diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index f494b1b..ea03a9e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1 +1,5 @@
+*
+!*/
+!*.*
 .tool-versions
+nim.cfg
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..82623a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+
+# Apatheia
+
+> *Apatheia* (*Greek: ἀπάθεια; from a- "without" and pathos "suffering" or "passion"*), in Stoicism, refers to a state of mind in which one is not disturbed by the passions. It might better be translated by the word equanimity than the word indifference. 
+
+WIP utilities for using Chronos async with threading. The desire is to provide safe, pre-tested constructs for using threads with async.
+
+Goals:
+
+- support orc and refc
+  + refc may require extra copying for data
+- use event queues (e.g. channels) to/from thread pool 
+  + make it easy to monitor and debug queue capacity
+  + only use minimal AsyncFD handles
+  + lessen pressure on the main chronos futures pending queue
+- support backpressure at futures level
+- benchmarking overhead
+- special support for seq[byte]'s and strings with zero-copy
+  + implement special but limited support zero-copy arguments on refc
+
diff --git a/apatheia.nimble b/apatheia.nimble
index a06a038..7bda637 100644
--- a/apatheia.nimble
+++ b/apatheia.nimble
@@ -6,7 +6,10 @@ description   = "Async support for threading primitives"
 license       = "MIT"
 srcDir        = "src"
 
-
 # Dependencies
 
-requires "nim >= 1.6.18"
+requires "chronos >= 4.0.0"
+requires "threading"
+requires "taskpools >= 0.0.5"
+requires "chronicles"
+
diff --git a/config.nims b/config.nims
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bae2200
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config.nims
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+
+--threads:on
diff --git a/src/apatheia.nim b/src/apatheia.nim
index b7a2480..569c129 100644
--- a/src/apatheia.nim
+++ b/src/apatheia.nim
@@ -1,7 +1,3 @@
-# This is just an example to get you started. A typical library package
-# exports the main API in this file. Note that you cannot rename this file
-# but you can remove it if you wish.
 
-proc add*(x, y: int): int =
-  ## Adds two numbers together.
-  return x + y
+import apatheia/tasks
+export tasks
diff --git a/src/apatheia/jobs.nim b/src/apatheia/jobs.nim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d4a1898
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/apatheia/jobs.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+import std/tables
+import std/macros
+
+import ./queues
+
+import taskpools
+import chronos
+import chronicles
+
+export queues
+export chronicles
+
+logScope:
+  # Lexical properties are typically assigned to a constant:
+  topics = "apatheia jobs"
+
+## This module provides a simple way to submit jobs to taskpools
+## and getting a result returned via an async future.
+## 
+##
+
+type
+  JobId* = uint ## job id, should match `future.id()`
+
+  JobQueue*[T] = ref object
+    ## job queue object
+    queue*: SignalQueue[(JobId, T)]
+    futures*: Table[JobId, Future[T]]
+    taskpool*: Taskpool
+    running*: bool
+
+  JobResult*[T] = object
+    ## hold a job result to be returned by jobs
+    id*: JobId
+    queue*: SignalQueue[(JobId, T)]
+
+proc processJobs*[T](jobs: JobQueue[T]) {.async.} =
+  ## Starts a "detached" async processor for a given job queue.
+  ## 
+  ## This processor waits for events from the queue in the JobQueue
+  ## and complete the associated futures.
+
+  const tn: string = $(JobQueue[T])
+  info "Processing jobs in job queue for type ", type=tn
+  while jobs.running:
+    let res = await(jobs.queue.wait()).get()
+    trace "got job result", jobResult = $res
+    let (id, ret) = res
+    var fut: Future[T]
+    if jobs.futures.pop(id, fut):
+      fut.complete(ret)
+    else:
+      raise newException(IndexDefect, "missing future: " & $id)
+  info "Finishing processing jobs for type ", type=tn
+
+proc createFuture*[T](jobs: JobQueue[T], name: static string): (JobResult[T], Future[T]) =
+  ## Creates a future that returns the result of the associated job.
