diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 419dc561..f14cdb44 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@ TOPDIR=$(shell pwd)
 include $(TOPDIR)/common.mk
 
 # Depend on the object files of all source-files in src/*.c and on all header files
-FILES=$(patsubst %.c,%.o,$(wildcard src/*.c))
+AUTOGENERATED:=src/cfgparse.tab.c src/cfgparse.yy.c
+FILES:=$(filter-out $(AUTOGENERATED),$(wildcard src/*.c))
+FILES:=$(FILES:.c=.o)
 HEADERS=$(wildcard include/*.h)
 
 # Depend on the specific file (.c for each .o) and on all headers
@@ -11,13 +13,23 @@ src/%.o: src/%.c ${HEADERS}
 	echo "CC $<"
 	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c -o $@ $<
 
-all: ${FILES}
+all: src/cfgparse.y.o src/cfgparse.yy.o ${FILES}
 	echo "LINK i3"
-	$(CC) -o i3 ${FILES} $(LDFLAGS)
+	$(CC) -o i3 ${FILES} src/cfgparse.y.o src/cfgparse.yy.o $(LDFLAGS)
 	echo ""
 	echo "SUBDIR i3-msg"
 	$(MAKE) TOPDIR=$(TOPDIR) -C i3-msg
 
+src/cfgparse.yy.o: src/cfgparse.l
+	echo "LEX $<"
+	lex -i -o $(@:.o=.c) $<
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c -o $@ $(@:.o=.c)
+
+src/cfgparse.y.o: src/cfgparse.y
+	echo "YACC $<"
+	yacc -b $(basename $< .y) -d $<
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c -o $@ $(<:.y=.tab.c)
+
 install: all
 	echo "INSTALL"
 	$(INSTALL) -d -m 0755 $(DESTDIR)/usr/bin
@@ -46,7 +58,7 @@ dist: distclean
 	rm -rf i3-${VERSION}
 
