diff --git a/.editorconfig b/.editorconfig
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..163eb75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.editorconfig
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+root = true
+
+[*.cr]
+charset = utf-8
+end_of_line = lf
+insert_final_newline = true
+indent_style = space
+indent_size = 2
+trim_trailing_whitespace = true
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0bbd4a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+/docs/
+/lib/
+/bin/
+/.shards/
+*.dwarf
+
+# Libraries don't need dependency lock
+# Dependencies will be locked in applications that use them
+/shard.lock
diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..85e8c42
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+MIT License
+
+Copyright (c) 2022 Robert Schulze <robert@dotless.de>
+
+Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
+SOFTWARE.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e3e7272
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+# GDBMish
+
+Convert crystal data structures into a `gdpm_dump` ASCII format.
+
+Citing [gdbm](https://git.gnu.org.ua/gdbm.git/tree/NOTE-WARNING):
+> Gdbm files have never been `portable' between different operating systems,
+> system architectures, or potentially even different compilers.  Differences
+> in byte order, the size of file offsets, and even structure packing make
+> gdbm files non-portable.
+> 
+> Therefore, if you intend to send your database to somebody over the wire,
+> please dump it into a portable format using gdbm_dump and send the resulting
+> file instead. The receiving party will be able to recreate the database from
+> the dump using the gdbm_load command.
+
+GDBMish does that by reimplementing the `gdpm_dump` ASCII format without compiling against `gdbm`
+
+## Installation
+
+1. Add the dependency to your `shard.yml`:
+
+   ```yaml
+   dependencies:
+     gdbmish:
+       github: fnordfish/gdbmish
+   ```
+
+2. Run `shards install`
+
+## Usage
+
+```crystal
+require "gdbmish"
+```
+
+```crystal
+# Get dump as String
+string = Gdbmish::Dump.ascii({"key1" => "value", "key2" => value})
+
+# Write directly into File (or any other IO)
+File.open("my_db.dump", "w") do |file|
+  Gdbmish::Dump.ascii({"key1" => "value", "key2" => value}, file)
+end
+
+# Provide an original filename
+Gdbmish::Dump.ascii(data, file: "my.db")
+
+# Provide an original filename and file permissions
+Gdbmish::Dump.ascii(data, file: "my.db", uid: "1000", gid: "1000", mode: 0o600)
+```
+
+## Development
+
+TODO: Write development instructions here
+
+## Limitations
+
+* Currently only supports the ASCII format and not the Binary format
+* Currently requires a `Hash` or `NamedTuple` with `String` keys and values
+  + it would be nice to provide a "consumer" style API for dumping larger data sets
+* Currently only supports creating a dump
+  + it would be nice to also read dumps 
+
+## Contributing
+
+1. Fork it (<https://github.com/fnordfish/gdbmish/fork>)
+2. Create your feature branch (`git checkout -b my-new-feature`)
+3. Commit your changes (`git commit -am 'Add some feature'`)
+4. Push to the branch (`git push origin my-new-feature`)
+5. Create a new Pull Request
+
+## Contributors
+
+- [Robert Schulze](https://github.com/fnordfish) - creator and maintainer
diff --git a/shard.yml b/shard.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..525a7da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/shard.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+name: gdbmish
+description: Convert crystal data structures into a `gdpm_dump` ASCII format.
+
+version: 0.1.0
+
+authors:
+  - Robert Schulze <robert@dotless.de>
+
+crystal: "~> 1.0"
+
+license: MIT
diff --git a/spec/fixtures/create_test_db.rb b/spec/fixtures/create_test_db.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e6fccce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/fixtures/create_test_db.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env ruby
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+# Using the Ruby GDBM bindings as a conivinient way of creating
+# some test data
+
+require "bundler"
+require "bundler/inline"
+
+Bundler.settings.temporary(frozen: false, deployment: false) do
+  gemfile do
+    source "https://rubygems.org"
+    platform "ruby" do
+      gem 'gdbm'
+    end
+  end
+end
+
+require 'gdbm'
+
+data = {
+  "föö"  => "bää\n🤦‍♂️",
+  "foo2" => "bar2",
+  "foo"  => ("bar-"*128)
+}
+
+GDBM.open("test.db", 0666, GDBM::NEWDB) do |db|
+  data.each { |k,v| db[k] = v }
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/spec/fixtures/test.db b/spec/fixtures/test.db
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1d9819a
Binary files /dev/null and b/spec/fixtures/test.db differ
diff --git a/spec/fixtures/test.dump b/spec/fixtures/test.dump
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..840cc6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/fixtures/test.dump
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+# GDBM dump file created by GDBM version 1.23. 04/02/2022 (built Feb  5 2022 18:08:24) on Mon Jun 13 16:53:10 2022
+#:version=1.1
+#:file=test.db
+#:uid=501,user=robertschulze,gid=20,group=staff,mode=600
+#:format=standard
+# End of header
+#:len=5
+ZsO2w7Y=
+#:len=19
+YsOkw6QK8J+kpuKAjeKZgu+4jw==
+#:len=4
+Zm9vMg==
+#:len=4
+YmFyMg==
+#:len=3
+Zm9v
+#:len=512
+YmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1i
+YXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJh
+ci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFy
+LWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXIt
+YmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1i
+YXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJh
