diff --git a/db/migrations.go b/db/migrations.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7b9a665
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrations.go
@@ -0,0 +1,165 @@
+// Migrations provides an agnostic way to run database migrations for a service.
+// Just provide a database connection and FS full of migration scripts, and
+// call PrepareDatabase() and RunMigrations() (both idempotent) and you're off
+// to the races.
+//
+// Currently assumes MySQL, but will be expanded with more DB backends Soon™️.
+package grabdb
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"database/sql"
+	"fmt"
+	"io/fs"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
+	"time"
+)
+
+type Migrations struct {
+	Connection   *sql.DB
+	VersionTable string
+	MigrationsFS fs.ReadDirFS
+}
+
+type migration struct {
+	id      int
+	name    string
+	content []byte
+}
+
+// NewMigrations returns a new Migration struct that provides db migration functions.
+// fs must be a filesystem that has a folder of .sql files in the root,
+// named in the following pattern: 00-name.sql, 01-name.sql, 02-name.sql...
+// Migrations will be applied in numerical sort order. Migrations will only be applied once.
+// Behavior of duplicated integers is undefined, but probably unpleasant.
+func NewMigrations(connection *sql.DB, dbType string, tablename string, fs fs.ReadDirFS) (*Migrations, error) {
+	if connection == nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("db connection must be provided")
+	}
+	if tablename == "" {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("tablename must be provided")
+	}
+	if fs == nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("filesystem must be provided")
+	}
+	return &Migrations{
+		Connection:   connection,
+		VersionTable: tablename,
+		MigrationsFS: fs,
+	}, nil
+}
+
+func (m *Migrations) PrepareDatabase(ctx context.Context) error {
+	if m.Connection == nil || m.VersionTable == "" {
+		return fmt.Errorf("uninitialized migration struct")
+	}
+
+	tablecheck := `SELECT count(*) AS count
+		FROM information_schema.TABLES
+		WHERE TABLE_NAME = '` + m.VersionTable + `'
+		AND TABLE_SCHEMA in (SELECT DATABASE());`
+	tableschema := `CREATE TABLE ` + m.VersionTable + `(
+		id INT NOT NULL,
+		name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
+		datetime DATE,
+		PRIMARY KEY (id))`
+
+	var versionTableExists int
+	m.Connection.QueryRowContext(ctx, tablecheck).Scan(&versionTableExists)
+	if versionTableExists != 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	_, err := m.Connection.ExecContext(ctx, tableschema)
+	return err
+}
+
+func (m *Migrations) GetLatestMigration(ctx context.Context) (int, error) {
+	if m.Connection == nil || m.VersionTable == "" {
+		return 0, fmt.Errorf("uninitialized migration struct")
+	}
+
+	var latestMigration int
+	err := m.Connection.QueryRowContext(ctx, "SELECT COALESCE(MAX(id), 0) FROM "+m.VersionTable).Scan(&latestMigration)
+	return latestMigration, err
+}
+
+func (m *Migrations) RunMigrations(ctx context.Context) (int, int, error) {
+	if m.Connection == nil || m.VersionTable == "" {
+		return 0, 0, fmt.Errorf("uninitialized migration struct")
+	}
+
+	migrations := map[int]migration{}
+	dir, err := m.MigrationsFS.ReadDir("/")
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, 0, fmt.Errorf("could not load migrations from fs directory: %w", err)
+	}
+	for f := range dir {
+		if dir[f].Type().IsRegular() {
+			mig := migration{}
+			id, name, err := parseMigrationFileName(dir[f].Name())
+			if err != nil {
+				return 0, 0, fmt.Errorf("could not parse migration from fs directory: %w", err)
+			}
+			mig.id, mig.name = id, name
+			mig.content, err = fs.ReadFile(m.MigrationsFS, "/"+dir[f].Name())
+			if err != nil {
+				return 0, 0, fmt.Errorf("could not load migration from fs: %w", err)
+			}
+			migrations[mig.id] = mig
+		}
+	}
+
+	latestMigrationRan, err := m.GetLatestMigration(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, 0, fmt.Errorf("unable to determine most recent migration: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	// exit if nothing to do (that is, there's no greater migration ID)
+	if _, ok := migrations[latestMigrationRan+1]; !ok {
+		return latestMigrationRan, 0, nil
+	}
+
+	// loop over and apply migrations if required
+	tx, err := m.Connection.BeginTx(ctx, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		return latestMigrationRan, 0, fmt.Errorf("unable to open transaction: %w", err)
