diff --git a/src/common.zig b/src/common.zig
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..8cc51ccf94a963b77e1cdb58f75cd3fd01023155
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/common.zig
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+const std = @import("std");
+const gpa = std.heap.c_allocator;
+
+const u = @import("./util/index.zig");
+
+//
+//
+
+pub fn collect_deps(dir: []const u8, mpath: []const u8) anyerror!u.Module {
+    const m = try u.ModFile.init(gpa, mpath);
+    const moduledeps = &std.ArrayList(u.Module).init(gpa);
+    var moddir: []const u8 = undefined;
+    for (m.deps) |d| {
+        const p = try u.concat(&[_][]const u8{dir, "/deps/", try d.clean_path()});
+        const pv = try u.concat(&[_][]const u8{dir, "/v/", try d.clean_path(), "/", d.version});
+        if (try u.does_file_exist(pv)) {
+            moddir = pv;
+        } else {
+            u.assert(try u.does_file_exist(p), "unable to find dep: {} {}, please run zigmod fetch", .{d.path, d.version});
+            moddir = p;
+        }
+        switch (d.type) {
+            else => blk: {
+                var dd = try collect_deps(dir, try u.concat(&[_][]const u8{moddir, "/zig.mod"})) catch |e| switch (e) {
+                    error.FileNotFound => {
+                        if (d.c_include_dirs.len > 0 or d.c_source_files.len > 0) {
+                            var mod_from = try u.Module.from(d);
+                            mod_from.clean_path = u.trim_prefix(moddir, dir)[1..];
+                            try moduledeps.append(mod_from);
+                        }
+                        break :blk;
+                    },
+                    else => e,
+                };
+                dd.clean_path = u.trim_prefix(moddir, dir)[1..];
+
+                if (d.name.len > 0) dd.name = d.name;
+                if (d.main.len > 0) dd.main = d.main;
+                if (d.c_include_dirs.len > 0) dd.c_include_dirs = d.c_include_dirs;
+                if (d.c_source_flags.len > 0) dd.c_source_flags = d.c_source_flags;
+                if (d.c_source_files.len > 0) dd.c_source_files = d.c_source_files;
+
+                try moduledeps.append(dd);
+            },
+        }
+    }
+    return u.Module{
+        .name = m.name,
+        .main = m.main,
+        .c_include_dirs = m.c_include_dirs,
+        .c_source_flags = m.c_source_flags,
+        .c_source_files = m.c_source_files,
+        .deps = moduledeps.items,
+        .clean_path = "",
+    };
+}