diff --git a/lib/Makefile.am b/lib/Makefile.am
index 636f42c..0401c99 100644
--- a/lib/Makefile.am
+++ b/lib/Makefile.am
@@ -97,6 +97,10 @@
 SUBDIRS += rs
 endif
 
+if WITH_CL
+SUBDIRS += cl
+endif
+
 # All of the libs that don't use Automake need to go in here
 # so they will end up in our release tarballs.
 EXTRA_DIST = \
diff --git a/lib/cl/Makefile.am b/lib/cl/Makefile.am
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..34b3886
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/cl/Makefile.am
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+#
+# Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+# or more contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file
+# distributed with this work for additional information
+# regarding copyright ownership. The ASF licenses this file
+# to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+# "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+# with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+# software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+# "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+# KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
+# specific language governing permissions and limitations
+# under the License.
+#
+
+THRIFT = $(top_builddir)/compiler/cpp/thrift
+
+all-local:
+	bash ensure-externals.sh
+
+run-tests: test/make-test-binary.lisp
+	$(SBCL) --script test/make-test-binary.lisp
+
+check-local: run-tests
+	./run-tests
+
+clean-local:
+	$(RM) run-tests quicklisp.lisp backport-update.zip
+	$(RM) -rf lib externals quicklisp
+
+EXTRA_DIST = \
+	README.md \
+	READMES \
+	load-locally.lisp \
+	test \
+	ensure-externals.sh
diff --git a/lib/cl/README.md b/lib/cl/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1d6eafb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/cl/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,253 @@
+Thrift Common Lisp Library
+
+License
+=======
+
+Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+or more contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file
+distributed with this work for additional information
+regarding copyright ownership. The ASF licenses this file
+to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+"License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+  http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+"AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
+specific language governing permissions and limitations
+under the License.
+
+
+
+Using Thrift with Common Lisp
+============================
+
+ Thrift is a protocol and library for language-independent communication between cooperating
+ processes. The communication takes the form of request and response messages, of which the forms
+ are specified in advance throufh a shared interface definition. A Thrift definition file is translated
+ into Lisp source files, which comprise several definitions:
+
+  * Three packages, one for the namespace of the implementation operators, and one each for request and
+  response operators.
+  * Various type definitions as implementations for Thrift typedef and enum definitions.
+  * DEF-STRUCT and DEF-EXCEPTION forms for Thrift struct and exception definitions.
+  * DEF-SERVICE forms for thrift service definitions.
+
+ Each service definition expands in a collection of generic function definitions. For each `op`
+ in the service definition, two functions are defined
+
+  * `op`-request is defined for use by a client. It accepts an additional initial `protocol` argument,
+    to act as the client proxy for the operation and mediate the interaction with a remote process
+    through a Thrift-encoded transport stream.
+  * `op`-response is defined for use by a server. It accepts a single `protocol` argument. A server
+    uses it to decode the request message, invoke the base `op` function with the message arguments,
+    encode and send the the result as a response, and handles exceptions.
+
+ The client interface is one operator
+
+  * `with-client (variable location) . body` : creates a connection in a dynamic context and closes it
+    upon exit. The variable is bound to a client proxy stream/protocol instance, which wraps the
+    base i/o stream - socket, file, etc, with an operators which implement the Thrift protocol
+    and transport mechanisms.
+
+ The server interface combines server and service objects
+
+  * `serve (location service)` : accepts connections on the designated port and responds to
+    requests of the service's operations.
+
+
+Building 
+--------
+
+The Thrift Common Lisp library is packaged as the ASDF[[1]] system `thrift`.
+It depends on the systems
+
+* puri[[2]] : for the thrift uri class
+* closer-mop[[3]] : for class metadata
+* trivial-utf-8[[4]] : for string codecs
+* usocket[[5]] : for the socket transport
+* ieee-floats[[6]] : for conversion between ints and floats
+* trivial-gray-streams[[7]] : an abstraction layer for gray streams
+* alexandria[[8]] : handy utilities
+
+The dependencies are bundled for local builds of tests and tutorial binaries - 
+it is possible to use those bundles to load the library, too.
