diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index c1fee74..495ca3e 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ boolean_expression = "0.4.4"
 egg = "0.9.5"
 rustc-hash = "2.0.0"
 regex = "1.11.1"
+thiserror = "2.0.4"
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 clap =  { version = "4.4.8", features = ["derive"] }
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 692019d..dd2a12a 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -6,10 +6,10 @@ extern crate lazy_static;
 extern crate core;
 
 pub mod btor2;
+pub mod dse;
 pub mod egraphs;
 pub mod expr;
 pub mod mc;
 pub mod sim;
 mod smt;
-pub mod dse;
 pub mod system;
diff --git a/src/smt.rs b/src/smt.rs
index f94cb0b..201c351 100644
--- a/src/smt.rs
+++ b/src/smt.rs
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
 mod parse;
 mod serialize;
+mod solver;
 
 pub use parse::{parse_smt_array, parse_smt_bit_vec};
 pub use serialize::{convert_expr, convert_tpe, escape_smt_identifier};
diff --git a/src/smt/solver.rs b/src/smt/solver.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2f227c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/smt/solver.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,243 @@
+// Copyright 2024 Cornell University
+// released under BSD 3-Clause License
+// author: Kevin Laeufer <laeufer@cornell.edu>
+
+use crate::expr::{Context, ExprRef};
+use std::io::Write;
+use std::io::{BufRead, BufReader, BufWriter};
+use std::process::{ChildStdin, Command, Stdio};
+use thiserror::Error;
+
+/// A SMT Solver Error.
+#[derive(Error, Debug)]
+pub enum Error {
+    #[error("[smt] I/O operation failed")]
+    Io(#[from] std::io::Error),
+    #[error("[smt] cannot pop because the stack is already empty")]
+    StackUnderflow,
+    #[error("[smt] {0} reported an error:\n{1}")]
+    FromSolver(String, String),
+    #[error("[smt] {0} returned an unexpected response:\n{1}")]
+    UnexpectedResponse(String, String),
+}
+
+pub type Result<T> = std::result::Result<T, Error>;
+
+/// An SMT Logic.
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+pub enum Logic {
+    All,
+    QfAufbv,
+    QfAbv,
+}
+
+/// The result of a `(check-sat)` command.
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+pub enum CheckSatResponse {
+    Sat,
+    Unsat,
+    Unknown,
+}
+
+/// Interface to a SMT Solver with everything executing as blocking I/O.
+pub trait Solver {
+    fn set_logic(&mut self, option: Logic) -> Result<()>;
+    fn assert(&mut self, ctx: &Context, e: ExprRef) -> Result<()>;
+    fn declare_const(&mut self, ctx: &Context, symbol: ExprRef) -> Result<()>;
+    fn define_const(&mut self, ctx: &Context, symbol: ExprRef, expr: ExprRef) -> Result<()>;
+    fn check_sat_assuming(
+        &mut self,
+        props: impl IntoIterator<Item = ExprRef>,
+    ) -> Result<CheckSatResponse>;
+    fn check_sat(&mut self) -> Result<CheckSatResponse> {
+        self.check_sat_assuming([])
+    }
+    fn push(&mut self) -> Result<()>;
+    fn pop(&mut self) -> Result<()>;
+}
+
+/// Launches an SMT solver and communicates through `stdin` using SMTLib commands.
+pub struct SmtLibSolver {
+    name: String,
+    proc: std::process::Child,
+    stdin: BufWriter<std::process::ChildStdin>,
+    stdout: BufReader<std::process::ChildStdout>,
+    stack_depth: usize,
+    response: String,
+}
+
+impl SmtLibSolver {
+    pub fn bitwuzla() -> Result<impl Solver> {
+        Self::create(&BITWUZLA_CMD)
+    }
+
+    fn create(cmd: &SmtSolverCmd) -> Result<impl Solver> {
+        let mut proc = Command::new(cmd.name)
+            .args(cmd.args)
+            .stdin(Stdio::piped())
+            .stdout(Stdio::piped())
+            .spawn()?;
+        let stdin = BufWriter::new(proc.stdin.take().unwrap());
+        let stdout = BufReader::new(proc.stdout.take().unwrap());
+        let name = cmd.name.to_string();
+        let mut solver = Self {
+            name,
+            proc,
+            stdin,
+            stdout,
+            stack_depth: 0,
+            response: String::new(),
+        };
+        for option in cmd.options.iter() {
+            solver.write_cmd(|o| writeln!(o, "(set-option :{} true)", option))?;
+        }
+        Ok(solver)
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    fn write_cmd_str(&mut self, cmd: &str) -> Result<()> {
+        self.write_cmd(|stdin| writeln!(stdin, "{}", cmd))
+    }
+
+    #[inline]
+    fn write_cmd(
+        &mut self,
+        cmd: impl Fn(&mut BufWriter<ChildStdin>) -> std::result::Result<(), std::io::Error>,
+    ) -> Result<()> {
+        cmd(&mut self.stdin)?;
+        self.stdin.flush()?;
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
+    /// after this function executes, the result will be available in `self.result`.
