diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 4a2efbe..5122f34 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,10 +1,15 @@
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.24)
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.20)
 project(lander C CXX)
 
 set(CMAKE_C_STANDARD 17)
 
 add_subdirectory(crow)
-include_directories(crow/include)
+add_subdirectory(tries)
+include_directories(crow/include tries/include)
+
+if(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL Release)
+    add_compile_options(-O3 -flto)
+endif()
 
 add_executable(lander src/main.cpp)
-target_link_libraries(lander PUBLIC Crow)
+target_link_libraries(lander PUBLIC Crow ternarytrie)
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 10a9384..3db982f 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -20,6 +20,15 @@ $(BUILD_DIR)/Debug/Makefile: CMakeLists.txt
 build: cmake
 	@ make -C '$(BUILD_DIR)/Debug'
 
+.PHONY: cmake-release
+cmake-release: $(BUILD_DIR)/Release/Makefile
+$(BUILD_DIR)/Release/Makefile: CMakeLists.txt
+	@ cmake -B'$(BUILD_DIR)/Release' -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release .
+
+.PHONY: prod
+prod: cmake-release
+	@ make -C '$(BUILD_DIR)/Release'
+
 .PHONY: run
 run: build
 	@ ./build/Debug/lander
diff --git a/tries/CMakeLists.txt b/tries/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..08f1a94
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tries/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.20)
+project(AD3-project-2022-2023 C)
+
+set(CMAKE_C_STANDARD 17)
+
+include_directories(include)
+
+add_library(ternarytrie STATIC include/ternarytrie.h src/ternarytrie.c)
diff --git a/tries/include/ternarytrie.h b/tries/include/ternarytrie.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f33dc23
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tries/include/ternarytrie.h
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+#ifndef AD3_TERNARYTRIE
+#define AD3_TERNARYTRIE
+
+/**
+ * The implementation of a Ternary Trie.
+ *
+ * Each node should be represented by a binary tree in order to reduce the memory usage.
+ */
+
+#include <stdbool.h>
+#include <stddef.h>
+
+/**
+ * Type definition for the struct representing the current Trie.
+ *
+ * You can (and should) redefine this in your c-file with the concrete fields.
+ */
+typedef struct ttrie TernaryTrie;
+
+/**
+ * Allocate and initialize an empty Trie.
+ *
+ * @return a pointer to an empty Trie struct
+ */
+TernaryTrie* ternarytrie_init();
+
+/**
+ * De-allocate a trie by freeing the memory occupied by this trie.
+ *
+ * @param trie which should be freed
+ */
+void ternarytrie_free(TernaryTrie* trie);
+
+/**
+ * Search whether a string is contained in this trie.
+ *
+ * @param trie
+ * @param string
+ * @return true if the string is contained within this trie, false otherwise
+ */
+bool ternarytrie_search(TernaryTrie* trie, const char* string);
+
+/**
+ * Add a string to this trie.
+ *
+ * @param trie
+ * @param string
+ * @return true if the trie was changed by this operation, false if it was already present
+ */
+bool ternarytrie_add(TernaryTrie* trie, const char* string);
+
+/**
+ * Remove a string from this trie.
+ *
+ * Note: strings added to this trie are considered to be "owned" by the caller.
+ * Removing the string from the trie should not free the string's memory.
+ *
+ * @param trie
+ * @param string
+ * @return true if the string was present and has been removed, false if it was not present
+ */
+bool ternarytrie_remove(TernaryTrie* trie, const char* string);
+
+/**
+ * Returns the number of strings in this trie.
+ *
+ * @param trie
+ * @return the number of strings in this trie
+ */
+size_t ternarytrie_size(TernaryTrie* trie);
+
+#endif //AD3_TERNARYTRIE
diff --git a/tries/src/common.c b/tries/src/common.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2b3a9fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tries/src/common.c
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+#define ALPHABET_SIZE 256
+#define DELIMITER '\0'
+#define MAX(x, y) (((x) > (y)) ? (x) : (y))
+
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+
+/**
+ * Own implementation of strdup, heavily inspired by the glibc source code.
+ *
+ * This is neccessary because subGIT does not seem to have a strdup
+ * implementation available for use.
