diff --git a/git.zig b/git.zig
index c80c13752b24813bdba2ba8e4d7e5dff71fdf8bd..3af34f7224719f60ce1d569bfc8e945e9a37987f 100644
--- a/git.zig
+++ b/git.zig
@@ -2,10 +2,57 @@ const std = @import("std");
 const string = []const u8;
 
 /// Returns the result of running `git rev-parse HEAD`
+/// dir must already be pointing at the .git folder
 pub fn getHEAD(alloc: std.mem.Allocator, dir: std.fs.Dir) !string {
-    var dirg = try dir.openDir(".git", .{});
-    defer dirg.close();
-    const h = std.mem.trimRight(u8, try dirg.readFileAlloc(alloc, "HEAD", 1024), "\n");
-    const r = std.mem.trimRight(u8, try dirg.readFileAlloc(alloc, h[5..], 1024), "\n");
-    return r;
+    const h = std.mem.trimRight(u8, try dir.readFileAlloc(alloc, "HEAD", 1024), "\n");
+
+    if (std.mem.startsWith(u8, h, "ref:")) {
+        return std.mem.trimRight(u8, try dir.readFileAlloc(alloc, h[5..], 1024), "\n");
+    }
+
+    // content should be 40-char sha1 hash
+    std.debug.assert(h.len == 40);
+    return h;
 }
+
+// TODO make this inspect .git/objects
+// https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Internals-Git-Objects
+// https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Internals-Packfiles
+pub fn getObject(alloc: std.mem.Allocator, dir: std.fs.Dir, obj: string) !string {
+    const result = try std.ChildProcess.exec(.{
+        .allocator = alloc,
+        .cwd_dir = dir,
+        .argv = &.{ "git", "cat-file", "-p", obj },
+    });
+    return result.stdout;
+}
+
+pub fn parseCommit(alloc: std.mem.Allocator, commitfile: string) !Commit {
+    var iter = std.mem.split(u8, commitfile, "\n");
+    var result: Commit = undefined;
+    var parents = std.ArrayList(string).init(alloc);
+    errdefer parents.deinit();
+    while (true) {
+        const line = iter.next().?;
+        if (line.len == 0) break;
+        const space = std.mem.indexOfScalar(u8, line, ' ').?;
+        const k = line[0..space];
+
+        if (std.mem.eql(u8, k, "tree")) result.tree = line[space + 1 ..];
+        if (std.mem.eql(u8, k, "author")) result.author = line[space + 1 ..];
+        if (std.mem.eql(u8, k, "committer")) result.committer = line[space + 1 ..];
+        if (std.mem.eql(u8, k, "parent")) try parents.append(line[space + 1 ..]);
+    }
+    result.parents = try parents.toOwnedSlice();
+    result.message = iter.rest();
+    return result;
+}
+
+pub const Commit = struct {
+    tree: string,
+    parents: []const string,
+    author: string,
+    committer: string,
+    gpgsig: string,
+    message: string,
+};