diff --git a/cmd/config.go b/cmd/config.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a9ccc5d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/config.go
@@ -0,0 +1,224 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	yaml "gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"github.com/mitchellh/mapstructure"
+	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/zfs"
+	"errors"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+type Pool struct {
+	Name 	string
+	Url 	string
+}
+type Push struct {
+	To 		 string
+	Datasets []zfs.DatasetPath
+}
+type Pull struct {
+	From     string
+	Mapping  zfs.DatasetMapping
+}
+type Sink struct {
+	From 	 string
+	Mapping  zfs.DatasetMapping
+}
+
+type Config struct {
+	Pools []Pool
+	Pushs []Push
+	Pulls []Pull
+	Sinks []Sink
+}
+
+func ParseConfig(path string) (config Config, err error) {
+
+	c := make(map[string]interface{}, 0)
+
+	var bytes []byte
+
+	if bytes, err = ioutil.ReadFile(path); err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+
+	if err = yaml.Unmarshal(bytes, &c); err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+
+	return parseMain(c)
+}
+
+func parseMain(root map[string]interface{}) (c Config, err error) {
+	if c.Pools, err = parsePools(root["pools"]); err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+	if c.Pushs, err = parsePushs(root["pushs"]); err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+	if c.Pulls, err = parsePulls(root["pulls"]); err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+	if c.Sinks, err = parseSinks(root["sinks"]); err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+	return
+}
+
+func parsePools(v interface{}) (p []Pool, err error) {
+	p = make([]Pool, 0)
+	err = mapstructure.Decode(v, &p)
+	return
+}
+
+func parsePushs(v interface{}) (p []Push, err error) {
+
+	asList := make([]struct{
+		To 		 string
+		Datasets []string
+	}, 0)
+
+	if err = mapstructure.Decode(v, &asList); err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+
+	p = make([]Push, len(asList))
+
+	for _, e := range asList {
+		push := Push{
+			To: e.To,
+			Datasets: make([]zfs.DatasetPath, len(e.Datasets)),
+		}
+
+		for i, ds := range e.Datasets {
+			if push.Datasets[i], err = zfs.NewDatasetPath(ds); err != nil {
+				return
+			}
+		}
+
+		p = append(p, push)
+	}
+
+	return
+}
+
+func parsePulls(v interface{}) (p []Pull, err error) {
+
+	asList := make([]struct{
+		From 	string
+		Mapping map[string]string
+	}, 0)
+
+
+	if err = mapstructure.Decode(v, &asList); err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+
+	p = make([]Pull, len(asList))
+
+	for _, e := range asList {
+		pull := Pull{
+			From: e.From,
+		}
+		if pull.Mapping, err = parseComboMapping(e.Mapping); err != nil {
+			return
+		}
+		p = append(p, pull)
+	}
+
+	return
+}
+
+func parseSinks(v interface{}) (s []Sink, err error) {
+
+	var asList []interface{}
+	var ok bool
+	if asList, ok  = v.([]interface{}); !ok {
+		return nil, errors.New("expected list")
+	}
+
+	s = make([]Sink, len(asList))
+
+	for _, i := range asList {
+		var sink Sink
+		if sink, err = parseSink(i); err != nil {
+			return
+		}
+		s = append(s, sink)
+	}
+
+	return
+}
+
+func parseSink(v interface{}) (s Sink, err error) {
+	t := struct {
+		From string
+		Mapping map[string]string
+	}{}
+	if err = mapstructure.Decode(v, &t); err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+
+	s.From = t.From
+	s.Mapping, err = parseComboMapping(t.Mapping)
+	return
+}
+
+func parseComboMapping(m map[string]string) (c zfs.ComboMapping, err error) {
+
+	c.Mappings = make([]zfs.DatasetMapping, len(m))
+
+	for lhs,rhs := range m {
+
+		if lhs[0] == '|' {
+
+			if len(m) != 1 {
+				err = errors.New("non-recursive mapping must be the only mapping for a sink")
+			}
+
+			m := zfs.DirectMapping{
+				 Source: nil,
+			}
+
+			if m.Target, err = zfs.NewDatasetPath(rhs); err != nil {
+				return
+			}
+
+			c.Mappings = append(c.Mappings, m)
+
+		} else if lhs[0] == '*' {
+
+			m := zfs.ExecMapping{}
+			fields := strings.Fields(strings.TrimPrefix(rhs, "!"))
