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/api/main.go
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+//Package api is the root of the cli for our rest api and lives in cmd/api it is a convention in Golang to have "sub" binaries
+//live inside a cmd package
+package api
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"flag"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"log"
+	"net/http"
+	"os"
+)
+
+//configure our flags using the builtin flags lib
+var hostFlag = flag.String("host", "http://localhost:3001", "host is used to change the default host to call")
+
+//declare some constants to use
+const (
+	usage = "available commands: \n echo \n map \n slice "
+	ECHO  = "echo"
+	MAP   = "map"
+	SLICE = "slice"
+)
+
+func main() {
+	var err error
+	//set up some usage info
+	flag.Usage = func() {
+		fmt.Printf("Usage of %s:\n", os.Args[0])
+		fmt.Println(usage)
+		flag.PrintDefaults()
+	}
+	//ensure we parse our flags
+	flag.Parse()
+	if flag.NArg() == 0 {
+		flag.Usage()
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+	args := flag.Args() //cuts off things like ./api and any flags that are passed
+	cmd := args[0]
+	switch cmd {
+	case ECHO:
+		//configure the poster as the default http implementation and the writer as stdout
+		echo := echoCmd{poster: http.Post, writer: os.Stdout}
+		err = echo.Echo(args[1:]) //pass in all after echo
+	}
+	log.Fatalf("error running command %s : %s", cmd, err.Error())
+}
+
+//define a custom type that takes a poster and a writer this allows for cleaner simpler testing
+type echoCmd struct {
+	poster func(string, string, io.Reader) (*http.Response, error)
+	writer io.Writer
+}
+
+//Echo calls the echo api in the web server writing the respose to the writer
+func (cmd echoCmd) Echo(args []string) error {
+	if len(args) != 1 {
+		printAndExit("echo expects a message. echo <yourmessage>")
+	}
+	url := fmt.Sprintf("%s/api/echo", *hostFlag)
+	msg := map[string]string{
+		"message": args[0],
+	}
+	data, err := json.Marshal(msg)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to prepare data for posting %s ", err.Error())
+	}
+	res, err := cmd.poster(url, "application/json", bytes.NewReader(data))
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to post to echo endpoint %s ", err.Error())
+	}
+	defer res.Body.Close()
+	resData, err := ioutil.ReadAll(res.Body)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to post to echo endpoint %s ", err.Error())
+	}
+	if _, err := cmd.writer.Write(resData); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to write to out %s", err.Error())
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func printAndExit(msg string) {
+	log.Println(msg)
+	os.Exit(0)
+}
diff --git a/cmd/api/main_test.go b/cmd/api/main_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5463633
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/api/main_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+package api
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"io"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/url"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestEchoCmd(t *testing.T) {
+	mockPoster := func(api, contentType string, body io.Reader) (*http.Response, error) {
+		u, err := url.Parse(api)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err.Error())
+		}
+		if u.Path != "/api/echo" {
+			t.Fatal(err.Error())
+		}
+		resBody := `{"message":"test"}`
+		bodyRC := ioutil.NopCloser(bytes.NewReader([]byte(resBody)))
+		res := &http.Response{StatusCode: 200, Body: bodyRC}
+		return res, nil
+	}
+	var buffer bytes.Buffer
+	cmd := &echoCmd{poster: mockPoster, writer: &buffer}
+	args := []string{"test"}
+	if err := cmd.Echo(args); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err.Error)
+	}
+	message := map[string]string{}
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(buffer.Bytes(), &message); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err.Error())
+	}
+	if _, ok := message["message"]; !ok {
+		t.Fatal("expected their to be a message")
+	}
+	m := message["message"]
+	if m != "test" {
+		t.Fatal("expected the messag to be test")
+	}
+}
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 37136de..f0f76c3 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -49,10 +49,48 @@ func Echo(res http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 	}
 }
 
+func MapMe(rw http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
+	var (
+		jsonEncoder = json.NewEncoder(rw)
+	)
+
+	myMap := map[string]Message{
+		"message": Message{
+			Message: "hello map",
+			Stamp:   time.Now().Unix(),
+		},
+	}
+
+	if err := jsonEncoder.Encode(myMap); err != nil {
+		rw.WriteHeader(http.StatusInternalServerError)
+		return
+	}
+}
+
+func SliceMe(rw http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
+	var (
+		jsonEncoder = json.NewEncoder(rw)
+	)
+
+	mySlice := []Message{
+		Message{
+			Message: "hello map",
+			Stamp:   time.Now().Unix(),
+		},
+	}
+
+	if err := jsonEncoder.Encode(mySlice); err != nil {
+		rw.WriteHeader(http.StatusInternalServerError)
+		return
+	}
+}
+
 //Setup our simple router
 func router() http.Handler {
 	//http.HandleFunc expects a func that takes a http.ResponseWriter and http.Request
 	http.HandleFunc("/api/echo", Echo)
+	http.HandleFunc("/api/map", MapMe)
+	http.HandleFunc("/api/slice", SliceMe)
 	return http.DefaultServeMux //this is a stdlib http.Handler
 }