diff --git a/src/client/mod.rs b/src/client/mod.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/src/common/mod.rs b/src/common/mod.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..00da770
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/common/mod.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+use std::fmt::Display;
+
+use clap::ValueEnum;
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy)]
+pub(crate) enum Mode {
+    Tcp,
+}
+
+impl ValueEnum for Mode {
+    fn to_possible_value(&self) -> Option<clap::builder::PossibleValue> {
+        Some(match self {
+            Self::Tcp => clap::builder::PossibleValue::new("tcp"),
+        })
+    }
+    fn value_variants<'a>() -> &'a [Self] {
+        &[Self::Tcp]
+    }
+    fn from_str(input: &str, ignore_case: bool) -> Result<Self, String> {
+        let comp: String = if ignore_case {
+            input.to_lowercase()
+        } else {
+            input.to_string()
+        };
+        match comp.as_str() {
+            "tcp" => return Ok(Self::Tcp),
+            _ => return Err(format!("\"{input}\" is not a valid mode")),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl Display for Mode {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut std::fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> std::fmt::Result {
+        let repr: String = match self{
+            Self::Tcp => format!("tcp")
+        };
+        write!(f, "{}", repr)
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 3de5b45..cd27c7b 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -8,13 +8,11 @@ use libpt::log::*;
 use clap::Parser;
 use clap_verbosity_flag::{InfoLevel, Verbosity};
 
-/// Chose a mode for the application to run in, server needs more than client.
-enum Mode {
-    #[cfg(feature = "server")]
-    Server,
-    #[cfg(feature = "client")]
-    Client,
-}
+mod client;
+mod common;
+mod server;
+
+use common::Mode;
 
 /// short about section displayed in help
 const ABOUT_ROOT: &'static str = r##"
@@ -42,18 +40,25 @@ libpt: {version}
 Author: {author-with-newline}
 "#
     )]
-pub struct Cli {
+pub(crate) struct Cli {
     // clap_verbosity_flag seems to make this a global option implicitly
     /// set a verbosity, multiple allowed (f.e. -vvv)
     #[command(flatten)]
-    pub verbose: Verbosity<InfoLevel>,
+    pub(crate) verbose: Verbosity<InfoLevel>,
 
     /// show additional logging meta data
     #[arg(long)]
-    pub meta: bool,
+    pub(crate) meta: bool,
+
+    #[cfg(feature = "server")]
+    #[arg(short, long, default_value_t = false)]
+    pub(crate) server: bool,
+
+    #[arg(short, long, default_value_t = Mode::Tcp, ignore_case = true)]
+    pub(crate) mode: Mode,
 
     /// Address of the server
-    pub addr: std::net::SocketAddr,
+    pub(crate) addr: std::net::SocketAddr,
 }
 
 fn cli_parse() -> Cli {
@@ -80,5 +85,12 @@ fn cli_parse() -> Cli {
 fn main() {
     let mut cli = cli_parse();
     debug!("dumping cli args:\n{:#?}", cli);
-    println!("Hello, world!");
+    #[cfg(feature = "server")]
+    if cli.server {
+        info!("starting server");
+
+        return;
+    }
+    // implicit else, so we can work without the server feature
+    info!("starting client");
 }
diff --git a/src/server/mod.rs b/src/server/mod.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29