+
+In order to build it, register those systems with ASDF and evaluate:
+
+    (asdf:load-system :thrift)
+
+This will compile and load the Lisp compiler for Thrift definition files, the
+transport and protocol implementations, and the client and server interface
+functions. In order to use Thrift in an application, one must also author and/or
+load the interface definitions for the remote service.[[9]] If one is implementing a service,
+one must also define the actual functions to which Thrift is to act as the proxy
+interface. The remainder of this document follows the Thrift tutorial to illustrate how
+to perform the steps
+
+  * implement the service
+  * translate the Thrift IDL
+  * load the Lisp service interfaces
+  * run a server for the service
+  * use a client to access the service remotely
+
+Note that, if one is to implement a new service, one will also need to author the
+IDL files, as there is no facility to generate them from a service implementation.
+
+
+Implement the Service
+---------------------
+
+The tutorial comprises serveral functions: `add`, `ping`, `zip`, and `calculate`.
+Each translated IDL file generates three packages for every service. In the case of
+the tutorial file, the relevant packages are:
+
+  * tutorial.calculator
+  * tutorial.calculator-implementation
+  * tutorial.calculator-response
+  
+This is to separate the request (generated), response (generated) and implementation
+(meant to be implemented by the programmer) functions for defined Thrift methods.
+
+It is suggested to work in the `tutorial-implementation` package while implementing
+the services - it imports the `common-lisp` package, while the service-specific ones
+don't (to avoid conflicts between Thrift method names and function names in `common-lisp`).
+
+    ;; define the base operations
+    
+    (in-package :tutorial-implementation)
+    
+    (defun tutorial.calculator-implementation:add (num1 num2)
+      (format t "~&Asked to add ~A and ~A." num1 num2)
+      (+ num1 num2))
+    
+    (defun tutorial.calculator-implementation:ping ()
+      (print :ping))
+    
+    (defun tutorial.calculator-implementation:zip ()
+      (print :zip))
+    
+    (defun tutorial.calculator-implementation:calculate (logid task)
+      (calculate-op (work-op task) (work-num1 task) (work-num2 task)))
+    
+    (defgeneric calculate-op (op arg1 arg2)
+      (:method :around (op arg1 arg2)
+        (let ((result (call-next-method)))
+          (format t "~&Asked to calculate: ~d on  ~A and ~A = ~d." op arg1 arg2 result)
+          result))
+    
+      (:method ((op (eql operation.add)) arg1 arg2)
+        (+ arg1 arg2))
+      (:method ((op (eql operation.subtract)) arg1 arg2)
+        (- arg1 arg2))
+      (:method ((op (eql operation.multiply)) arg1 arg2)
+        (* arg1 arg2))
+      (:method ((op (eql operation.divide)) arg1 arg2)
+        (/ arg1 arg2)))
+    
+    (defun zip () (print 'zip))
+
+
+Translate the Thrift IDL
+------------------------
+
+IDL files employ the file extension `thrift`. In this case, there are two files to translate
+  * `tutorial.thrift`
+  * `shared.thrift`
+As the former includes the latter, one uses it to generate the interfaces:
+
+    $THRIFT/bin/thrift -r --gen cl $THRIFT/tutorial/tutorial.thrift
+    
+`-r` stands for recursion, while `--gen` lets one choose the language to translate to.
+
+
+Load the Lisp translated service interfaces
+-------------------------------------------
+
+The translator generates three files for each IDL file. For example `tutorial-types.lisp`,
+`tutorial-vars.lisp` and an `.asd` file that can be used to load them both and pull in
+other includes (like `shared` within the tutorial) as dependencies.
+
+
+Run a Server for the Service
+----------------------------
+
+The actual service name, as specified in the `def-service` form in `tutorial.lisp`, is `calculator`. 
+Each service definition defines a global variable with the service name and binds it to a
+service instance whch describes the operations.
+
+In order to start a service, specify a location and the service instance. 
