diff --git a/include/shell.h b/include/shell.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a219490
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/shell.h
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#ifndef FROSTBYTE_SHELL_H
+#define FROSTBYTE_SHELL_H
+
+void shellRun(void);
+
+#endif
diff --git a/src/shell.c b/src/shell.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0089257
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/shell.c
@@ -0,0 +1,276 @@
+#include "shell.h"
+#include "console.h"
+#include "keyboard.h"
+#include "vga.h"
+#include "pmm.h"
+#include "heap.h"
+#include "pit.h"
+#include "sched.h"
+#include "string.h"
+#include "vfs.h"
+#include "fs.h"
+
+#define lineCapacity 128
+#define pathCapacity 256
+
+static char cwd[pathCapacity] = "/";
+
+static void printHelp(void)
+{
+    kprintf("available commands:\n");
+    kprintf("  help          show this list\n");
+    kprintf("  echo TEXT     print the given text\n");
+    kprintf("  echo TEXT >F  write the text to file F\n");
+    kprintf("  ls [PATH]     list a directory\n");
+    kprintf("  cat FILE      print a file\n");
+    kprintf("  mkdir PATH    create a directory (writable mounts only)\n");
+    kprintf("  cd PATH       change the working directory\n");
+    kprintf("  pwd           print the working directory\n");
+    kprintf("  mem           physical memory and heap usage\n");
+    kprintf("  uptime        ticks and seconds since boot\n");
+    kprintf("  ps            list kernel threads\n");
+    kprintf("  clear         clear the screen\n");
+}
+
+static void printMem(void)
+{
+    uint64 totalKib = pmmTotalBytes() / 1024;
+    uint64 usedKib = pmmUsedFrames() * frameSize / 1024;
+    uint64 freeKib = pmmFreeFrames() * frameSize / 1024;
+
+    kprintf("physical memory: %lu KiB total\n", totalKib);
+    kprintf("  frames: %lu total, %lu used, %lu free\n",
+            pmmTotalFrames(), pmmUsedFrames(), pmmFreeFrames());
+    kprintf("  used %lu KiB, free %lu KiB\n", usedKib, freeKib);
+    kprintf("heap: %lu KiB used of %lu KiB\n",
+            heapUsed() / 1024, heapTotal() / 1024);
+}
+
+static void printUptime(void)
+{
+    uint64 ticks = pitTicks();
+    uint32 frequency = pitFrequency();
+    kprintf("uptime: %lu ticks, %lu seconds (at %u Hz)\n",
+            ticks, ticks / frequency, frequency);
+}
+
+static void printThreads(void)
+{
+    kprintf("id  state     name\n");
+    for (uint32 i = 0; i < threadCount(); i++) {
+        Thread* thread = threadAt(i);
+        const char* state = thread->state == threadRunning ? "running" : "runnable";
+        char marker = thread->id == currentThreadId() ? '*' : ' ';
+        kprintf("%c%u   %s  %s\n", marker, thread->id, state, thread->name);
+    }
+}
+
+static void buildPath(const char* argument, char* out)
+{
+    if (argument[0] == '/') {
+        uint64 length = strlen(argument);
+        if (length >= pathCapacity)
+            length = pathCapacity - 1;
+        memcpy(out, argument, length);
+        out[length] = 0;
+        return;
+    }
+
+    uint64 pos = strlen(cwd);
+    if (pos >= pathCapacity)
+        pos = pathCapacity - 1;
+    memcpy(out, cwd, pos);
+    if (pos == 0 || out[pos - 1] != '/') {
+        if (pos < pathCapacity - 1)
+            out[pos++] = '/';
+    }
+    for (uint64 i = 0; argument[i] && pos < pathCapacity - 1; i++)
+        out[pos++] = argument[i];
+    out[pos] = 0;
+}
+
+static void listDir(const char* argument)
+{
+    char path[pathCapacity];
+    if (argument[0] == 0)
+        memcpy(path, cwd, strlen(cwd) + 1);
+    else
+        buildPath(argument, path);
+
+    VfsNode* node = vfsLookup(path);
+    if (!node) {
+        kprintf("ls: no such path: %s\n", path);
+        return;
+    }
+    if (!vfsIsDir(node)) {
+        kprintf("%s  %lu\n", vfsName(node), vfsSize(node));
+        return;
+    }
+    for (VfsNode* child = vfsChild(node); child; child = vfsNext(child)) {
+        if (vfsIsDir(child))
+            kprintf("%s/\n", vfsName(child));
+        else
