--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/lemuriformes/cli.py	Sun Dec 10 11:56:51 2017 -0800
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+"""
+methods and properties supporting
+command line interface
+"""
+
+
+import argparse
+import sys
+from .cast import keyvalue
+
+
+class ConfigurationParser(argparse.ArgumentParser):
+    """parse arguments with validation"""
+
+    def __init__(self, **kwargs):
+        kwargs.setdefault('formatter_class', argparse.RawTextHelpFormatter)
+        argparse.ArgumentParser.__init__(self, **kwargs)
+        self.add_arguments()
+        self.options = None
+
+    def add_arguments(self):
+        """add arguments"""
+        # Abstract Base Class
+
+    def parse_args(self, args=sys.argv[1:]):
+        options = argparse.ArgumentParser.parse_args(self, args)
+        self.options = self.validate(options)
+        return self.options
+
+    def validate(self, options):
+        """validate options"""
+        return options
+
+    def keyvalue(self, arg):
+
+        try:
+            return keyvalue(arg)
+        except AssertionError as e:
+            self.error(str(e))