diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index a5c1a29..d259d83 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ version = "1.0.83"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "f1174fb0b6ec23863f8b971027804a42614e347eafb0a95bf0b12cdae21fc4d0"
 dependencies = [
+ "jobserver",
  "libc",
 ]
 
@@ -237,6 +238,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "windows-sys 0.52.0",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "form_urlencoded"
+version = "1.2.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "e13624c2627564efccf4934284bdd98cbaa14e79b0b5a141218e507b3a823456"
+dependencies = [
+ "percent-encoding",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "generic-array"
 version = "0.14.7"
@@ -264,6 +274,21 @@ version = "0.28.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "4271d37baee1b8c7e4b708028c57d816cf9d2434acb33a549475f78c181f6253"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "git2"
+version = "0.18.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "fbf97ba92db08df386e10c8ede66a2a0369bd277090afd8710e19e38de9ec0cd"
+dependencies = [
+ "bitflags 2.4.1",
+ "libc",
+ "libgit2-sys",
+ "log",
+ "openssl-probe",
+ "openssl-sys",
+ "url",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "handlebars"
 version = "5.0.0"
@@ -306,6 +331,16 @@ version = "0.3.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "d77f7ec81a6d05a3abb01ab6eb7590f6083d08449fe5a1c8b1e620283546ccb7"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "idna"
+version = "0.5.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "634d9b1461af396cad843f47fdba5597a4f9e6ddd4bfb6ff5d85028c25cb12f6"
+dependencies = [
+ "unicode-bidi",
+ "unicode-normalization",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "indexmap"
 version = "2.1.0"
@@ -339,6 +374,15 @@ version = "1.0.10"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "b1a46d1a171d865aa5f83f92695765caa047a9b4cbae2cbf37dbd613a793fd4c"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "jobserver"
+version = "0.1.27"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "8c37f63953c4c63420ed5fd3d6d398c719489b9f872b9fa683262f8edd363c7d"
+dependencies = [
+ "libc",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "lazy_static"
 version = "1.4.0"
@@ -351,6 +395,20 @@ version = "0.2.151"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "302d7ab3130588088d277783b1e2d2e10c9e9e4a16dd9050e6ec93fb3e7048f4"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "libgit2-sys"
+version = "0.16.1+1.7.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "f2a2bb3680b094add03bb3732ec520ece34da31a8cd2d633d1389d0f0fb60d0c"
+dependencies = [
+ "cc",
+ "libc",
+ "libssh2-sys",
+ "libz-sys",
+ "openssl-sys",
+ "pkg-config",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "libredox"
 version = "0.0.1"
@@ -362,6 +420,32 @@ dependencies = [
  "redox_syscall",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "libssh2-sys"
+version = "0.3.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "2dc8a030b787e2119a731f1951d6a773e2280c660f8ec4b0f5e1505a386e71ee"
+dependencies = [
+ "cc",
+ "libc",
+ "libz-sys",
+ "openssl-sys",
+ "pkg-config",
+ "vcpkg",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "libz-sys"
+version = "1.1.14"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "295c17e837573c8c821dbaeb3cceb3d745ad082f7572191409e69cbc1b3fd050"
+dependencies = [
+ "cc",
+ "libc",
+ "pkg-config",
+ "vcpkg",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "linux-raw-sys"
 version = "0.4.12"
@@ -437,6 +521,24 @@ version = "1.19.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "3fdb12b2476b595f9358c5161aa467c2438859caa136dec86c26fdd2efe17b92"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "openssl-probe"
+version = "0.1.5"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "ff011a302c396a5197692431fc1948019154afc178baf7d8e37367442a4601cf"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "openssl-sys"
+version = "0.9.98"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "c1665caf8ab2dc9aef43d1c0023bd904633a6a05cb30b0ad59bec2ae986e57a7"
+dependencies = [
+ "cc",
+ "libc",
+ "pkg-config",
+ "vcpkg",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "option-ext"
 version = "0.2.0"
@@ -449,6 +551,12 @@ version = "3.5.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "c1b04fb49957986fdce4d6ee7a65027d55d4b6d2265e5848bbb507b58ccfdb6f"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "percent-encoding"
