diff --git a/src/discord-rpc.cpp b/src/discord-rpc.cpp
index 5cfe78a..e5f09ab 100644
--- a/src/discord-rpc.cpp
+++ b/src/discord-rpc.cpp
@@ -1,23 +1,288 @@
 #include "discord-rpc.h"
 
-static DiscordEventHandlers Handlers;
+#include <stdint.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <string.h>
+
+// todo: think about making per-platform versions of this whole file, or wrapping the platform specific parts -- win32 for first version
+#include <windows.h>
+
+static const wchar_t* PipeName = L"\\\\.\\pipe\\DiscordRpcServer";
+static HANDLE PipeHandle{INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE};
+
+static char ApplicationId[64]{};
+static DiscordEventHandlers Handlers{};
+static char MessageBuffer[64 * 1024];
+
+// if only there was a standard library function for this
+size_t StringCopy(char* dest, const char* src, size_t maxBytes) {
+    if (!dest || !src || !maxBytes) {
+        return 0;
+    }
+    size_t copied;
+    for (copied = 1; *src && copied < maxBytes; ++copied) {
+        *dest++ = *src++;
+    }
+    *dest = 0;
+    return copied - 1;
+}
+
+size_t StringCopy(char* dest, const char* src) {
+    if (!dest || !src) {
+        return 0;
+    }
+    size_t copied;
+    for (copied = 1; *src; ++copied) {
+        *dest++ = *src++;
+    }
+    *dest = 0;
+    return copied - 1;
+}
+
+void EscapeString(char*& dest, const char* src)
+{
+    for (char c = *src++; c; c = *src++) {
+        switch (c) {
+        case '\"':
+        case '\\':
+            *dest++ = '\\';
+            *dest++ = c;
+            break;
+        case '\b':
+            *dest++ = '\\';
+            *dest++ = 'b';
+            break;
+        case '\f': // Form feed(ascii code 0C)
+            *dest++ = '\\';
+            *dest++ = 'f';
+            break;
+        case '\n': // New line
+            *dest++ = '\\';
+            *dest++ = 'n';
+            break;
+        case '\r': // Carriage return
+            *dest++ = '\\';
+            *dest++ = 'r';
+            break;
+        case '\t': // Tab
+            *dest++ = '\\';
+            *dest++ = 't';
+            break;
+        default:
+            *dest++ = c;
+            break;
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+template<typename T> void NumberToString(char*& dest, T number)
+{
+    if (!number) {
+        *dest++ = '0';
+        return;
+    }
+    if (number < 0) {
+        *dest++ = '-';
+        number = -number;
+    }
+    char temp[32];
+    int place = 0;
+    while (number) {
+        auto digit = number % 10;
+        number = number / 10;
+        temp[place++] = '0' + (char)digit;
+    }
+    for (--place; place >= 0; --place) {
+        *dest++ = temp[place];
+    }
+    *dest = 0;
+}
+
+void JsonWritePropName(char*& dest, const char* name)
+{
+    *dest++ = '"';
+    dest += StringCopy(dest, name);
+    *dest++ = '"';
+    *dest++ = ':';
+    *dest++ = ' ';
+}
+
+void JsonWritePropSep(char*& dest)
+{
+    *dest++ = ',';
+    *dest++ = ' ';
+}
+
+void JsonWriteStringProp(char*& dest, const char* name, const char* value)
+{
+    JsonWritePropName(dest, name);
+    *dest++ = '"';
+    EscapeString(dest, value);
+    *dest++ = '"';
+    JsonWritePropSep(dest);
+}
+
+template<typename T>
+void JsonWriteNumberAsStringProp(char*& dest, const char* name, T value)
+{
+    JsonWritePropName(dest, name);
+    *dest++ = '"';
+    NumberToString(dest, value);
+    *dest++ = '"';
+    JsonWritePropSep(dest);
+}
+
+template<typename T>
+void JsonWriteNumberProp(char*& dest, const char* name, T value)
+{
+    JsonWritePropName(dest, name);
+    NumberToString(dest, value);
+    JsonWritePropSep(dest);
+}
+
+void JsonWriteBoolProp(char*& dest, const char* name, bool value)
+{
+    JsonWritePropName(dest, name);
+    dest += StringCopy(dest, value ? "true" : "false");
+    JsonWritePropSep(dest);
+}
+
+void JsonWriteRichPresenceObj(char*& dest, const DiscordRichPresence* presence)
+{
+    *dest++ = '{';
+
+    if (presence->state) {
+        JsonWriteStringProp(dest, "state", presence->state);
+    }
+
+    if (presence->details) {
+        JsonWriteStringProp(dest, "details", presence->details);
+    }
+
+    if (presence->startTimestamp) {
+        JsonWriteNumberAsStringProp(dest, "start_timestamp", presence->startTimestamp);
+    }
+
+    if (presence->endTimestamp) {
+        JsonWriteNumberAsStringProp(dest, "end_timestamp", presence->endTimestamp);
+    }
+
+    if (presence->largeImageKey) {
+        JsonWriteStringProp(dest, "large_image_key", presence->largeImageKey);
+    }
+
+    if (presence->largeImageText) {
+        JsonWriteStringProp(dest, "large_image_text", presence->largeImageText);
+    }
+
+    if (presence->smallImageKey) {
+        JsonWriteStringProp(dest, "small_image_key", presence->smallImageKey);
+    }
+
+    if (presence->smallImageText) {
+        JsonWriteStringProp(dest, "small_image_text", presence->smallImageText);
+    }
+
+    if (presence->partyId) {
+        JsonWriteStringProp(dest, "party_id", presence->partyId);
+    }
+
+    if (presence->partyMax) {
+        JsonWriteNumberProp(dest, "party_size", presence->partySize);
+        JsonWriteNumberProp(dest, "party_max", presence->partyMax);
+    }
+
+    if (presence->matchSecret) {
+        JsonWriteStringProp(dest, "match_secret", presence->matchSecret);
+    }
+
+    if (presence->joinSecret) {
+        JsonWriteStringProp(dest, "join_secret", presence->joinSecret);
+    }
+
+    if (presence->spectateSecret) {
+        JsonWriteStringProp(dest, "spectate_secret", presence->spectateSecret);
+    }
+
+    JsonWriteBoolProp(dest, "instance", presence->instance);
+
+    dest -= 1;
+    *(dest - 1) = '}';
+}
+
+void OpenConnection()
+{
+    for (;;) {
+        PipeHandle = CreateFileW(PipeName, GENERIC_READ | GENERIC_WRITE, 0, nullptr, OPEN_EXISTING, 0, nullptr);
+        if (PipeHandle != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) {
+            break;
+        }
+
+        if (GetLastError() != ERROR_PIPE_BUSY) {
+            printf("Could not open pipe. Error: %d\n", GetLastError());
+            return;
+        }
+
+        if (!WaitNamedPipeW(PipeName, 10000)) {
+            printf("Could not open pipe: 10 second wait timed out.\n");
+            return;
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+void CloseConnection()
+{
+    CloseHandle(PipeHandle);
+    PipeHandle = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE;
+    if (Handlers.disconnected) {
+        Handlers.disconnected();
+    }
+}
 