+
+    (in-package :tutorial)
+    (serve #u"thrift://127.0.0.1:9091" calculator)
+
+
+Use a Client to Access the Service Remotely
+-------------------------------------------
+
+
+[in some other process] run the client
+
+    (in-package :cl-user)
+
+    (macrolet ((show (form)
+                 `(format *trace-output* "~%~s =>~{ ~s~}"
+                          ',form
+                          (multiple-value-list (ignore-errors ,form)))))
+      (with-client (protocol #u"thrift://127.0.0.1:9091")
+        (show (tutorial.calculator:ping protocol))
+        (show (tutorial.calculator:add protocol 1 2))
+        (show (tutorial.calculator:add protocol 1 4))
+    
+        (let ((task (make-instance 'tutorial:work
+                      :op operation.subtract :num1 15 :num2 10)))
+          (show (tutorial.calculator:calculate protocol 1 task))
+        
+          (setf (tutorial:work-op task) operation.divide
+                (tutorial:work-num1 task) 1
+                (tutorial:work-num2 task) 0)
+          (show (tutorial.calculator:calculate protocol 1 task)))
+        
+        (show (shared.shared-service:get-struct protocol 1))
+    
+        (show (zip protocol))))
+
+Issues
+------
+
+### optional fields 
+ Where the IDL declares a field options, the def-struct form includes no
+ initform for the slot and the encoding operator skips an unbound slot. This leave some ambiguity
+ with bool fields.
+
+### instantiation protocol :
+ struct classes are standard classes and exception classes are
+ whatever the implementation prescribes. decoders apply make-struct to an initargs list.
+ particularly at the service end, there are advantages to resourcing structs and decoding
+ with direct side-effects on slot-values
+
+### maps:
+ Maps are now represented as hash tables. As data through the call/reply interface is all statically
+ typed, it is not necessary for the objects to themselves indicate the coding form. Association lists
+ would be sufficient. As the key type is arbitrary, property lists offer no additional convenience:
+ as `getf` operates with `eq` a new access interface would be necessary and they would not be
+ available for function application.
+
+
+ [1]: www.common-lisp.net/asdf
+ [2]: http://github.com/lisp/com.b9.puri.ppcre
+ [3]: www.common-lisp.net/closer-mop
+ [4]: trivial-utf-8
+ [5]: https://github.com/usocket/usocket
+ [6]: https://github.com/marijnh/ieee-floats
+ [7]: https://github.com/trivial-gray-streams/trivial-gray-streams
+ [8]: https://gitlab.common-lisp.net/alexandria/alexandria
+ [9]: http://wiki.apache.org/thrift/ThriftGeneration
+
+* usocket[[5]] : for the socket transport
+* ieee-floats[[6]] : for conversion between ints and floats
+* trivial-gray-streams[[7]] : an abstraction layer for gray streams
+* alexandria[[8]] : handy utilities
diff --git a/lib/cl/READMES/readme-cassandra.lisp b/lib/cl/READMES/readme-cassandra.lisp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..72744ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/cl/READMES/readme-cassandra.lisp
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+(in-package :cl-user)
+
+#+(or ccl sbcl) /development/source/library/
+(load "build-init.lisp")
+
+;;; ! first, select the api version in the cassandra system definition
+;;; as only one should be loaded at a time.
+(asdf:load-system :de.setf.cassandra)
+
+(in-package :de.setf.cassandra)
+
+(defparameter *c-location*
+  ;; remote
+  ;; #u"thrift://ec2-174-129-66-148.compute-1.amazonaws.com:9160"
+  ;; local
+  #u"thrift://127.0.0.1:9160"
+  "A cassandra service location - either the local one or a remote service 
+ - always a 'thrift' uri.")
+
+(defparameter *c* (thrift:client *c-location*))
+
+
+(cassandra:describe-keyspaces *c*)
+;; => ("Keyspace1" "system")
+
+(cassandra:describe-cluster-name *c*)
+;; =>"Test Cluster"
+
+(cassandra:describe-version *c*)
+;; => "2.1.0"
+
+(loop for space in (cassandra:describe-keyspaces *c*)
+      collect (loop for key being each hash-key of (cassandra:describe-keyspace *c* space)
+                    using (hash-value value)
+                    collect (cons key
+                                  (loop for key being each hash-key of value
+                                        using (hash-value value)
+                                        collect (cons key value)))))
+
+
+(close *c*)
+
+(defun describe-cassandra (location &optional (stream *standard-output*))
+  "Print the first-order store metadata for a cassandra LOCATION."