+ *
+ * @param s string to duplicate
+ * @return pointer to the newly allocated string
+ */
+char *my_strdup(const char *s) {
+  size_t len = strlen(s);
+  char *new = malloc(len + 1);
+  new[len] = DELIMITER;
+
+  return (char *)memcpy(new, s, len);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Own implementation of strndup, heavily inspired by the glibc source code.
+ *
+ * This is neccessary because subGIT does not seem to have a strndup
+ * implementation available for use.
+ *
+ * @param s string to duplicate
+ * @return pointer to the newly allocated string
+ */
+char *my_strndup(const char *s, size_t n) {
+  size_t string_len = strlen(s);
+  size_t len = MAX(string_len, n);
+  char *new = (char *)malloc(len + 1);
+
+  new[len] = DELIMITER;
+
+  return (char *)memcpy(new, s, len);
+}
diff --git a/tries/src/ternarytrie.c b/tries/src/ternarytrie.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6578527
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tries/src/ternarytrie.c
@@ -0,0 +1,247 @@
+#include "ternarytrie.h"
+#include "ternarytrie_node.c"
+#include <stdint.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+
+typedef struct ttrie {
+  TernaryTrieNode *root;
+  size_t size;
+} TernaryTrie;
+
+/**
+ * Allocate and initialize an empty TernaryTrie
+ *
+ * @return pointer to the empty TernaryTrie
+ */
+inline TernaryTrie *ternarytrie_init() {
+  TernaryTrie *node = calloc(1, sizeof(TernaryTrie));
+  node->root = ttnode_init();
+
+  return node;
+}
+
+/**
+ * De-allocate a TernaryTree by freeing its entire underlying structure.
+ *
+ * @param trie trie to free
+ */
+inline void ternarytrie_free(TernaryTrie *trie) {
+  ttnode_free(trie->root);
+  free(trie);
+}
+
+typedef struct searchresult {
+  TernaryTrieNode *parent;
+  TernaryTrieNode *child;
+} SearchResult;
+
+SearchResult ternarytrie_search_node(TernaryTrie *trie, const char *string) {
+  SearchResult out = {NULL, NULL};
+
+  // Edge case for empty string
+  if (string[0] == DELIMITER) {
+    if (trie->root->type == 1) {
+      out.child = trie->root;
+    }
+
+    return out;
+  }
+
+  size_t i = 0;
+  TernaryTrieNode **node_ptr = &(trie->root);
+  TernaryTrieNode **child_ptr;
+
+  do {
+    child_ptr = ttnode_search(*node_ptr, string[i], false);
+
+    // We don't have to check whether *node_ptr is NULL, because if it was
+    // NULL, it wouldn't be in the binary tree.
+    if (child_ptr == NULL || *child_ptr == NULL) {
+      return out;
+    }
+
+    i++;
+
+    if (string[i] == DELIMITER || (*child_ptr)->type == 2) {
+      break;
+    }
+
+    node_ptr = child_ptr;
+  } while (1);
+
+  if ((*child_ptr)->type == 2) {
+    if (string[i] != DELIMITER &&
+        strcmp(string + i, (*child_ptr)->ptr.string) == 0) {
+      out.child = *child_ptr;
+      out.parent = *node_ptr;
+    }
+  }
+  // Here we know we've traversed through the entire string and have arrived at
+  // a node that isn't a full leaf
+  else if ((*child_ptr)->type == 1) {
+    out.child = *child_ptr;
+    out.parent = *node_ptr;
+  }
+
+  return out;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Returns whether the given string is present in the trie.
+ *
+ * @param trie trie to look in
+ * @param string string to look up
+ * @return true if the string is present in the trie, false otherwise
+ */
+inline bool ternarytrie_search(TernaryTrie *trie, const char *string) {
+  SearchResult res = ternarytrie_search_node(trie, string);
+
+  return res.child != NULL;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Add the given string to the TernaryTrie.
+ *
+ * @param trie trie to add string to
+ * @param string string to add
+ * @return true if the string wasn't present in the trie and thus added, false
+ * otherwise
+ */
+bool ternarytrie_add(TernaryTrie *trie, const char *string) {
+  // Edge case for empty string
+  if (string[0] == DELIMITER) {
+    if (trie->root->type == 0) {
+      trie->root->type = 1;
+      trie->size++;
+
+      return true;
+    }
+
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  size_t i = 0;
+  TernaryTrieNode **node_ptr = &(trie->root);
+  TernaryTrieNode **new_node_ptr;
+
+  do {
+    new_node_ptr = ttnode_search(*node_ptr, string[i], true);
+
+    // ttnode_search will only return NULL with create true if the node to look
+    // in represents a full leaf. Therefore, we split the node and restart the
+    // iteration.