+			if len(fields) < 1 {
+				err = errors.New("ExecMapping without acceptor path")
+				return
+			}
+			m.Name = fields[0]
+			m.Args = fields[1:]
+
+			c.Mappings = append(c.Mappings, m)
+
+		} else if strings.HasSuffix(lhs, "*") {
+
+			m := zfs.GlobMapping{}
+
+			m.PrefixPath, err = zfs.NewDatasetPath(strings.TrimSuffix(lhs, "*"))
+			if err != nil {
+				return
+			}
+
+			if m.TargetRoot, err = zfs.NewDatasetPath(rhs); err != nil {
+				return
+			}
+
+			c.Mappings = append(c.Mappings, m)
+
+		}
+
+	}
+
+	return
+
+}
diff --git a/cmd/sampleconf/zrepl.yml b/cmd/sampleconf/zrepl.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..46c120d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/sampleconf/zrepl.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+pools:
+  - name: offsite_backups
+    url: ssh://db2@backups1/db2/
+  - name:
+  - name: local_mirror
+    url: local://mirrorpool/mirrors/tank
+
+pushs:
+  - to: offsite_backups
+    datasets:
+      - tank/var/db
+      - tank/usr/home
+
+  - to: local_mirror
+    datasets:
+      - tank
+
+pulls:
+  - from: offsite
+    mapping: {
+      # like in sinks
+    }
+
+sinks:
+
+  # direct mapping
+  #       1:1 mapping of remote dataset to local dataset
+  #       We will reject a push request which contains > 0 datasets that do not
+  #         match a mapping
+  - from: db1
+    mapping: {
+      "ssdpool/var/db/postgresql9.6":"zroot/backups/db1/pg_data"
+    }
+
+  # "|" non-recursive wildcard
+  #       the remote must present excatly one dataset, mapped to the rhs
+  - from: cdn_master
+    mapping: {
+      "|":"tank/srv/cdn" # NOTE: | is currently an invalid character for a ZFS dataset
+    }
+
+  # "*" recursive wildcard
+  #       the remote may present an arbitrary set of marks a recursive wildcard, i.e. map all remotes to a tree under rhs
+  - from: mirror1
+    mapping: {
+      "tank/foo/bar*":"zroot/backups/mirror1" # NOTE: * is currently an invalid character for a ZFS dataset
+    }
+
+  # "*":"!..." acceptor script
+  #       shell out to an accceptor that receives the remote's offered datasets
+  #       on stdin and, foreach line of this input, returns the corresponding
+  #       local dataset (same order) or '!<space>optional reason' on stdout
+  #       If the acceptor scripts exits with non-zero status code, the remote's
+  #       request will be rejected
+  - from: complex_host
+    mapping: { #
+      "*":"!/path/to/acceptor" # we could just wire the path to the acceptor directly to the mapping
+                               # but let's stick with the same type for the mapping field for now'
+                               # NOTE: * and ! are currently invalid characters for a ZFS dataset
+    }
+
+  # Mixing the rules
+  #   Mixing should be possible if there is a defined precedence (direct before *)
+  #   and non-recursive wildcards are not allowed in multi-entry mapping objects
+  - from: special_snowflake
+    mapping: { # an explicit mapping mixed with a recursive wildcard
+      "sun/usr/home": backups/special_snowflake/homedirs,
+      "sun/var/db":   backups/special_snowflake/database,
+      "*":            backups/special_snowflake/remainingbackup
+      # NOTE:         ^ alignment, should be possible, looks nicer
+    }
diff --git a/zfs/mapping.go b/zfs/mapping.go
index 976ce4f..644f3c9 100644
--- a/zfs/mapping.go
+++ b/zfs/mapping.go
@@ -64,6 +64,11 @@ type DirectMapping struct {
 }
 
 func (m DirectMapping) Map(source DatasetPath) (target DatasetPath, err error) {
+
+	if m.Source == nil {
+		return m.Target, nil
+	}
+
 	if len(m.Source) != len(source) {
 		return nil, NoMatchError
 	}
diff --git a/zfs/zfs.go b/zfs/zfs.go
index 8ca836e..0bb425d 100644
--- a/zfs/zfs.go
+++ b/zfs/zfs.go
@@ -35,6 +35,11 @@ func (p DatasetPath) ToString() string {
 	return strings.Join(p, "/")
 }
 
+func NewDatasetPath(s string) (p DatasetPath, err error) {
+	// TODO validation
+	return toDatasetPath(s), nil
+}
+
 func toDatasetPath(s string) DatasetPath {
 	return strings.Split(s, "/")
 }