+
+  (thrift:with-client (cassandra location)
+    (let* ((keyspace-names (cassandra:describe-keyspaces cassandra))
+           (cluster (cassandra:describe-cluster-name cassandra))
+           (version (cassandra:describe-version cassandra))
+           (keyspace-descriptions (loop for space in keyspace-names
+                                        collect (cons space
+                                                      (loop for key being each hash-key
+                                                            of (cassandra:describe-keyspace cassandra space)
+                                                            using (hash-value value)
+                                                            collect (cons key
+                                                                          (loop for key being each hash-key of value
+                                                                                using (hash-value value)
+                                                                                collect (cons key value))))))))
+      (format stream "~&connection to : ~a" cassandra)
+      (format stream "~&version : ~a" version)
+      (format stream "~&cluster : ~a" cluster)
+      (format stream "~&keyspaces~{~{~%~%space: ~a~@{~%  ~{~a :~@{~20t~:w~^~%~}~}~}~}~}" keyspace-descriptions))))
+
+;;; (describe-cassandra *c-location*)
diff --git a/lib/cl/ensure-externals.sh b/lib/cl/ensure-externals.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..0495f03
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/cl/ensure-externals.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -e
+
+if [[ ! -e quicklisp.lisp ]]; then curl -O https://beta.quicklisp.org/quicklisp.lisp; fi
+sbcl --load quicklisp.lisp \
+     --eval "(ignore-errors (quicklisp-quickstart:install :path \"quicklisp/\"))" \
+     --eval "(load \"quicklisp/setup.lisp\")" \
+     --eval "(quicklisp:bundle-systems '(#:puri #:usocket #:closer-mop #:trivial-utf-8 #:ieee-floats #:trivial-gray-streams #:alexandria #:bordeaux-threads #:cl-ppcre #:fiasco #:net.didierverna.clon) :to \"externals/\")" \
+     --eval "(quit)" \
+     --no-userinit
+if [[ ! -e backport-update.zip ]]; then
+    curl -O -L https://github.com/TurtleWarePL/de.setf.thrift/archive/backport-update.zip;
+fi
+mkdir -p lib
+unzip -u backport-update.zip -d lib
diff --git a/lib/cl/load-locally.lisp b/lib/cl/load-locally.lisp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d12c704
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/cl/load-locally.lisp
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+(in-package #:cl-user)
+
+;;;; Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+;;;; you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+;;;; You may obtain a copy of the License at
+;;;;
+;;;;     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+;;;;
+;;;; Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+;;;; distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+;;;; WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+;;;; See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+;;;; limitations under the License.
+
+;;;; Just a script for loading the library itself, using bundled dependencies.
+;;;; This is here for when we want to build the self-test and cross-test
+;;;; binaries.
+
+(require "asdf")
+
+(load (merge-pathnames "externals/bundle.lisp" *load-truename*))
+(asdf:load-asd (merge-pathnames "lib/de.setf.thrift-backport-update/thrift.asd" *load-truename*))
+(asdf:load-system :thrift)
diff --git a/lib/cl/test/make-test-binary.lisp b/lib/cl/test/make-test-binary.lisp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4e7a58c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/cl/test/make-test-binary.lisp
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+;;;; Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+;;;; you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+;;;; You may obtain a copy of the License at
+;;;;
+;;;;     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+;;;;
+;;;; Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+;;;; distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+;;;; WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+;;;; See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+;;;; limitations under the License.
+
+;;;; This file is used to build the binary that runs all self-tests. The
+;;;; binary is then meant to be hooked up to Thrift's `make check` facility,
+;;;; but can easily be run on its own as well.
+
+(in-package #:cl-user)
+
+(require "asdf")
+(load (merge-pathnames "../load-locally.lisp" *load-truename*))
+(asdf:load-asd (merge-pathnames "../lib/de.setf.thrift-backport-update/test/thrift-test.asd" *load-truename*))
+(asdf:load-system :thrift-test)
+(asdf:load-system :net.didierverna.clon)
+
+(net.didierverna.clon:nickname-package)
+
+(defun main ()
+  (let ((result (if (fiasco:run-tests 'thrift-test) 0 -1)))
+    (clon:exit result)))
+
+(clon:dump "run-tests" main)