+    if (new_node_ptr == NULL) {
+      // It's possible we've ended up in the full leaf node that represents this
+      // string
+      if (strcmp(string + i, (*node_ptr)->ptr.string) == 0) {
+        return false;
+      }
+
+      ttnode_split(*node_ptr);
+      continue;
+    }
+
+    node_ptr = new_node_ptr;
+
+    // The search function has added the character to the node
+    i++;
+
+    // The next node in the string's path doesn't exist yet, so we add it to the
+    // trie
+    if (*node_ptr == NULL) {
+      TernaryTrieNode *new_node = ttnode_init();
+
+      // If there's a remaining part of the string, we add it to the leaf
+      if (string[i] != DELIMITER) {
+        ttnode_set_string(new_node, string + i);
+      } else {
+        new_node->type = 1;
+      }
+
+      *node_ptr = new_node;
+
+      trie->size++;
+
+      return true;
+    }
+  } while (string[i] != DELIMITER);
+
+  // If we've arrived here, we've traversed through the entire string and have
+  // arrived at a node that already exists.
+
+  // The existing node is a full leaf, so we split it and make it
+  // represent our new string.
+  if ((*node_ptr)->type == 2) {
+    ttnode_split(*node_ptr);
+  }
+  // The string is already in the trie
+  else if ((*node_ptr)->type == 1) {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  (*node_ptr)->type = 1;
+
+  trie->size++;
+
+  return true;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Remove the given string from a TernaryTrie.
+ *
+ * @param trie trie to remove string from
+ * @param string string to remove
+ * @return true if the string was in the trie and thus removed, false otherwise
+ */
+bool ternarytrie_remove(TernaryTrie *trie, const char *string) {
+  SearchResult res = ternarytrie_search_node(trie, string);
+
+  if (res.child == NULL) {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  trie->size--;
+
+  if (res.parent != NULL) {
+    // We're removing a full leaf, so we calculate the offset of the character
+    // to remove from the parent
+    if (res.child->type == 2) {
+      size_t str_len = strlen(string);
+      size_t suffix_len = strlen(res.child->ptr.string);
+
+      ttnode_remove(res.parent, string[str_len - suffix_len - 1]);
+    }
+    // In the other case, the character to remove from the parent is the last
+    // character of the string
+    else if (res.child->size == 0) {
+      size_t i = 0;
+
+      while (string[i + 1] != DELIMITER) {
+        i++;
+      }
+
+      ttnode_remove(res.parent, string[i]);
+    } else {
+      res.child->type = 0;
+
+      return true;
+    }
+
+    ttnode_free(res.child);
+  }
+  // We're in the root here
+  else {
+    res.child->type = 0;
+  }
+
+  return true;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Return the current size of the given trie.
+ *
+ * @param trie trie to return size for
+ * @return size of the trie
+ */
+inline size_t ternarytrie_size(TernaryTrie *trie) { return trie->size; }
diff --git a/tries/src/ternarytrie_node.c b/tries/src/ternarytrie_node.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f101a3a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tries/src/ternarytrie_node.c
@@ -0,0 +1,312 @@
+#include "common.c"
+#include <stdbool.h>
+#include <stdint.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+
+/**
+ * Represents a node of the binary tree contained within each non-leaf
+ * TernaryTrieNode.
+ */
+typedef struct ttinode {
+  struct ttinode *left;
+  struct ttinode *right;
+  struct ttnode *next;
+  char key;
+} TernaryTrieInnerNode;
+
+/**
+ * Represents a node inside a TernaryTrie. A node can be in one of three states:
+ * - Internal node: a node that's part of a path to a leaf node. This node will
+ *   always have a size greater than one, and an initialized root.
+ * - Leaf: a node solely used to represent a string ending there. Its size is 0,
+ *   its ptr is unitialized and represents is true.
+ * - Full leaf: a leaf node that contains a string. This occurs when a string is
+ *   added whose path is not fully in the tree yet, causing its remaining suffix
+ *   to be stored as a single node. Its size will be zero, represents its true,
+ *   and its string pointer is initialized.