+  let fut = newFuture[T](name)
+  let id = JobId fut.id()
+  jobs.futures[id] = fut
+  trace "jobs added: ", numberJobs = jobs.futures.len()
+  return (JobResult[T](id: id, queue: jobs.queue), fut, )
+
+proc newJobQueue*[T](maxItems: int = 0, taskpool: Taskpool = Taskpool.new()): JobQueue[T] {.raises: [ApatheiaSignalErr].} =
+  ## Creates a new async-compatible threaded job queue.
+  result = JobQueue[T](queue: newSignalQueue[(uint, T)](maxItems), taskpool: taskpool, running: true)
+  asyncSpawn(processJobs(result))
+
+macro submitMacro(tp: untyped, jobs: untyped, exp: untyped): untyped =
+  ## modifies the call expression to include the job queue and 
+  ## the job id parameters
+
+  let jobRes = genSym(nskLet, "jobRes")
+  let futName = genSym(nskLet, "fut")
+  let nm = newLit(repr(exp))
+  var fncall = nnkCall.newTree(exp[0])
+  fncall.add(jobRes)
+  for p in exp[1..^1]: fncall.add(p)
+
+  result = quote do:
+    let (`jobRes`, `futName`) = createFuture(`jobs`, `nm`)
+    `jobs`.taskpool.spawn(`fncall`)
+    `futName`
+
+  # echo "submit: res:\n", result.repr
+  # echo ""
+
+template submit*[T](jobs: JobQueue[T], exp: untyped): Future[T] =
+  submitMacro(T, jobs, exp)
+
diff --git a/src/apatheia/macroutils.nim b/src/apatheia/macroutils.nim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8d615fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/apatheia/macroutils.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,146 @@
+import std/[tables, strutils, typetraits, macros]
+
+proc makeProcName*(s: string): string =
+  result = ""
+  for c in s:
+    if c.isAlphaNumeric: result.add c
+
+proc hasReturnType*(params: NimNode): bool =
+  if params != nil and params.len > 0 and params[0] != nil and
+     params[0].kind != nnkEmpty:
+    result = true
+
+proc getReturnType*(params: NimNode): NimNode =
+  if params != nil and params.len > 0 and params[0] != nil and
+     params[0].kind != nnkEmpty:
+    result = params[0]
+
+proc firstArgument*(params: NimNode): (NimNode, NimNode) =
+  if params != nil and
+      params.len > 0 and
+      params[1] != nil and
+      params[1].kind == nnkIdentDefs:
+    result = (ident params[1][0].strVal, params[1][1])
+  else:
+    result = (ident "", newNimNode(nnkEmpty))
+
+iterator paramsIter*(params: NimNode): tuple[name, ntype: NimNode] =
+  ## iterators through the parameters
+  for i in 1 ..< params.len:
+    let arg = params[i]
+    let argType = arg[^2]
+    for j in 0 ..< arg.len-2:
+      yield (arg[j], argType)
+
+proc signalTuple*(sig: NimNode): NimNode =
+  let otp = nnkEmpty.newTree()
+  # echo "signalObjRaw:sig1: ", sig.treeRepr
+  let sigTyp =
+    if sig.kind == nnkSym: sig.getTypeInst
+    else: sig.getTypeInst
+  # echo "signalObjRaw:sig2: ", sigTyp.treeRepr
+  let stp =
+    if sigTyp.kind == nnkProcTy:
+      sig.getTypeInst[0]
+    else:
+      sigTyp.params()
+  let isGeneric = false
+
+  # echo "signalObjRaw:obj: ", otp.repr
+  # echo "signalObjRaw:obj:tr: ", otp.treeRepr
+  # echo "signalObjRaw:obj:isGen: ", otp.kind == nnkBracketExpr
+  # echo "signalObjRaw:sig: ", stp.repr
+
+  var args: seq[NimNode]
+  for i in 2..<stp.len:
+    args.add stp[i]
+
+  result = nnkTupleConstr.newTree()
+  if isGeneric:
+    template genArgs(n): auto = n[1][1]
+    var genKinds: Table[string, NimNode]
+    for i in 1..<stp.genArgs.len:
