diff --git a/libwyag.py b/libwyag.py
index 35e0483..29395eb 100644
--- a/libwyag.py
+++ b/libwyag.py
@@ -185,3 +185,145 @@ argsp.add_argument("path",
 def cmd_status(args):
     # TODO: actually get status
     print(repo_find(args.path).worktree)
+
+class GitObject (object):
+    def __init__(self, data=None):
+        if data != None:
+            self.deserialize(data)
+        else:
+            self.init()
+
+    def serialize(self, repo):
+        """This function MUST be implemented by subclasses.
+
+It must read the object's contents from self.data, a byte string, and
+do whatever it takes to convert it into a meaningful representation. What exactly that means depends on each subclass."""
+        raise Exception("Unimplemented!")
+
+    def deserialize(self, repo):
+        raise Exception("Unimplemented!")
+
+    def init(self):
+        pass # other implementations might do something here
+
+def object_read(repo, sha):
+    """Read object sha from Git repository repo. Return a
+    GitObject whose exact type depends on the object."""
+
+    path = GitRepository.repo_file(repo, "objects", sha[0:2], sha[2:])
+
+    if not os.path.isfile(path):
+        return None
+
+    with open(path, "rb") as f:
+        raw = zlib.decompress(f.read())
+
+        # Read object type
+        x = raw.find(b' ')
+        fmt = raw[0:x]
+
+        # Read and validate object size
+        y = raw.find(b'\x00', x)
+        size = int(raw[x:y].decode("ascii"))
+        if size != len(raw)-y-1:
+            raise Exception(f"Malformed object {sha}: bad length")
+
+        match fmt:
+            case b'commit' : c=GitCommit
+            case b'tree'   : c=GitTree
+            case b'tag'    : c=GitTag
+            case b'blob'   : c=GitBlob
+            case _:
+                raise Exception(f"Unknown type {fmt.decode('ascii')} for object {sha}")
+
+        return c(raw[y+1:])
+
+def object_write(obj, repo=None):
+    data = obj.serialize()
+    # Add header
+    result = obj.fmt + b' ' + str(len(data)).encode() + b'\x00' + data
+    # Compute hash
+    sha = hashlib.sha1(result).hexdigest()
+
+    if repo:
+        # Compute path
+        path=GitRepository.repo_file(repo, "objects", sha[0:2], sha[2:], mkdir=True)
+
+        if not os.path.exists(path):
+            with open(path, 'wb') as f:
+                f.write(zlib.compress(result))
+    return sha
+
+class GitBlob(GitObject):
+    fmt=b'blob'
+
+    def serialize(self):
+        return self.blobdata
+
+    def deserialize(self, data):
+        self.blobdata = data
+
+argsp = argsubparsers.add_parser("cat-file",
+                                 help="Provide content of repository objects")
+
+argsp.add_argument("type",
+                   metavar="type",
+                   choices=["blob", "commit", "tag", "tree"],
+                   help="Specify the type")
+
+argsp.add_argument("object",
+                   metavar="object",
+                   help="The object to display")
+
+def cmd_cat_file(args):
+    repo = repo_find()
+    cat_file(repo, args.object, fmt=args.type.encode())
+
+def cat_file(repo, obj, fmt=None):
+    obj = object_read(repo, object_find(repo, obj, fmt=fmt))
+    sys.stdout.buffer.write(obj.serialize())
+
+def object_find(repo, name, fmt=None, follow=True):
+    return name
+
+argsp = argsubparsers.add_parser(
+    "hash-object",
+    help="Compute object ID an optionally creates a blob from a file")
+
+argsp.add_argument("-t",
+                   metavar="type",
+                   dest="type",
+                   choices=["blob", "commit", "tag", "tree"],
+                   default="blob",
+                   help="Specify the type")
+
+argsp.add_argument("-w",
+                   dest="write",
+                   action="store_true",
+                   help="Actually write the object into the database")
+
+argsp.add_argument("path",
+                   help="Read object from <file>")
+
+def cmd_hash_object(args):
+    if args.write:
+        repo = repo_find()
+    else:
+        repo = None
+
+    with open(args.path, "rb") as fd:
+        sha = object_hash(fd, args.type.encode(), repo)
+        print(sha)
+
+def object_hash(fd, fmt, repo=None):
+    """Hash object, writing it to repo if provided"""
+    data = fd.read()
+
+    match fmt:
+        case b'commit' : obj=GitCommit(data)
+        case b'tree'   : obj=GitTree(data)
+        case b'tag'    : obj=GitTag(data)
+        case b'blob'   : obj=GitBlob(data)
+        case _         : raise Exception(f"Unknown type {fmt}")
+
+    return object_write(obj, repo)