+ */
+typedef struct ttnode {
+  union {
+    TernaryTrieInnerNode *root;
+    char *string;
+  } ptr;
+  // What type of node this is
+  // 0: regular non-representing node
+  // 1: regular representing node
+  // 2: full leaf
+  uint8_t type;
+  // Dependent on type
+  // 0, 1: size of underlying binary tree
+  // 2: length of string
+  uint8_t size;
+} TernaryTrieNode;
+
+// Required for recursively freeing tree structure
+void ttnode_free(TernaryTrieNode *node);
+
+/**
+ * Allocate and initialize a new TernaryTrieInnerNode representing a given
+ * character.
+ *
+ * @param c character to represent
+ * @return pointer to newly allocated struct
+ */
+inline TernaryTrieInnerNode *ttinode_init(char c) {
+  TernaryTrieInnerNode *node = calloc(1, sizeof(TernaryTrieInnerNode));
+  node->key = c;
+
+  return node;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Allocate and initialize a new TernaryTrieNode.
+ *
+ * @return pointer to newly allocated struct
+ */
+inline TernaryTrieNode *ttnode_init() { return calloc(1, sizeof(TernaryTrieNode)); }
+
+/**
+ * Free a TernaryTrieInnerNode and its underlying tree structure. This should
+ * usually only be called on the root of a binary tree to free the entire
+ * structure.
+ *
+ * @param node node whose tree to free
+ */
+void ttinode_free_cascade(TernaryTrieInnerNode *node) {
+  if (node->left != NULL) {
+    ttinode_free_cascade(node->left);
+  }
+
+  if (node->right != NULL) {
+    ttinode_free_cascade(node->right);
+  }
+
+  if (node->next != NULL) {
+    ttnode_free(node->next);
+  }
+
+  free(node);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Free a TernaryTrieNode and its underlying tree structure.
+ *
+ * @param node node to free
+ */
+void ttnode_free(TernaryTrieNode *node) {
+  if (node->type == 2) {
+    free(node->ptr.string);
+  } else if (node->size != 0) {
+    ttinode_free_cascade(node->ptr.root);
+  }
+
+  free(node);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Add the string to the given node & set its type accordingely.
+ *
+ * @param node node to add string to
+ * @param string string to add
+ */
+inline void ttnode_set_string(TernaryTrieNode *node, const char *string) {
+  node->type = 2;
+  node->size = strlen(string);
+  node->ptr.string = my_strdup(string);
+}
+
+/**
+ * This function performs a lookup in the underlying binary tree of the given
+ * TernaryTrieNode. If found, the return value is a pointer to the memory
+ * location where the TernaryTrieInnerNode representing the given character
+ * stores its `next` field. If not found, the return value is NULL, unless
+ * `create` is true.
+ *
+ * NOTE: a non-NULL return value does not mean that the dereferenced value is
+ * also not NULL. In particular, if `create` is set to true and the function had
+ * to create the new node, the dereferenced value will always be NULL.
+ *
+ * @param node node to perform lookup in. If node is a full leaf, the return
+ * value will always be NULL, regardless of the value of create.
+ * @param create whether to create the TernaryTrieInnerNode if it isn't present
+ * yet. If this is set to true, the function will never return NULL unless the
+ * node represents a leaf with a string, because the struct and therefore the
+ * address is created if it doesn't exist yet.
+ */
+TernaryTrieNode **ttnode_search(TernaryTrieNode *node, const char c,
+                                bool create) {
+  // Full leafs will always return NULL
+  if (node->type == 2) {
+    return NULL;
+  }
+
+  // It can happen that the node has no initialized root yet
+  if (node->size == 0) {
+    if (create) {
+      node->size++;
+      node->ptr.root = ttinode_init(c);
+
+      return &node->ptr.root->next;
+    }
+
+    return NULL;
+  }
+
+  TernaryTrieInnerNode *parent = node->ptr.root;
+  TernaryTrieInnerNode *child;
+
+  // Iterate through the tree until we either find the character or realize it's
+  // not present in the tree
+  // FIXME don't use while (1)
+  while (1) {
+    if (parent->key == c) {
+      return &parent->next;
+    } else if (c < parent->key) {
+      child = parent->left;
+    } else {
+      child = parent->right;
+    }
+
+    if (child == NULL) {
+      break;
+    }
+
+    parent = child;
+  };
+
+  // child is NULL, meaning the character isn't in the binary tree yet.