+      genKinds[repr stp.genArgs[i]] = otp[i]
+    for arg in args:
+      result.add genKinds[arg[1].repr]
+  else:
+    # genKinds
+    # echo "ARGS: ", args.repr
+    for arg in args:
+      result.add arg[1]
+  # echo "ARG: ", result.repr
+  # echo ""
+  if result.len == 0:
+    # result = bindSym"void"
+    result = quote do:
+      tuple[]
+
+proc mkParamsVars*(paramsIdent, paramsType, params: NimNode): NimNode =
+  ## Create local variables for each parameter in the actual RPC call proc
+  if params.isNil: return
+
+  result = newStmtList()
+  var varList = newSeq[NimNode]()
+  var cnt = 0
+  for paramid, paramType in paramsIter(params):
+    let idx = newIntLitNode(cnt)
+    let vars = quote do:
+      var `paramid`: `paramType` = `paramsIdent`[`idx`]
+    varList.add vars
+    cnt.inc()
+  result.add varList
+  # echo "paramsSetup return:\n", treeRepr result
+
+proc mkParamsType*(paramsIdent, paramsType, params, genericParams: NimNode): NimNode =
+  ## Create a type that represents the arguments for this rpc call
+  ## 
+  ## Example: 
+  ## 
+  ##   proc multiplyrpc(a, b: int): int {.rpc.} =
+  ##     result = a * b
+  ## 
+  ## Becomes:
+  ##   proc multiplyrpc(params: RpcType_multiplyrpc): int = 
+  ##     var a = params.a
+  ##     var b = params.b
+  ##   
+  ##   proc multiplyrpc(params: RpcType_multiplyrpc): int = 
+  ## 
+  if params.isNil: return
+
+  var tup = quote do:
+    type `paramsType` = tuple[]
+  for paramIdent, paramType in paramsIter(params):
+    # processing multiple variables of one type
+    tup[0][2].add newIdentDefs(paramIdent, paramType)
+  result = tup
+  result[0][1] = genericParams.copyNimTree()
+  # echo "mkParamsType: ", genericParams.treeRepr
+
+proc identPub*(name: string): NimNode =
+  result = nnkPostfix.newTree(newIdentNode("*"), ident name)
+
+proc procIdentAppend*(id: NimNode, name: string): NimNode =
+  result = id.copyNimTree()
+  if id.kind == nnkPostfix:
+    result[1] = ident(result[1].strVal & name)
+  else:
+    result = ident(id.strVal & name)
+
+proc mkCall*(callName, params: NimNode): NimNode =
+  ## Create local variables for each parameter in the actual RPC call proc
+  if params.isNil: return
+  var argList = newSeq[NimNode]()
+  for paramId, paramType in paramsIter(params):
+    argList.add paramId
+  result = newCall(callName, argList)
+  # echo "mkCall return:\n", treeRepr result
+
+proc mkProc*(name, params, body: NimNode): NimNode =
+  let args = params.copyNimTree()
+  result = quote do:
+    proc `name`() {.nimcall.} =
+      `body`
+  result[3].del(0)
+  for arg in args:
+    result.params.add arg
diff --git a/src/apatheia/queues.nim b/src/apatheia/queues.nim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4c3cd0b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/apatheia/queues.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+import std/options
+import ./types
+
+import results
+import chronos
+import chronos/threadsync
+
+export types
+export options
+export threadsync
+export chronos
+
+type
+  ChanPtr[T] = ptr Channel[T]
+
+proc allocSharedChannel[T](): ChanPtr[T] =
+  cast[ChanPtr[T]](allocShared0(sizeof(Channel[T])))
+
+type
+  SignalQueue*[T] = object
+    signal: ThreadSignalPtr
+    chan*: ChanPtr[T]
+
+proc dispose*[T](val: SignalQueue[T]) =
+  ## Call to properly dispose of a SignalQueue.