+            kprintf("%s  %lu\n", vfsName(child), vfsSize(child));
+    }
+}
+
+static void catFile(const char* argument)
+{
+    if (argument[0] == 0) {
+        kprintf("cat: missing file\n");
+        return;
+    }
+    char path[pathCapacity];
+    buildPath(argument, path);
+
+    VfsNode* node = vfsLookup(path);
+    if (!node) {
+        kprintf("cat: no such file: %s\n", path);
+        return;
+    }
+    if (vfsIsDir(node)) {
+        kprintf("cat: %s is a directory\n", path);
+        return;
+    }
+    const char* data = (const char*)vfsFileData(node);
+    uint64 size = vfsSize(node);
+    for (uint64 i = 0; i < size; i++)
+        kputchar(data[i]);
+}
+
+static void echoWrite(char* text, const char* target)
+{
+    char path[pathCapacity];
+    buildPath(target, path);
+
+    int fd = vfsOpen(path, oCreate | oWriteOnly | oTrunc);
+    if (fd < 0) {
+        kprintf("echo: cannot write %s\n", path);
+        return;
+    }
+    uint64 length = strlen(text);
+    vfsWrite(fd, text, length);
+    vfsWrite(fd, "\n", 1);
+    vfsClose(fd);
+}
+
+static void makeDir(const char* argument)
+{
+    if (argument[0] == 0) {
+        kprintf("mkdir: missing path\n");
+        return;
+    }
+    char path[pathCapacity];
+    buildPath(argument, path);
+    if (vfsMkdir(path) != 0)
+        kprintf("mkdir: cannot create %s\n", path);
+}
+
+static void changeDir(const char* argument)
+{
+    char path[pathCapacity];
+    if (argument[0] == 0)
+        memcpy(path, "/", 2);
+    else
+        buildPath(argument, path);
+
+    VfsNode* node = vfsLookup(path);
+    if (!node || !vfsIsDir(node)) {
+        kprintf("cd: no such directory: %s\n", path);
+        return;
+    }
+    vfsPath(node, cwd, sizeof(cwd));
+}
+
+static void doEcho(char* argument)
+{
+    char* redirect = argument;
+    while (*redirect && *redirect != '>')
+        redirect++;
+
+    if (*redirect == '>') {
+        *redirect = 0;
+        char* target = redirect + 1;
+        while (*target == ' ')
+            target++;
+
+        char* textEnd = redirect;
+        while (textEnd > argument && textEnd[-1] == ' ')
+            textEnd--;
+        *textEnd = 0;
+
+        echoWrite(argument, target);
+    } else {
+        kprintf("%s\n", argument);
+    }
+}
+
+static void execute(char* line)
+{
+    if (line[0] == 0)
+        return;
+
+    char* argument = line;
+    while (*argument && *argument != ' ')
+        argument++;
+    if (*argument == ' ') {
+        *argument = 0;
+        argument++;
+    }
+    while (*argument == ' ')
+        argument++;
+
+    if (strcmp(line, "help") == 0)
+        printHelp();
+    else if (strcmp(line, "echo") == 0)
+        doEcho(argument);
+    else if (strcmp(line, "ls") == 0)
+        listDir(argument);
+    else if (strcmp(line, "cat") == 0)
+        catFile(argument);
+    else if (strcmp(line, "mkdir") == 0)
+        makeDir(argument);
+    else if (strcmp(line, "cd") == 0)
+        changeDir(argument);
+    else if (strcmp(line, "pwd") == 0)
+        kprintf("%s\n", cwd);
+    else if (strcmp(line, "mem") == 0)
+        printMem();
+    else if (strcmp(line, "uptime") == 0)
+        printUptime();
+    else if (strcmp(line, "ps") == 0)
+        printThreads();
+    else if (strcmp(line, "clear") == 0)
+        vgaClear();
+    else
+        kprintf("unknown command: %s (try 'help')\n", line);
+}
+
+void shellRun(void)
+{
+    char line[lineCapacity];
+    uint32 length = 0;
+
+    kprintf("\nfrostbyte shell ready. type 'help'.\n");
+    kprintf("frostbyte> ");
+
+    for (;;) {
+        char c = keyboardReadChar();
+
+        if (c == '\n') {
+            kputchar('\n');
+            line[length] = 0;
+            execute(line);
+            length = 0;
+            kprintf("frostbyte> ");
+        } else if (c == '\b') {
+            if (length > 0) {
+                length--;
+                kprintf("\b \b");
+            }
+        } else if (length < lineCapacity - 1) {
+            line[length++] = c;
+            kputchar(c);
+        }
+    }
+}