+	}
+	migrationsRun := 0
+	for migrationsToRun := true; migrationsToRun; _, migrationsToRun = migrations[latestMigrationRan+1] {
+		mig := migrations[latestMigrationRan+1]
+		_, err := tx.ExecContext(ctx, string(mig.content))
+		if err != nil {
+			nestederr := tx.Rollback()
+			if nestederr != nil {
+				return latestMigrationRan, migrationsRun, fmt.Errorf("error executing migration %d: %w", latestMigrationRan+1, nestederr)
+			}
+			return latestMigrationRan, migrationsRun, fmt.Errorf("error executing migration %d: %w", latestMigrationRan+1, err)
+		}
+		_, err = tx.ExecContext(ctx, "INSERT INTO "+m.VersionTable+" (id, name, datetime) VALUES (?, ?, ?)", mig.id, mig.name, time.Now())
+		if err != nil {
+			nestederr := tx.Rollback()
+			if nestederr != nil {
+				return latestMigrationRan, migrationsRun, fmt.Errorf("failure recording migration in '%s': %w", m.VersionTable, nestederr)
+			}
+			return latestMigrationRan, migrationsRun, fmt.Errorf("failure recording migration in '%s': %w", m.VersionTable, err)
+		}
+		latestMigrationRan = latestMigrationRan + 1
+		migrationsRun = migrationsRun + 1
+	}
+	err = tx.Commit()
+	if err != nil {
+		return latestMigrationRan, migrationsRun, fmt.Errorf("failure committing transaction: %w", err)
+	}
+	return latestMigrationRan, migrationsRun, nil
+}
+
+func parseMigrationFileName(filename string) (int, string, error) {
+	sp := strings.SplitN(filename, "-", 2)
+	i, err := strconv.Atoi(sp[0])
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, "", err
+	}
+	tr := strings.TrimSuffix(sp[1], ".sql")
+	return i, tr, nil
+}
diff --git a/http/http.go b/http/http.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6b0cc43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/http/http.go
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+package grabhttp
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"io/fs"
+	"net/http"
+)
+
+type errorStruct struct {
+	Status string `json:"status"`
+	Error  string `json:"error"`
+}
+
+func StaticHandler(f fs.FS) http.Handler {
+	return http.FileServer(http.FS(f))
+}
+
+func WriteJSON(i interface{}, status int, w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+	b, err := json.Marshal(i)
+	if err != nil {
+		ErrorJSON(err, http.StatusInternalServerError, w, r)
+		return
+	}
+	w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+	w.WriteHeader(status)
+	w.Write(b)
+	w.Write([]byte("\n"))
+}
+
+func WriteHTML(b []byte, status int, w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+	w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "text/html")
+	w.WriteHeader(status)
+	w.Write(b)
+	w.Write([]byte("\n"))
+}
+
+func ErrorJSON(err error, status int, w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+	WriteJSON(errorStruct{
+		Status: "error",
+		Error:  err.Error(),
+	}, status, w, r)
+}
diff --git a/http/http_test.go b/http/http_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fca6307
--- /dev/null
+++ b/http/http_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+package grabhttp
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"io"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestWriteJSON(t *testing.T) {
+	testcases := []struct {
+		input   interface{}
+		code    int
+		outcode int
+		output  []byte
+	}{
+		{
+			input:  struct{}{},
+			code:   http.StatusOK,
+			output: []byte("{}\n"),
+		},
+		{
+			input:  struct{}{},
+			code:   http.StatusNotFound,
+			output: []byte("{}\n"),
+		},
+		{
+			input: struct {
+				Foo string
+			}{
+				Foo: "foo",
+			},
+			code:   http.StatusOK,
+			output: []byte(`{"Foo":"foo"}` + "\n"),
+		},
+		{
+			input: struct {
+				Foo struct {
+					Bar string `json:"quuz"`
+				}
+			}{
+				Foo: struct {
+					Bar string `json:"quuz"`
+				}{Bar: "foo"},
+			},
+			code:   http.StatusOK,
+			output: []byte(`{"Foo":{"quuz":"foo"}}` + "\n"),
+		},
+		{
+			input:   struct{ C func() }{C: func() {}},
+			code:    http.StatusOK,
+			outcode: http.StatusInternalServerError,
+			output:  []byte(`{"status":"error","error":"json: unsupported type: func()"}` + "\n"),
+		},
+	}
+	for i, c := range testcases {
+		w := httptest.NewRecorder()
+		WriteJSON(c.input, c.code, w, httptest.NewRequest("", "/", nil))
+		if w.Code != c.code && w.Code != c.outcode {
+			t.Logf("code mismatch on case %d", i)
+			t.Fail()
+		}
+		b, err := io.ReadAll(w.Body)
+		if err != nil || !bytes.Equal(b, c.output) {
+			t.Logf("failed: %s != %s", b, c.output)
+			t.Fail()
+		}
+	}
+}