+  deallocShared(val.chan)
+  discard val.signal.close()
+
+proc newSignalQueue*[T](maxItems: int = 0): SignalQueue[T] {.raises: [ApatheiaSignalErr].} =
+  ## Create a signal queue compatible with Chronos async.
+  let res = ThreadSignalPtr.new()
+  if res.isErr():
+    raise newException(ApatheiaSignalErr, res.error())
+  result.signal = res.get()
+  result.chan = allocSharedChannel[T]()
+  result.chan[].open(maxItems)
+
+proc send*[T](c: SignalQueue[T], msg: sink T): Result[void, string] {.raises: [].} =
+  ## Sends a message to a thread. `msg` is copied.
+  ## Note: currently non-blocking but future iterations may become blocking.
+  ## 
+  try:
+    c.chan[].send(msg)
+  except Exception as exc:
+    result = err exc.msg
+
+  let res = c.signal.fireSync()
+  if res.isErr():
+    let msg: string = res.error()
+    result = err msg
+  result = ok()
+
+proc trySend*[T](c: SignalQueue[T], msg: sink T): bool =
+  ## Trys to sends a message to a thread. `msg` is copied. Non-blocking.
+  result = c.chan.trySend(msg)
+  if result:
+    c.signal.fireSync()
+
+proc recv*[T](c: SignalQueue[T]): Result[T, string] =
+  ## Receive item from queue, blocking.
+  try:
+    result = ok c.chan[].recv()
+  except Exception as exc:
+    result = err exc.msg
+
+proc tryRecv*[T](c: SignalQueue[T]): Option[T] =
+  ## Try to receive item from queue, non-blocking.
+  let res = c.chan.recv()
+  if res.dataAvailable:
+    some res.msg
+
+proc wait*[T](c: SignalQueue[T]): Future[Result[T, string]] {.async.} =
+  ## Async compatible receive from queue. Pauses async execution until
+  ## an item is received from the queue
+  await wait(c.signal)
+  return c.recv()
diff --git a/src/apatheia/submodule.nim b/src/apatheia/submodule.nim
deleted file mode 100644
index 8fe0894..0000000
--- a/src/apatheia/submodule.nim
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
-# This is just an example to get you started. Users of your library will
-# import this file by writing ``import apatheia/submodule``. Feel free to rename or
-# remove this file altogether. You may create additional modules alongside
-# this file as required.
-
-type
-  Submodule* = object
-    name*: string
-
-proc initSubmodule*(): Submodule =
-  ## Initialises a new ``Submodule`` object.
-  Submodule(name: "Anonymous")
diff --git a/src/apatheia/tasks.nim b/src/apatheia/tasks.nim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3663d0a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/apatheia/tasks.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+
+import std/[macros, strutils]
+
+import macroutils
+
+import jobs
+export jobs
+
+# TODO: make these do something useful or remove them
+
+template checkParamType*(obj: object): auto =
+  # for name, field in obj.fieldPairs():
+  #   echo "field name: ", name
+  obj
+
+template checkParamType*(obj: typed): auto =
+  obj
+
+macro asyncTask*(p: untyped): untyped =
+  ## Pragma to transfer a proc into a "tasklet" which runs
+  ## the proc body in a separate thread and returns the result
+  ## in an async compatible manner.