+version = "2.3.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "e3148f5046208a5d56bcfc03053e3ca6334e51da8dfb19b6cdc8b306fae3283e"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "pest"
 version = "2.7.6"
@@ -494,6 +602,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "sha2",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "pkg-config"
+version = "0.3.28"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "69d3587f8a9e599cc7ec2c00e331f71c4e69a5f9a4b8a6efd5b07466b9736f9a"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "proc-macro2"
 version = "1.0.76"
@@ -614,6 +728,7 @@ version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
  "clap",
  "dirs",
+ "git2",
  "handlebars",
  "handlebars_switch",
  "lazy_static",
@@ -726,6 +841,21 @@ dependencies = [
  "syn",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "tinyvec"
+version = "1.6.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "87cc5ceb3875bb20c2890005a4e226a4651264a5c75edb2421b52861a0a0cb50"
+dependencies = [
+ "tinyvec_macros",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "tinyvec_macros"
+version = "0.1.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "1f3ccbac311fea05f86f61904b462b55fb3df8837a366dfc601a0161d0532f20"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "toml"
 version = "0.8.8"
@@ -772,6 +902,12 @@ version = "0.1.6"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "ed646292ffc8188ef8ea4d1e0e0150fb15a5c2e12ad9b8fc191ae7a8a7f3c4b9"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "unicode-bidi"
+version = "0.3.14"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "6f2528f27a9eb2b21e69c95319b30bd0efd85d09c379741b0f78ea1d86be2416"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "unicode-ident"
 version = "1.0.12"
@@ -784,18 +920,44 @@ version = "0.1.5"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "3b09c83c3c29d37506a3e260c08c03743a6bb66a9cd432c6934ab501a190571f"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "unicode-normalization"
+version = "0.1.22"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "5c5713f0fc4b5db668a2ac63cdb7bb4469d8c9fed047b1d0292cc7b0ce2ba921"
+dependencies = [
+ "tinyvec",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "unicode-width"
 version = "0.1.11"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "e51733f11c9c4f72aa0c160008246859e340b00807569a0da0e7a1079b27ba85"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "url"
+version = "2.5.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "31e6302e3bb753d46e83516cae55ae196fc0c309407cf11ab35cc51a4c2a4633"
+dependencies = [
+ "form_urlencoded",
+ "idna",
+ "percent-encoding",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "utf8parse"
 version = "0.2.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "711b9620af191e0cdc7468a8d14e709c3dcdb115b36f838e601583af800a370a"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "vcpkg"
+version = "0.2.15"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "accd4ea62f7bb7a82fe23066fb0957d48ef677f6eeb8215f372f52e48bb32426"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "version_check"
 version = "0.9.4"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index fd28812..451dc53 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ edition = "2021"
 [dependencies]
 clap = { version = "4.4.14", features = ["derive", "env"] }
 dirs = "5.0.1"
+git2 = "0.18.1"
 handlebars = "5.0.0"
 handlebars_switch = "0.6.0"
 lazy_static = "1.4.0"
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 83adb1b..b0a1caa 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
+use std::fs;
+
 use args::Args;
 use clap::Parser;
-use miette::Result;
+use miette::{Context, IntoDiagnostic, Result};
 use repo::SiloRepo;
 
 mod args;
@@ -10,7 +12,7 @@ mod templating;
 fn main() -> Result<()> {
     let args: Args = Args::parse();
     match &args.command {
-        args::Command::Init => todo!(),
+        args::Command::Init => init(&args)?,
         args::Command::Apply => apply(&args)?,
     }
 
@@ -19,8 +21,19 @@ fn main() -> Result<()> {
 
 fn apply(args: &Args) -> Result<()> {
     let repo = SiloRepo::open(&args.repo)?;
-    dbg!(&repo);
     repo.apply()?;
 
     Ok(())
 }
+
+fn init(args: &Args) -> Result<()> {
+    if !args.repo.exists() {
+        fs::create_dir_all(&args.repo)
+            .into_diagnostic()
+            .with_context(|| format!("creating folder for repository {:?}", args.repo))?;
+    }
+    let _gitrepo = git2::Repository::init(&args.repo)
+        .into_diagnostic()
+        .with_context(|| format!("initializing repository at {:?}", args.repo))?;
+    Ok(())
+}