diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 1537245..240d06c 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,3 +4,4 @@ compile_commands.json
 # Data files
 lander.data
 pastes/
+.cache/
diff --git a/include/http.h b/include/http.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e1bb2fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/http.h
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+#ifndef HTTP
+#define HTTP
+
+#include <stdlib.h>
+
+extern const char http_404[];
+extern const size_t http_404_len;
+extern const char http_500[];
+extern const size_t http_500_len;
+
+typedef enum http_request_entity {
+  event_loop_request_type_unknown = 0
+} http_request_entity;
+
+typedef enum http_request_method {
+  http_request_method_get = 0,
+  http_request_method_post = 1,
+  http_request_method_put = 2,
+  http_request_method_patch = 3,
+  http_request_method_delete = 4
+} http_request_method;
+
+/*
+ * Struct representing the specific type of request
+ */
+typedef struct http_request {
+  http_request_method type;
+  http_request_entity entity;
+} http_request;
+
+typedef enum http_parse_error {
+  http_parse_error_ok = 0,
+  http_parse_error_incomplete = 1,
+  http_parse_error_invalid = 2,
+} http_parse_error;
+
+http_parse_error http_parse_request(http_request *req, const char *path, size_t path_len);
+
+#endif
diff --git a/src/event_loop/event_loop_conn.c b/src/event_loop/event_loop_conn.c
index 0cca6aa..bcf2dc9 100644
--- a/src/event_loop/event_loop_conn.c
+++ b/src/event_loop/event_loop_conn.c
@@ -74,34 +74,31 @@ bool event_loop_handle_request(event_loop_conn *conn) {
                               &minor_version, headers, &num_headers, 0);
 
   if (res > 0) {
-    /* conn->close_after_write = true; */
-    // TODO allow HTTP pipelining
-    /* conn->close_after_write = true; */
-    for (int i = 0; i < num_headers; i++) {
-      /* printf("%.*s: ", headers[i].name_len, headers[i].name); */
-      /* printf("%.*s\n", headers[i].value_len, headers[i].value); */
-      if (strncmp("Connection", headers[i].name, headers[i].name_len) == 0) {
-        if (strncmp("close", headers[i].value, headers[i].value_len) == 0) {
-          conn->close_after_write = true;
-          break;
-        }
-      }
-    }
+    /* for (size_t i = 0; i < num_headers; i++) { */
+    /*   /1* printf("%.*s: ", headers[i].name_len, headers[i].name); *1/ */
+    /*   /1* printf("%.*s\n", headers[i].value_len, headers[i].value); *1/ */
+    /*   if (strncmp("Connection", headers[i].name, headers[i].name_len) == 0) { */
+    /*     if (strncmp("close", headers[i].value, headers[i].value_len) == 0) { */
+    /*       conn->close_after_write = true; */
+    /*       break; */
+    /*     } */
+    /*   } */
+    /* } */
 
-    memcpy(conn->wbuf, http_200_ok, sizeof(http_200_ok) - 1);
+    /* memcpy(conn->wbuf, http_500, http_500_len); */
 
-    // Move the new request up to the front of the read buffer
-    memmove(conn->rbuf, &conn->rbuf[res], conn->rbuf_size - res);
-    conn->rbuf_size -= res;
+    /* // Move the new request up to the front of the read buffer */
+    /* memmove(conn->rbuf, &conn->rbuf[res], conn->rbuf_size - res); */
+    /* conn->rbuf_size -= res; */
 
-    conn->state = event_loop_conn_state_res;
-    conn->wbuf_size = sizeof(http_200_ok) - 1;
-    conn->wbuf_sent = 0;
+    /* conn->state = event_loop_conn_state_res; */
+    /* conn->wbuf_size = http_500_len; */
+    /* conn->wbuf_sent = 0; */
 
-    event_loop_conn_io_res(conn);
+    /* /1* event_loop_conn_io_res(conn); *1/ */
 
-    // End the connection if the http request is invalid, or when the response
-    // is too large to fit into a single read buffer
+    /* // End the connection if the http request is invalid, or when the response */
+    /* // is too large to fit into a single read buffer */
   } else if (res == -1 ||
              (res == -2 && conn->rbuf_size == EVENT_LOOP_BUFFER_SIZE)) {
     conn->state = event_loop_conn_state_end;
diff --git a/src/event_loop/event_loop_http.c b/src/event_loop/event_loop_http.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/src/event_loop/event_loop_internal.h b/src/event_loop/event_loop_internal.h
index 34c22b3..ef10191 100644
--- a/src/event_loop/event_loop_internal.h
+++ b/src/event_loop/event_loop_internal.h
@@ -53,9 +53,4 @@ int event_loop_accept(event_loop *loop, int fd);
 
 void event_loop_conn_io(event_loop_conn *conn);
 
-extern const char http_404[];
-extern const size_t http_404_len;
-extern const char http_500[];
-extern const size_t http_500_len;
-
 #endif
diff --git a/src/event_loop/event_loop_consts.c b/src/http/http_consts.c
similarity index 95%
rename from src/event_loop/event_loop_consts.c
rename to src/http/http_consts.c
index 87419e7..b84fba5 100644
--- a/src/event_loop/event_loop_consts.c
+++ b/src/http/http_consts.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#include <stdlib.h>
+#include "http.h"
 
 const char http_404[] = "HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found\n"
                         "Connection: close\n"
diff --git a/src/http/http_parse.c b/src/http/http_parse.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1d3c4e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/http/http_parse.c
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+#include "http.h"
+#include "picohttpparser.h"
+
+/*
+ * given the HTTP path, parse the request
+ */
+http_parse_error http_parse_request(http_request *req, const char *buf, size_t buf_size) {
+  // First we try to parse the incoming HTTP request
+  const char *method, *path;
+  struct phr_header headers[16];
+  size_t method_len, path_len, num_headers;
+  int minor_version;
+
+  int res = phr_parse_request(buf, buf_size,
+                              &method, &method_len, &path, &path_len,
+                              &minor_version, headers, &num_headers, 0);
+
+  if (res == -2) {
+    return http_parse_error_incomplete;
+  } else if (res < 0) {
+    return http_parse_error_invalid;
+  }
+
+  // Next, we parse the HTTP request as a lander-specific request
+  if (path_len == 0 || path[0] != '/') {
+    return http_parse_error_invalid;
+  }
+
+  return http_parse_error_ok;
+}