diff --git a/scripts/build.sh b/scripts/build.sh
index e065a78..6dfebd2 100755
--- a/scripts/build.sh
+++ b/scripts/build.sh
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ echo ">>> Building tools..."
 create_directory bin/tools
 # add compile commands to this array
 COMPILE_COMMANDS=(
-    "$CXX_WITH_FLAGS src/tools/dumpnbt.cpp -I./include -Lbin/lib -l:nbt.so -l:javacompat.so -o bin/tools/dumpnbt"
+    "$CXX_WITH_FLAGS src/tools/dumpnbt.cpp -I./include -Lbin/lib -l:nbt.so -l:javacompat.so -l:cli.so -o bin/tools/dumpnbt"
     "$CXX_WITH_FLAGS src/tools/hexnet.cpp -I./include -Lbin/lib -l:cli.so -l:libsockpp.so -o bin/tools/hexnet"
 )
 for command in ${!COMPILE_COMMANDS[@]}; do
diff --git a/src/tools/dumpnbt.cpp b/src/tools/dumpnbt.cpp
index eed0487..34a445c 100644
--- a/src/tools/dumpnbt.cpp
+++ b/src/tools/dumpnbt.cpp
@@ -13,8 +13,85 @@
 // version 3 along with this program.
 // If not, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.en.html
 
+#include <iostream>
+#include <fstream>
+#include <vector>
+
 #include "../lib/nbt.hpp"
+#include "../lib/cli.hpp"
+
+#define EXIT_SUCCESS 0
+#define EXIT_RUNTIME 1
+#define EXIT_USAGE 2
+#define EXIT_UNIMPLEMENTED 3
 
 int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
-    return 0;
+    std::vector<CLI::Flag> flags;
+    flags.push_back(CLI::Flag('h', "help", "print help and exit"));
+    flags.push_back(CLI::Flag('l', "license", "print license information and exit"));
+    flags.push_back(CLI::Flag('x', "hexadecimal", "print numbers in hex format"));
+    std::vector<CLI::Option> options;
+    std::vector<CLI::Argument> arguments;
+    arguments.push_back(CLI::Argument("FILE", "path of the file to work on"));
+
+    CLI::ArgumentsParser cliParser = CLI::ArgumentsParser(argc, argv, flags, options, arguments, "Present NBT in human or machine readable formats - preliminary implementation.");
+
+    if (cliParser.getFlag("help").value){
+        std::cout << cliParser.getUsage() << std::endl;
+        return EXIT_SUCCESS;
+    }
+    if (cliParser.getFlag("license").value){
+        std::cout
+            << "Copyright 2022, FOSS-VG Developers and Contributers\n"
+            << "\n"
+            << "DumpNBT is part of the FOSS-VG development tool suite.\n"
+            << "\n"
+            << "This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it\n"
+            << "under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published\n"
+            << "by the Free Software Foundation, version 3.\n"
+            << "\n"
+            << "This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,\n"
+            << "but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied\n"
+            << "warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.\n"
+            << "See the GNU Affero General Public License for more details.\n"
+            << "\n"
+            << "You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License\n"
+            << "version 3 along with this program.\n"
+            << "If not, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.en.html"
+            << std::endl;
+        return EXIT_SUCCESS;
+    }
+
+    if (cliParser.wrongUsage) {
+        std::cerr << cliParser.getUsage() << std::endl;
+        return EXIT_USAGE;
+    }
+
+    std::ifstream fileStream;
+    fileStream.open(cliParser.getArgument(0).value, std::ios::in | std::ios::binary | std::ios::ate);
+    if (!fileStream.is_open()) {
+        std::cerr << argv[0] << ": File not found: " << cliParser.getArgument(0).value << std::endl;
+        return EXIT_RUNTIME;
+    }
+
+    uint64_t fileSize = fileStream.tellg();
+    fileStream.seekg(0, std::ios::beg);
+
+    uint8_t data[fileSize];
+    uint8_t* nextByte = new uint8_t;
+
+    for (uint64_t i=0; i<fileSize; i++) {
+        fileStream.read(reinterpret_cast<char*>(nextByte), 1);
+        data[i] = *nextByte;
+    }
+    fileStream.close();
+
+    bool validData = NBT::validateRawNBTData(data, fileSize);
+    if (validData) {
+        std::cerr << "Valid data." << std::endl;
+    } else {
+        std::cerr << "Invalid data." << std::endl;
+    }
+
+    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
 }