diff --git a/cmd/root.go b/cmd/root.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f418946b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/root.go
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+// Copyright 2024 Google LLC
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package cmd
+
+import (
+	_ "embed"
+	"os"
+	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+)
+
+var (
+	// versionString indicates the version of this library.
+	//go:embed version.txt
+	versionString string
+	// metadataString indicates additional build or distribution metadata.
+	metadataString string
+)
+
+func init() {
+	versionString = semanticVersion()
+}
+
+// semanticVersion returns the version of the CLI including a compile-time metadata.
+func semanticVersion() string {
+	v := strings.TrimSpace(versionString)
+	if metadataString != "" {
+		v += "+" + metadataString
+	}
+	return v
+}
+
+// Execute adds all child commands to the root command and sets flags appropriately.
+// This is called by main.main(). It only needs to happen once to the rootCmd.
+func Execute() {
+	if err := NewCommand().Execute(); err != nil {
+		exit := 1
+		os.Exit(exit)
+	}
+}
+
+// Command represents an invocation of the CLI.
+type Command struct {
+	*cobra.Command
+}
+
+// NewCommand returns a Command object representing an invocation of the CLI.
+func NewCommand() *Command {
+	rootCmd := &cobra.Command{
+		Use:     "toolbox",
+		Version: versionString,
+		RunE:    root,
+	}
+
+	c := &Command{
+		Command: rootCmd,
+	}
+
+	return c
+}
+
+func root(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
+	cmd.Printf("Toolbox running v%s!", versionString)
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/cmd/root_test.go b/cmd/root_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0a17c9d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/root_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+// Copyright 2024 Google LLC
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package cmd_test
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	_ "embed"
+	"io"
+	"os"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/googleapis/genai-toolbox/cmd"
+)
+
+func TestVersion(t *testing.T) {
+	data, err := os.ReadFile("version.txt")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to read version.txt: %v", err)
+	}
+	want := strings.TrimSpace(string(data))
+
+	// run command with flag
+	b := bytes.NewBufferString("")
+	cmd := cmd.NewCommand()
+	cmd.SetArgs([]string{"--version"})
+	cmd.SetOut(b)
+
+	err = cmd.Execute()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unable to execute command: %q", err)
+	}
+
+	out, err := io.ReadAll(b)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	got := string(out)
+
+	if !strings.Contains(got, want) {
+		t.Errorf("cli did not return correct version: want %q, got %q", want, got)
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/cmd/version.txt b/cmd/version.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bd52db81
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/version.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+0.0.0
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 7cc7267b..e012b67c 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
 module github.com/googleapis/genai-toolbox
 
 go 1.22.2
+
+require github.com/spf13/cobra v1.8.1
+
+require (
+	github.com/inconshreveable/mousetrap v1.1.0 // indirect
+	github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.5 // indirect
+)
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index e69de29b..912390a7 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+github.com/cpuguy83/go-md2man/v2 v2.0.4/go.mod h1:tgQtvFlXSQOSOSIRvRPT7W67SCa46tRHOmNcaadrF8o=
+github.com/inconshreveable/mousetrap v1.1.0 h1:wN+x4NVGpMsO7ErUn/mUI3vEoE6Jt13X2s0bqwp9tc8=
+github.com/inconshreveable/mousetrap v1.1.0/go.mod h1:vpF70FUmC8bwa3OWnCshd2FqLfsEA9PFc4w1p2J65bw=
+github.com/russross/blackfriday/v2 v2.1.0/go.mod h1:+Rmxgy9KzJVeS9/2gXHxylqXiyQDYRxCVz55jmeOWTM=
+github.com/spf13/cobra v1.8.1 h1:e5/vxKd/rZsfSJMUX1agtjeTDf+qv1/JdBF8gg5k9ZM=
+github.com/spf13/cobra v1.8.1/go.mod h1:wHxEcudfqmLYa8iTfL+OuZPbBZkmvliBWKIezN3kD9Y=
+github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.5 h1:iy+VFUOCP1a+8yFto/drg2CJ5u0yRoB7fZw3DKv/JXA=
+github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.5/go.mod h1:McXfInJRrz4CZXVZOBLb0bTZqETkiAhM9Iw0y3An2Bg=
+gopkg.in/check.v1 v0.0.0-20161208181325-20d25e280405/go.mod h1:Co6ibVJAznAaIkqp8huTwlJQCZ016jof/cbN4VW5Yz0=
+gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.1/go.mod h1:K4uyk7z7BCEPqu6E+C64Yfv1cQ7kz7rIZviUmN+EgEM=
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index ed1b5c43..2688aaf5 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@
 
 package main
 
-import "fmt"
+import "github.com/googleapis/genai-toolbox/cmd"
 
 func main() {
-	fmt.Println("hello world")
+	cmd.Execute()
 }