diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index f8ab7e1..72b826b 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -28,6 +28,15 @@ version = "1.1.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "d468802bab17cbc0cc575e9b053f41e72aa36bfa6b7f55e3529ffa43161b97fa"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "bincode"
+version = "1.3.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "b1f45e9417d87227c7a56d22e471c6206462cba514c7590c09aff4cf6d1ddcad"
+dependencies = [
+ "serde",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "bitflags"
 version = "1.3.2"
@@ -112,6 +121,7 @@ dependencies = [
 name = "clone-shim"
 version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
+ "bincode",
  "clap 3.1.15",
  "close_fds",
  "criterion",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index d10cffd..cc1b6a4 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ exitcode = "1"
 
 serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }
 serde_json = "1.0"
+bincode = "1.3"
 ipnetwork = "0.18"
 
 libc = "0.2.117"
diff --git a/src/error.rs b/src/error.rs
index 700ecd5..abdcab4 100644
--- a/src/error.rs
+++ b/src/error.rs
@@ -15,6 +15,9 @@ pub enum Error {
     #[error("json: {0}")]
     Json(#[from] serde_json::Error),
 
+    #[error("bincode: {0}")]
+    Bincode(#[from] bincode::Error),
+
     #[error("bad pipe specification: a pipe must have exactly one reader and one writer: {0}")]
     BadPipe(String),
 
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 0733e5e..8a7e6d5 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -19,6 +19,25 @@ use nix::fcntl::OFlag;
 use nix::sys::socket;
 use nix::unistd;
 
+pub struct PackArgs<'a> {
+    pub spec: &'a Path,
+    pub binary: &'a Path,
+    pub output: &'a Path,
+}
+
+pub fn pack(args: &PackArgs) -> Result<()> {
+    let spec: Specification = if args.spec.ends_with(".json") {
+        let f = std::fs::File::open(args.spec)?;
+        Ok(serde_json::from_reader(f)?)
+    } else {
+        Err(Error::BadSpecType)
+    }?;
+
+    let spec_bin = bincode::serialize(&spec)?;
+
+    Ok(())
+}
+
 pub struct RunArgs<'a> {
     pub spec: Option<&'a Path>,
     pub debug: bool,
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index f6c0b92..8c2a277 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 use log::{error, info};
 
-use clone_shim::{run, RunArgs};
+use clone_shim::{pack, run, PackArgs, RunArgs};
 
 use std::path::Path;
 
@@ -12,12 +12,39 @@ fn main() {
         .version(env!("GIT_HASH"))
         .author("Jake Hillion <jake@hillion.co.uk>")
         .about("Launch a void process application.")
+        .subcommand_negates_reqs(true)
         .trailing_var_arg(true)
+        .subcommand(
+            Command::new("pack")
+                .arg(
+                    Arg::new("spec")
+                        .long("specification")
+                        .short('s')
+                        .help("Provide the specification to pack as an external JSON file.")
+                        .takes_value(true)
+                        .required(true),
+                )
+                .arg(
+                    Arg::new("binary")
+                        .long("binary")
+                        .short('b')
+                        .help("Provide the binary to pack.")
+                        .takes_value(true)
+                        .required(true),
+                )
+                .arg(
+                    Arg::new("output")
+                        .long("out")
+                        .short('o')
+                        .help("Location of the output file")
+                        .takes_value(true),
+                ),
+        )
         .arg(
             Arg::new("spec")
                 .long("specification")
                 .short('s')
-                .help("Provide the specification as an external JSON file.")
+                .help("Provide the specification to launch as an external JSON file.")
                 .takes_value(true),
         )
         .arg(
@@ -55,8 +82,30 @@ fn main() {
     env_logger::init_from_env(env);
 
     // launch process
-    // execute shimmed process
-    std::process::exit({
+
+    let code = if let Some(matches) = matches.subcommand_matches("pack") {
+        // execute binary packing procedure
+        let args = PackArgs {
+            spec: Path::new(matches.value_of("spec").expect("spec required")),
+            binary: Path::new(matches.value_of("binary").expect("binary required")),
+            output: matches
+                .value_of("output")
+                .map(Path::new)
+                .unwrap_or_else(|| Path::new("a.out")),
+        };
+
+        match pack(&args) {
+            Ok(_) => {
+                info!("binary packed successfully");
+                exitcode::OK
+            }
+            Err(e) => {
+                error!("error packing binary: {}", e);
+                1
+            }
+        }
+    } else {
+        // execute shimmed process
         let (binary, binary_args) = {
             let mut argv = matches.values_of("binary").unwrap();
 
@@ -83,5 +132,7 @@ fn main() {
                 -1
             }
         }
-    })
+    };
+
+    std::process::exit(code);
 }