+  ## 
+
+  let
+    procId = p[0]
+    # procLineInfo = p.lineInfoObj
+    # genericParams = p[2]
+    params = p[3]
+    # pragmas = p[4]
+    body = p[6]
+    name = repr(procId).strip(false, true, {'*'})
+  
+  if not hasReturnType(params):
+    error("tasklet definition must have return type", p)
+
+  # setup inner tasklet proc
+  let tp = mkProc(procId.procIdentAppend("Tasklet"),
+                  params, body)
+
+  # setup async wrapper code
+  var asyncBody = newStmtList()
+  let tcall = newCall(ident(name & "Tasklet"))
+  for paramId, paramType in paramsIter(params):
+    tcall.add newCall("checkParamType", paramId)
+  asyncBody = quote do:
+    let val {.inject.} = `tcall`
+    discard jobResult.queue.send((jobResult.id, val,))
+
+  var asyncParams = params.copyNimTree()
+  let retType = if not hasReturnType(params): ident"void"
+                else: params.getReturnType()
+  let jobArg = nnkIdentDefs.newTree(
+    ident"jobResult",
+    nnkBracketExpr.newTree(ident"JobResult", retType),
+    newEmptyNode()
+  )
+  asyncParams[0] = newEmptyNode()
+  asyncParams.insert(1, jobArg)
+  let fn = mkProc(procId, asyncParams, asyncBody)
+
+  result = newStmtList()
+  result.add tp
+  result.add fn
+
+  when isMainModule:
+    echo "asyncTask:body:\n", result.repr
+
+when isMainModule:
+
+  type
+    HashOptions* = object
+      striped*: bool
+
+  proc doHashes2*(data: openArray[byte],
+                  opts: HashOptions): float {.asyncTask.} =
+    echo "hashing"
+
+
diff --git a/src/apatheia/types.nim b/src/apatheia/types.nim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6e156fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/apatheia/types.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+
+type
+  ApatheiaException* = object of CatchableError
+  ApatheiaSignalErr* = object of ApatheiaException
diff --git a/tests/config.nims b/tests/config.nims
index 3bb69f8..8b57598 100644
--- a/tests/config.nims
+++ b/tests/config.nims
@@ -1 +1,4 @@
-switch("path", "$projectDir/../src")
\ No newline at end of file
+switch("path", "$projectDir/../src")
+
+--threads:on
+--mm:refc
diff --git a/tests/exPools.nim b/tests/exPools.nim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..569735f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/exPools.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+
+import std/[strutils, math, cpuinfo]
+
+import taskpools
+
+# From https://github.com/nim-lang/Nim/blob/v1.6.2/tests/parallel/tpi.nim
+# Leibniz Formula https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leibniz_formula_for_%CF%80
+proc term(k: int): float =
+  if k mod 2 == 1:
+    -4'f / float(2*k + 1)
+  else:
+    4'f / float(2*k + 1)
+
+proc piApprox(tp: Taskpool, n: int): float =
+  var pendingFuts = newSeq[FlowVar[float]](n)
+  for k in 0 ..< pendingFuts.len:
+    pendingFuts[k] = tp.spawn term(k) # Schedule a task on the threadpool a return a handle to retrieve the result.
+  for k in 0 ..< pendingFuts.len:
+    result += sync pendingFuts[k]     # Block until the result is available.
+
+proc main() =
+  var n = 1_000
+  var nthreads = countProcessors()
+
+  var tp = Taskpool.new(num_threads = nthreads) # Default to the number of hardware threads.
+
+  echo formatFloat(tp.piApprox(n))
+
+  tp.syncAll()                                  # Block until all pending tasks are processed (implied in tp.shutdown())
+  tp.shutdown()
+
+# Compile with nim c -r -d:release --threads:on --outdir:build example.nim
+main()
+
+when false:
+  type
+    ScratchObj_486539477 = object
+      k: int
+      fut: Flowvar[float]
+
+  let scratch_486539455 = cast[ptr ScratchObj_486539477](c_calloc(csize_t 1,
+      csize_t sizeof(ScratchObj_486539477)))
+  if scratch_486539455.isNil:
+    raise newException(OutOfMemDefect, "Could not allocate memory")
+  block:
+    var isoTemp_486539473 = isolate(k)
+    scratch_486539455.k = extract(isoTemp_486539473)
+    var isoTemp_486539475 = isolate(fut)
+    scratch_486539455.fut = extract(isoTemp_486539475)
+  proc taskpool_term_486539478(args: pointer) {.gcsafe, nimcall,
+      raises: [].} =
+    let objTemp_486539472 = cast[ptr ScratchObj_486539477](args)
+    let k_486539474 = objTemp_486539472.k
+    let fut_486539476 = objTemp_486539472.fut
+    taskpool_term(k = k_486539474, fut = fut_486539476)
+
+  proc destroyScratch_486539479(args: pointer) {.gcsafe, nimcall,
+      raises: [].} =
+    let obj_486539480 = cast[ptr ScratchObj_486539477](args)
+    `=destroy`(obj_486539480[])
+
+  Task(callback: taskpool_term_486539478, args: scratch_486539455,
+      destroy: destroyScratch_486539479)
diff --git a/tests/test1.nim b/tests/test1.nim
deleted file mode 100644
index dbac806..0000000
--- a/tests/test1.nim
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
-# This is just an example to get you started. You may wish to put all of your
-# tests into a single file, or separate them into multiple `test1`, `test2`
-# etc. files (better names are recommended, just make sure the name starts with
-# the letter 't').
