diff --git a/prelude.ld b/prelude.ld
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5d72cc9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/prelude.ld
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+& this file, uniquely, gets `base` loaded. See src/ludus/base.cljc for exports
+
+fn first {
+	"Returns the first element of a list or tuple."
+	(xs as :list) -> extern (:first, xs)
+	(xs as :tuple) -> extern (:second, xs)
+}
+
+fn nth {
+	"Returns the element at index n of a list or tuple. Zero-indexed: the first element is at index 0."
+	(xs as :list, n as :number) -> extern (:nth, xs, n)
+	(xs as :tuple, n as :number) -> extern (:nth, xs, extern (:inc, n))
+}
+
+fn count {
+	"Returns the number of elements in a list or tuple."
+	(xs as :list) -> extern (count, xs)
+	(xs as :tuple) -> extern (:dec, extern (:count, xs))
+}
+
+fn clist {
+	"Takes a tuple, and returns it as a list."
+	(xs as :tuple) -> extern (:into, [], extern (:rest, xs))
+}
+
+fn fold {
+	"Folds a collection."
+	(f as :function, xs as :list) -> extern (:reduce, f, xs)
+	(f as :function, root, xs as :list) -> extern (:reduce, f, root, xs)
+}
+
+fn conj {
+	"Adds an element to a list. Short for conjoin."
+	() -> []
+	(xs as :list) -> xs
+	(xs as :list, x) -> extern (:conj, xs, x)
+	& (xs, x, ...ys) -> extern (:conj, xs, x, ...ys)
+}
+
+fn ludus/add {
+	"Adds numbers."
+	() -> 0
+	(x as :number) -> x
+	(x as :number, y as :number) -> add (x, y)
+	(x as :number, y as :number, ...zs) -> fold (ludus/add, add (x, y), zs)
+}
+
+ns math {
+	:add ludus/add
+}
+
+print ("From Prelude, hello.")
+
+ns prelude {
+	conj
+	clist
+}
+
+print (prelude)
+
+prelude
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/ludus/interpreter.cljc b/src/ludus/interpreter.cljc
index cb259db..5f3dfbe 100644
--- a/src/ludus/interpreter.cljc
+++ b/src/ludus/interpreter.cljc
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
     [ludus.base :as base]
     [ludus.prelude :as prelude]
     [ludus.data :as data]
+    [ludus.show :as show]
     ;;[ludus.loader :as loader]
     [clojure.pprint :as pp]
     [clojure.set]
@@ -18,6 +19,9 @@
 ;; that's for later, tho
 (defn- ludus-resolve [key ctx-vol]
   (let [ctx @ctx-vol]
+    (println "Resolving " key)
+    (println "Current context: " (keys ctx))
+    ;(println "Parent context: " (keys (if (::parent ctx) (deref (::parent ctx)) {})))
     (if (contains? ctx key)
       (get ctx key)
       (if (contains? ctx ::parent)
@@ -420,7 +424,7 @@
           (get map kw))))))
 
 (defn- call-fn [lfn args ctx]
-  (println "Calling function " (:name lfn))
+  ; (println "Calling function " (:name lfn))
   (cond
     (= ::data/partial (first args))
     {::data/type ::data/clj
@@ -873,6 +877,7 @@
         interpreted (interpret-ast parsed base-ctx)
         namespace (dissoc interpreted ::data/type ::data/name ::data/struct)
         context (ns->ctx namespace)]
+    ;(println context)
     context))
 
 ;; TODO: update this to use new parser pipeline & new AST representation
@@ -938,19 +943,17 @@
     ))
 
 ;; repl
-(do
+(comment
   
-  (def source "fn foo { \"This is a docstring\"; (:foo) -> :foo; (:bar) -> :bar; (_) -> :something_else }
-    :doc (foo)
+  (def source "
     ")
 
   (def tokens (-> source scanner/scan :tokens))
 
   (def ast (p/apply-parser g/script tokens))
 
-  (def result (interpret-safe source ast {}))
+  ;(def result (interpret-safe source ast {}))
 
-  (-> ast prettify-ast pp/pprint)
-
-  result
+  (-> ast prettify-ast println)
+  
   )
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/ludus/prelude.clj b/src/ludus/prelude.clj
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2747865
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ludus/prelude.clj
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+(ns ludus.prelude)
+
+(def prelude (slurp "prelude.ld"))
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/ludus/prelude.cljc b/src/ludus/prelude.cljc
deleted file mode 100644
index 1fbfb2d..0000000
--- a/src/ludus/prelude.cljc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-(ns ludus.prelude)
-
-(def prelude "
-ns prelude {
-}
-")
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/ludus/repl.clj b/src/ludus/repl.clj
index e7029be..75c253e 100644
--- a/src/ludus/repl.clj
+++ b/src/ludus/repl.clj
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
   (println "\nGoodbye!")
   (System/exit 0))
 
-(def base-ctx (merge base/base ;process/process
+(def repl-ctx (merge interpreter/ludus-prelude
                 {::repl true
                  "repl"
                  {::data/struct true
@@ -35,12 +35,12 @@
                    :body (fn 
                            ([]
                             (let [session @current-session]
-                              (swap! session #(assoc % :ctx (volatile! base-ctx)))
+                              (swap! session #(assoc % :ctx (volatile! repl-ctx)))
                               :ok))
                            ([name]
                             (if-let [session (get @sessions name)]
                               (do
-                                (swap! session #(assoc % :ctx (volatile! base-ctx)))
+                                (swap! session #(assoc % :ctx (volatile! repl-ctx)))
                                 :ok)
                               (do 
                                 (println "No session named" name)
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@
 
 (defn- new-session [name]
   (let [session (atom {:name name
-                       :ctx (volatile! base-ctx)
+                       :ctx (volatile! repl-ctx)
                        :history []})]
     (swap! sessions #(assoc % name session))
     session))