 clean:
-	rm -f src/*.o
+	rm -f src/*.o src/cfgparse.tab.{c,h} src/cfgparse.yy.c
 	$(MAKE) -C docs clean
 	$(MAKE) -C man clean
 	$(MAKE) TOPDIR=$(TOPDIR) -C i3-msg clean
diff --git a/src/cfgparse.l b/src/cfgparse.l
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..af26c6ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cfgparse.l
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+%{
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include "cfgparse.tab.h"
+#include <xcb/xcb.h>
+
+enum {
+        BIND_NONE = 0,
+        BIND_SHIFT = XCB_MOD_MASK_SHIFT,        /* (1 << 0) */
+        BIND_CONTROL = XCB_MOD_MASK_CONTROL,    /* (1 << 2) */
+        BIND_MOD1 = XCB_MOD_MASK_1,             /* (1 << 3) */
+        BIND_MOD2 = XCB_MOD_MASK_2,             /* (1 << 4) */
+        BIND_MOD3 = XCB_MOD_MASK_3,             /* (1 << 5) */
+        BIND_MOD4 = XCB_MOD_MASK_4,             /* (1 << 6) */
+        BIND_MOD5 = XCB_MOD_MASK_5,             /* (1 << 7) */
+        BIND_MODE_SWITCH = (1 << 8)
+};
+
+%}
+
+%Start BIND_COND BIND_AWS_COND BIND_A2WS_COND ASSIGN_COND
+
+%%
+[0-9]+                  yylval.number = atoi(yytext); return NUMBER;
+[0-9a-fA-F]+		{ yylval.string = strdup(yytext); return HEX; }
+bind                    { BEGIN(BIND_COND); return TOKBIND; }
+bindsym                 { BEGIN(BIND_COND); return TOKBINDSYM; }
+floating_modifier	return TOKFLOATING_MODIFIER;
+workspace		return TOKWORKSPACE;
+screen			return TOKSCREEN;
+assign			{ BEGIN(ASSIGN_COND); return TOKASSIGN; }
+set			{ BEGIN(BIND_COND); return TOKSET; }
+ipc-socket		{ BEGIN(BIND_AWS_COND); return TOKIPCSOCKET; }
+exec			{ BEGIN(BIND_AWS_COND); return TOKEXEC; }
+client.focused		{ /* TODO: lval pointer */ return TOKCOLOR; }
+Mod1			yylval.number = BIND_MOD1; return MODIFIER;
+Mod2			yylval.number = BIND_MOD2; return MODIFIER;
+Mod3			yylval.number = BIND_MOD3; return MODIFIER;
+Mod4			yylval.number = BIND_MOD4; return MODIFIER;
+Mod5			yylval.number = BIND_MOD5; return MODIFIER;
+control			return TOKCONTROL;
+shift			return TOKSHIFT;
+→			return TOKARROW;
+\n                      /* ignore end of line */;
+<BIND_COND>[ \t]+       { BEGIN(BIND_AWS_COND); return WHITESPACE; }
+<BIND_AWS_COND>[ \t]+   { BEGIN(BIND_A2WS_COND); return WHITESPACE; }
+[ \t]+                  return WHITESPACE;
+<BIND_A2WS_COND>[^\n]+	{ BEGIN(INITIAL); yylval.string = strdup(yytext); return STRING; }
+<ASSIGN_COND>[^ \t]+	{ BEGIN(INITIAL); yylval.string = strdup(yytext); return STRING_NG; }
+[a-zA-Z]+		yylval.string = strdup(yytext); return WORD;
+[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+		yylval.string = strdup(yytext); return VARNAME;
+\"[^\"]+\"		{
+				/* yylval will be the string, but without quotes */
+				char *copy = strdup(yytext+1);
+				copy[strlen(copy)-1] = '\0';
+				yylval.string = copy;
+				return QUOTEDSTRING;
+			}
+.               return (int) yytext[0];
+%%
diff --git a/src/cfgparse.y b/src/cfgparse.y
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2cf408a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cfgparse.y
@@ -0,0 +1,193 @@
+%{
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <xcb/xcb.h>
+
+enum {
+        BIND_NONE = 0,
+        BIND_SHIFT = XCB_MOD_MASK_SHIFT,        /* (1 << 0) */
+        BIND_CONTROL = XCB_MOD_MASK_CONTROL,    /* (1 << 2) */
+        BIND_MOD1 = XCB_MOD_MASK_1,             /* (1 << 3) */
+        BIND_MOD2 = XCB_MOD_MASK_2,             /* (1 << 4) */
+        BIND_MOD3 = XCB_MOD_MASK_3,             /* (1 << 5) */
+        BIND_MOD4 = XCB_MOD_MASK_4,             /* (1 << 6) */
+        BIND_MOD5 = XCB_MOD_MASK_5,             /* (1 << 7) */
+        BIND_MODE_SWITCH = (1 << 8)
+};
+
+
+int yydebug = 1;
+
+void yyerror(const char *str)
+{
+        fprintf(stderr,"error: %s\n",str);
+}
+
+int yywrap()
+{
+        return 1;
+}
+
+#if 0
+main()
+{
+        yyparse();
+	printf("parsing done\n");
+}
+#endif
+
+%}
+
+%union {
+	int number;
+	char *string;
+}
+
+%token <number>NUMBER
+%token <string>WORD
+%token <string>STRING
+%token <string>STRING_NG
+%token <string>VARNAME
+%token <string>HEX
+%token TOKBIND
+%token TOKBINDSYM
+%token MODIFIER
+%token TOKCONTROL
+%token TOKSHIFT
+%token WHITESPACE
+%token TOKFLOATING_MODIFIER
+%token QUOTEDSTRING
+%token TOKWORKSPACE
+%token TOKSCREEN
+%token TOKASSIGN
+%token TOKSET
+%token TOKIPCSOCKET
+%token TOKEXEC
+%token TOKCOLOR
+%token TOKARROW
+
+%%
+
+lines: /* empty */
+        | lines WHITESPACE line
+	| lines line
+        ;
+
+line:
+        bind
+	| bindsym
+	| floating_modifier
+	| workspace
+	| assign
+	| set
+	| ipcsocket
+	| exec
+	| color
+        ;
+
+command:
+	STRING
+	;
+
+bind:
+        TOKBIND WHITESPACE binding_modifiers '+' NUMBER WHITESPACE command
+        {
+                printf("\tFound binding mod%d with key %d and command %s\n", $<number>3, $5, $<string>7);
+        }
+        ;
+
+bindsym:
+        TOKBINDSYM WHITESPACE binding_modifiers '+' WORD WHITESPACE command
+        {
+                printf("\tFound symbolic mod%d with key %s and command %s\n", $<number>3, $5, $<string>7);
+        }
+        ;
+
+floating_modifier:
+	TOKFLOATING_MODIFIER WHITESPACE binding_modifiers
+	{
+		printf("\tfloating modifier %d\n", $<number>3);
+	}
+	;
+
+workspace:
+	TOKWORKSPACE WHITESPACE NUMBER WHITESPACE TOKSCREEN WHITESPACE screen
+	{
+		printf("\t workspace %d to screen %d\n", $<number>3, $<number>7);
+	}
+	| TOKWORKSPACE WHITESPACE NUMBER WHITESPACE TOKSCREEN WHITESPACE screen WHITESPACE QUOTEDSTRING
+	{
+		printf("\t quoted: %s\n", $<string>9);
+	}
+	;
+
+screen:
+	NUMBER
+	;
+
+
+assign:
+	TOKASSIGN WHITESPACE window_class WHITESPACE optional_arrow NUMBER
+	{
+		printf("assignment of %s to %d\n", $<string>3, $<number>6);
+	}
+	;
+
+window_class:
+	QUOTEDSTRING
+	| STRING_NG
+	;
+
+optional_arrow:
+	/* NULL */
+	| TOKARROW WHITESPACE
+	;
+
+set:
+	TOKSET WHITESPACE variable WHITESPACE STRING
+	{
+		printf("set %s to %s\n", $<string>3, $<string>5);
+	}
+	;
+
+variable:
+	'$' WORD 	{ asprintf(&$<string>$, "$%s", $<string>2); }
+	| '$' VARNAME 	{ asprintf(&$<string>$, "$%s", $<string>2); }
+	;
+
+ipcsocket:
+	TOKIPCSOCKET WHITESPACE STRING
+	{
+		printf("ipc %s\n", $<string>3);
+	}
+	;
+
+exec:
+	TOKEXEC WHITESPACE STRING
+	{
+		printf("exec %s\n", $<string>3);
+	}
+	;
+
+color:
+	TOKCOLOR WHITESPACE '#' HEX
+	{
+		printf("color %s\n", $<string>4);
+	}
+	;
+
+
+binding_modifiers:
+	binding_modifier
+	|
+	binding_modifiers '+' binding_modifier
+	{
+		$<number>$ = $<number>1 | $<number>3;
+	}
+	;
+
+binding_modifier:
+	MODIFIER 	{ $<number>$ = $<number>1; }
+	| TOKCONTROL 	{ $<number>$ = BIND_CONTROL; }
+	| TOKSHIFT 	{ $<number>$ = BIND_SHIFT; }
+	;