 void Discord_Initialize(const char* applicationId, DiscordEventHandlers* handlers)
 {
+    StringCopy(ApplicationId, applicationId, sizeof(ApplicationId));
     if (handlers) {
-        memcpy(&Handlers, handlers, sizeof(Handlers));
+        Handlers = *handlers;
     }
     else {
-        memset(&Handlers, 0, sizeof(Handlers));
+        Handlers = {};
+    }
+
+    OpenConnection();
+
+    if (PipeHandle != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) {
+        if (Handlers.ready) {
+            Handlers.ready();
+        }
     }
 }
 
 void Discord_Shutdown()
 {
-
+    Handlers = {};
+    CloseConnection();
 }
 
 void Discord_UpdatePresence(const DiscordRichPresence* presence)
 {
+    if (PipeHandle == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) {
+        OpenConnection();
+        if (PipeHandle == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) {
+            return;
+        }
+    }
 
+    int32_t* totalLength = (int32_t*)MessageBuffer;
+    char* jsonStart = MessageBuffer + sizeof(int32_t);
+    char* jsonWrite = jsonStart;
+
+    JsonWriteRichPresenceObj(jsonWrite, presence);
+
+    *totalLength = sizeof(int32_t) + (jsonWrite - jsonStart);
+    BOOL success = WriteFile(PipeHandle, MessageBuffer, *totalLength, nullptr, nullptr);
+
+    if (!success) {
+        CloseConnection();
+    }
 }