+
+  // If create is true, we create the new node so that we can still return a
+  // non-NULL pointer.
+  if (create) {
+    TernaryTrieInnerNode *new_node = ttinode_init(c);
+
+    if (c < parent->key) {
+      parent->left = new_node;
+    } else {
+      parent->right = new_node;
+    }
+
+    node->size++;
+
+    return &new_node->next;
+  }
+
+  return NULL;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Split a remaining string leaf node in two. This function assumes it receives
+ * a full leaf as its input.
+ *
+ * @param node node to split
+ */
+void ttnode_split(TernaryTrieNode *node) {
+  TernaryTrieNode *new_node = ttnode_init();
+  char key = node->ptr.string[0];
+
+  // There's a chance the remaining string was only 1 character, meaning the new
+  // node doesn't have to store a string
+  if (node->ptr.string[1] != DELIMITER) {
+    ttnode_set_string(new_node, node->ptr.string + 1);
+  } else {
+    new_node->type = 1;
+  }
+
+  node->type = 0;
+  node->size = 0;
+
+  free(node->ptr.string);
+  node->ptr.string = NULL;
+
+  // Initialize node's binary tree with the correct character
+  TernaryTrieNode **node_ptr = ttnode_search(node, key, true);
+  *node_ptr = new_node;
+}
+
+/*
+ * Remove the given character from a TernaryTrieInnerNode's subtree. The
+ * function assumes the character is indeed in the subtree.
+ */
+void ttinode_remove(TernaryTrieInnerNode *node, const char c) {
+  TernaryTrieInnerNode **to_remove_ptr = &node;
+
+  // We use pointers to pointers here so we can later free the removed node
+  // without having to know what its parent is
+  while ((*to_remove_ptr)->key != c) {
+    to_remove_ptr = (c < (*to_remove_ptr)->key) ? &(*to_remove_ptr)->left
+                                                : &(*to_remove_ptr)->right;
+  };
+
+  // If the node isn't a leaf, we have to replace it with another
+  if ((*to_remove_ptr)->left != NULL || (*to_remove_ptr)->right != NULL) {
+    TernaryTrieInnerNode *to_replace = *to_remove_ptr;
+
+    // Replace with its only right child
+    if (to_replace->left == NULL) {
+      TernaryTrieInnerNode *to_remove = to_replace->right;
+
+      to_replace->key = to_remove->key;
+      to_replace->next = to_remove->next;
+      to_replace->left = to_remove->left;
+      to_replace->right = to_remove->right;
+
+      free(to_remove);
+    }
+    // Replace with its only left child
+    else if (to_replace->right == NULL) {
+      TernaryTrieInnerNode *to_remove = to_replace->left;
+
+      to_replace->key = to_remove->key;
+      to_replace->next = to_remove->next;
+      to_replace->left = to_remove->left;
+      to_replace->right = to_remove->right;
+
+      free(to_remove);
+    }
+    // Node has two children, so replace with successor
+    else {
+      TernaryTrieInnerNode *to_remove_parent = to_replace;
+      TernaryTrieInnerNode *to_remove = to_replace->right;
+
+      while (to_remove->left != NULL) {
+        to_remove_parent = to_remove;
+        to_remove = to_remove->left;
+      }
+
+      to_replace->key = to_remove->key;
+      to_replace->next = to_remove->next;
+
+      if (to_remove_parent != to_replace) {
+        to_remove_parent->left = to_remove->right;
+      } else {
+        to_remove_parent->right = to_remove->right;
+      }
+
+      free(to_remove);
+    }
+  }
+  // We're the leaf, so we free ourselves
+  else {
+    free(*to_remove_ptr);
+    *to_remove_ptr = NULL;
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Remove the given character from a TernaryTrieNode, respecting the rules
+ * of a binary search tree. This function assumes the character is in the search
+ * tree.
+ *
+ * @param node node to remove character from
+ * @param c character to remove
+ */
+inline void ttnode_remove(TernaryTrieNode *node, const char c) {
+  ttinode_remove(node->ptr.root, c);
+
+  node->size--;
+
+  if (node->size == 0) {
+    node->ptr.root = NULL;
+  }
+}