-#
-# To run these tests, simply execute `nimble test`.
-
-import unittest
-
-import apatheia
-test "can add":
-  check add(5, 5) == 10
diff --git a/tests/tjobs.nim b/tests/tjobs.nim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..933686f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/tjobs.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+import std/os
+
+import chronicles
+import chronos
+import chronos/threadsync
+import chronos/unittest2/asynctests
+import taskpools
+
+import apatheia/queues
+import apatheia/jobs
+
+proc addNumsRaw(a, b: float): float =
+  os.sleep(50)
+  return a + b
+
+proc addNums(jobResult: JobResult[float], a, b: float) =
+  let res = addNumsRaw(a, b)
+  discard jobResult.queue.send((jobResult.id, res,))
+
+suite "async tests":
+
+  var tp = Taskpool.new(num_threads = 2) # Default to the number of hardware threads.
+
+  asyncTest "test":
+    var jobs = newJobQueue[float](taskpool = tp)
+
+    let res = await jobs.submit(addNums(1.0, 2.0,))
+
+    check res == 3.0
+
diff --git a/tests/tqueues.nim b/tests/tqueues.nim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0f24dc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/tqueues.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+import std/os
+
+import chronos
+import chronos/threadsync
+import chronos/unittest2/asynctests
+import taskpools
+
+import apatheia/queues
+
+proc addNums(a, b: float, queue: SignalQueue[float]) =
+  os.sleep(50)
+  discard queue.send(a + b)
+
+suite "async tests":
+
+  var tp = Taskpool.new(num_threads = 2) # Default to the number of hardware threads.
+  var queue = newSignalQueue[float]()
+
+  asyncTest "test":
+
+    ## init
+    tp.spawn addNums(1.0, 2.0, queue)
+
+    let res = await wait(queue).wait(1500.milliseconds)
+
+    check res.get() == 3.0 
+
+
diff --git a/tests/ttasks.nim b/tests/ttasks.nim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3699516
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ttasks.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+import std/os
+
+import chronos
+import chronos/threadsync
+import chronos/unittest2/asynctests
+import taskpools
+
+import apatheia/queues
+import apatheia/tasks
+
+proc addNums(a, b: float): float {.asyncTask.} =
+  os.sleep(50)
+  return a + b
+
+proc addNumValues(vals: openArray[float]): float {.asyncTask.} =
+  os.sleep(100)
+  result = 0.0
+  for x in vals:
+    result += x
+
+suite "async tests":
+  var tp = Taskpool.new(num_threads = 2) # Default to the number of hardware threads.
+
+  asyncTest "test addNums":
+    var jobs = newJobQueue[float](taskpool = tp)
+    let res = await jobs.submit(addNums(1.0, 2.0,))
+    check res == 3.0
+
+  asyncTest "test addNumValues":
+    var jobs = newJobQueue[float](taskpool = tp)
+    let args = @[1.0, 2.0, 3.0]
+    let res = await jobs.submit(addNumValues(args))
+    check res == 6.0