+ci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFy
+LWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXIt
+YmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci1iYXItYmFyLWJhci0=
+#:count=3
+# End of data
diff --git a/spec/gdbm_dumpish_spec.cr b/spec/gdbm_dumpish_spec.cr
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b8dad25
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/gdbm_dumpish_spec.cr
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+require "./spec_helper"
+
+data = {
+  föö:  "bää\n🤦‍♂️",
+  foo2: "bar2",
+  foo:  ("bar-"*128),
+}
+dumped_without_header = File.read("spec/fixtures/test.dump").split("# End of header\n")[1]
+
+describe Gdbmish do
+  describe Gdbmish::Dump do
+    it "Dumps NamedTuple" do
+      Gdbmish::Dump.ascii(data).should end_with(dumped_without_header)
+    end
+
+    it "Dumps Hash" do
+      Gdbmish::Dump.ascii(data.to_h).should end_with(dumped_without_header)
+    end
+
+    it "Dumps into an IO" do
+      io = IO::Memory.new
+      io << "# my open IO"
+
+      Gdbmish::Dump.ascii(data, io)
+      str = io.to_s
+      str.should start_with("# my open IO")
+      str.should end_with(dumped_without_header)
+    end
+
+    it "Dumps filename and permissions" do
+      str = Gdbmish::Dump.ascii(data, file: "test.db", uid: "501", user: "robertschulze", gid: "20", group: "staff", mode: 0o600)
+      str.should contain("#:file=test.db")
+      str.should contain("#:uid=501,user=robertschulze,gid=20,group=staff,mode=600")
+    end
+
+    it "Dumps filename and partial permissions" do
+      str = Gdbmish::Dump.ascii(data, file: "test.db", uid: "501", gid: "20", mode: 0o600)
+      str.should contain("#:file=test.db")
+      str.should contain("#:uid=501,gid=20,mode=600")
+    end
+
+    it "Dumps skips permissions if filename is missing" do
+      str = Gdbmish::Dump.ascii(data, uid: "501", gid: "20", mode: 0o600)
+      str.should_not contain("#:file=test.db")
+      str.should_not contain("uid=501")
+      str.should_not contain("gid=20")
+      str.should_not contain("mode=600")
+    end
+
+    it "keeps lines at GDBM_MAX_DUMP_LINE_LEN" do
+      data.values.any? { |v| v.size > Gdbmish::Dump::GDBM_MAX_DUMP_LINE_LEN }.should be_true
+      Gdbmish::Dump.ascii(data).split("# End of header\n")[1].each_line do |line|
+        line.size.should be <= Gdbmish::Dump::GDBM_MAX_DUMP_LINE_LEN
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.cr b/spec/spec_helper.cr
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bf7a2bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.cr
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+require "spec"
+require "../src/gdbmish"
diff --git a/src/gdbmish.cr b/src/gdbmish.cr
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5383a16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/gdbmish.cr
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+require "./gdbmish/*"
+
+# See `Gdbmish::Dump` for generating dumps from data
+module Gdbmish
+  VERSION = {{ "#{system("shards version").strip}" }}
+end
diff --git a/src/gdbmish/dump.cr b/src/gdbmish/dump.cr
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aba053c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/gdbmish/dump.cr
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+require "base64"
+
+module Gdbmish
+  module Dump
+    # GDBMs does not split base64 strings at 60 encoded characters (as defined by RFC 2045).
+    # See [gdbmdefs.h](https://git.gnu.org.ua/gdbm.git/tree/src/gdbmdefs.h)
+    GDBM_MAX_DUMP_LINE_LEN = 76
+
+    # Dump the given data in standard ASCII format into a provided `IO`.
+    #
+    # Dumping file information is optional.
+    # * *uid*, *user*, *gid*, *group* and *mode* will only be used when *file* is given
+    # * *user* will only be used when *uid* is given
+    # * *group* will only be used when *gid* is given
+    def self.ascii(
+      data : (Hash | NamedTuple),
+      io : (IO),
+      file : String? = nil,
+      uid : String? = nil,
+      user : String? = nil,
+      gid : String? = nil,
+      group : String? = nil,
+      mode : Int32? = nil
+    )
+      io.printf("# GDBM dump file created by GDBMish version %s on %s\n", Gdbmish::VERSION, Time.local.to_rfc2822)
+      io.puts("#:version=1.1")
+
+      if file
+        io.printf("#:file=%s\n", file)
+        l = [] of String
+
+        if uid
+          l << sprintf("uid=%d", uid)
+          l << sprintf("user=%s", user) if user
+        end
+
+        if gid
+          l << sprintf("gid=%d", gid)
+          l << sprintf("group=%s", group) if group
+        end
+
+        l << sprintf("mode=%03o", mode & 0o777) if mode
+
+        unless l.empty?
+          io << "#:"
+          io.puts(l.join(","))
+        end
+      end
+
+      io.puts("#:format=standard")
+      io.puts("# End of header")
+
+      data.each do |k, v|
+        io << ascii_dump_datum(k.to_s)
+        io << ascii_dump_datum(v.to_s)
+      end
+
+      io.printf("#:count=%d\n", data.size)
+      io.puts("# End of data")
+    end
+
+    # Like `ascii` but builds a new `String`
+    def self.ascii(data : (Hash | NamedTuple), **options) : String
+      String.build do |str|
+        self.ascii(
+          data,
+          str,
+          **options
+        )
+      end
+    end
+
+    private def self.ascii_dump_datum(datum : String) : String
+      String.build do |str|
+        str.printf("#:len=%d\n", datum.bytesize)
+        str.puts(Base64.strict_encode(datum).try do |enc|
+          if enc.size > GDBM_MAX_DUMP_LINE_LEN
+            slices = enc.each_char.each_slice(GDBM_MAX_DUMP_LINE_LEN)
+            slices.map(&.join).join("\n")
+          else
+            enc
+          end
+        end)
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end