+    fn read_response(&mut self) -> Result<()> {
+        self.stdin.flush()?; // make sure that the commands reached the solver
+        self.response.clear();
+        // our basic assumptions are:
+        // 1. the solver will terminate its answer with '\n'
+        // 2. the answer will contain a balanced number of parenthesis
+        self.stdout.read_line(&mut self.response)?;
+        while count_parens(&self.response) > 0 {
+            self.response.push(' ');
+            self.stdout.read_line(&mut self.response)?;
+        }
+        // check to see if there was an error
+        if self.response.trim_start().starts_with("(error") {
+            let trimmed = self.response.trim();
+            let start = "(error ".len();
+            let msg = &trimmed[start..(trimmed.len() - start - 1)];
+            Err(Error::FromSolver(self.name.clone(), msg.to_string()))
+        } else {
+            Ok(())
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+fn count_parens(s: &str) -> i64 {
+    s.chars().fold(0, |count, cc| match cc {
+        '(' => count + 1,
+        ')' => count - 1,
+        _ => count,
+    })
+}
+
+impl Drop for SmtLibSolver {
+    fn drop(&mut self) {
+        // try to close the child process as not to leak resources
+        self.write_cmd_str("(exit)")
+            .expect("failed to send exit command");
+        let status = self
+            .proc
+            .wait()
+            .expect("failed to wait for SMT solver to exit");
+        assert!(
+            status.success(),
+            "There was an error with the solver exiting: {:?}",
+            status
+        );
+    }
+}
+
+impl Solver for SmtLibSolver {
+    fn set_logic(&mut self, logic: Logic) -> Result<()> {
+        let logic = match logic {
+            Logic::All => "ALL",
+            Logic::QfAufbv => "QF_AUFBV",
+            Logic::QfAbv => "QF_ABV",
+        };
+        self.write_cmd(|o| writeln!(o, "(set-logic {})", logic))
+    }
+
+    fn assert(&mut self, ctx: &Context, e: ExprRef) -> Result<()> {
+        todo!()
+    }
+
+    fn declare_const(&mut self, ctx: &Context, symbol: ExprRef) -> Result<()> {
+        todo!()
+    }
+
+    fn define_const(&mut self, ctx: &Context, symbol: ExprRef, expr: ExprRef) -> Result<()> {
+        todo!()
+    }
+
+    fn check_sat_assuming(
+        &mut self,
+        props: impl IntoIterator<Item = ExprRef>,
+    ) -> Result<CheckSatResponse> {
+        todo!()
+    }
+
+    fn check_sat(&mut self) -> Result<CheckSatResponse> {
+        self.write_cmd_str("(check-sat)")?;
+        self.read_response()?;
+        match self.response.trim() {
+            "sat" => Ok(CheckSatResponse::Sat),
+            "unsat" => Ok(CheckSatResponse::Unsat),
+            other => Err(Error::UnexpectedResponse(
+                self.name.clone(),
+                other.to_string(),
+            )),
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn push(&mut self) -> Result<()> {
+        self.write_cmd_str("(push 1)")?;
+        self.stack_depth += 1;
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
+    fn pop(&mut self) -> Result<()> {
+        if self.stack_depth > 0 {
+            self.write_cmd_str("(pop 1)")?;
+            self.stack_depth -= 1;
+            Ok(())
+        } else {
+            Err(Error::StackUnderflow)
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy)]
+struct SmtSolverCmd {
+    name: &'static str,
+    args: &'static [&'static str],
+    options: &'static [&'static str],
+    supports_uf: bool,
+    supports_check_assuming: bool,
+}
+
+const BITWUZLA_CMD: SmtSolverCmd = SmtSolverCmd {
+    name: "bitwuzla",
+    args: &[],
+    options: &["incremental"],
+    supports_uf: false,
+    supports_check_assuming: true,
+};
+
+const YICES2_CMD: SmtSolverCmd = SmtSolverCmd {
+    name: "yices-smt2",
+    args: &["--incremental"],
+    options: &[],
+    supports_uf: false, // actually true, but ignoring for now
+    supports_check_assuming: false,
+};