diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index d4d026e9d18..94e6ed42700 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -382,7 +382,12 @@
       <artifactId>commons-lang</artifactId>
       <version>${commons-lang-version}</version>
       <scope>compile</scope>
-    </dependency>      
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>commons-cli</groupId>
+      <artifactId>commons-cli</artifactId>
+      <version>${commons-cli-version}</version>
+    </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.scalatest</groupId>
       <artifactId>scalatest_2.11</artifactId>
@@ -402,6 +407,7 @@
     <swagger-core-version>1.5.0-SNAPSHOT</swagger-core-version>
     <scala-test-version>2.1.4</scala-test-version>
     <commons-io-version>2.3</commons-io-version>
+    <commons-cli-version>1.2</commons-cli-version>
 
     <junit-version>4.8.1</junit-version>
     <maven-plugin-version>1.0.0</maven-plugin-version>
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/ClientOptInput.java b/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/ClientOptInput.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a48a92f3faa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/ClientOptInput.java
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+/**
+ *  Copyright 2014 Reverb, Inc.
+ *
+ *  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ *  you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ *  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ *  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ *  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ *  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ *  limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package com.wordnik.swagger.codegen;
+
+import com.wordnik.swagger.codegen.ClientOpts;
+
+import com.wordnik.swagger.models.Swagger;
+
+public class ClientOptInput {
+  private ClientOpts opts;
+  private Swagger model;
+  protected CodegenConfig config;
+
+  public ClientOptInput model(Swagger model) {
+    this.setModel(model);
+    return this;
+  }
+  public ClientOptInput opts(ClientOpts opts) {
+    this.setOpts(opts);
+    return this;
+  }
+
+  public CodegenConfig getConfig() {
+    return config;
+  }
+  public void setConfig(CodegenConfig config) {
+    this.config = config;
+  }
+
+  public void setOpts(ClientOpts opts) {
+    this.opts = opts;
+  }
+
+  public ClientOpts getOpts() {
+    return opts;
+  }
+
+  public void setModel(Swagger model) {
+    this.model = model;
+  }
+
+  public Swagger getModel() {
+    return model;
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/ClientOpts.java b/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/ClientOpts.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b8d681cc307
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/ClientOpts.java
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+package com.wordnik.swagger.codegen;
+
+import com.wordnik.swagger.codegen.auth.*;
+
+import java.util.*;
+
+public class ClientOpts {
+  protected String uri;
+  protected String target;
+  protected AuthMethod auth;
+  protected Map<String, String> properties = new HashMap<String, String>();
+  protected String outputDirectory;
+
+  public String getUri() {
+    return uri;
+  }
+  public void setUri(String uri) {
+    this.uri = uri;
+  }
+
+  public String getTarget() {
+    return target;
+  }
+  public void setTarget(String target) {
+    this.target = target;
+  }
+
+  public Map<String, String> getProperties() {
+    return properties;
+  }
+  public void setProperties(Map<String, String> properties) {
+    this.properties = properties;
+  }  
+
+  public String getOutputDirectory() {
+    return outputDirectory;
+  }
+  public void setOutputDirectory(String outputDirectory) {
+    this.outputDirectory = outputDirectory;
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public String toString() {
+    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+    sb.append("ClientOpts: {\n");
+    sb.append("  uri: ").append(uri).append(",");
+    sb.append("  auth: ").append(auth).append(",");
+    sb.append(properties);
+    sb.append("}");
+    return sb.toString();
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/Codegen.java b/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/Codegen.java
index 19f31b80d3e..5d2cfb4818b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/Codegen.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/Codegen.java
@@ -1,38 +1,59 @@
 package com.wordnik.swagger.codegen;
 
-import  com.wordnik.swagger.codegen.languages.*;
+import com.wordnik.swagger.codegen.languages.*;
 import com.wordnik.swagger.models.Swagger;
-import com.wordnik.swagger.util.Json;
+import com.wordnik.swagger.util.*;
+
+import org.apache.commons.cli.*;
 
 import java.io.File;
 
 public class Codegen extends DefaultGenerator {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
-    CodegenConfig config = null;
-    if(args != null && args.length > 0) {
-      String lang = args[0];
-      if("java".equals(lang)) {
-        JavaClientCodegen javaConfig = new JavaClientCodegen();
-        javaConfig.setTemplateDir("src/main/resources/Java");
-        config = javaConfig;
-      }
-      else if ("objc".equals(lang)) {
-        ObjcClientCodegen objcConfig = new ObjcClientCodegen();
-        objcConfig.setTemplateDir("src/main/resources/objc");
-        config = objcConfig;
-      }
+    Options options = new Options();
+    options.addOption("l", "lang", true, "client language to generate");
+    options.addOption("o", "output", true, "where to write the generated files");
+    options.addOption("i", "input-spec", true, "location of the swagger spec, as URL or file");
+
+    ClientOptInput codegenInput = new ClientOptInput();
+    ClientOpts clientArgs = new ClientOpts();
+    Swagger swagger = null;
+
+    CommandLine cmd = null;
+    try {
+      CommandLineParser parser = new BasicParser();
+      cmd = parser.parse(options, args);
+      if (cmd.hasOption("l"))
+        codegenInput.setConfig(getConfig(cmd.getOptionValue("l")));
+      if (cmd.hasOption("o"))
+        codegenInput.getConfig().setOutputDir(cmd.getOptionValue("o"));
+      if (cmd.hasOption("i"))
+        swagger = new SwaggerLoader().read(cmd.getOptionValue("i"));
+
+    }
+    catch (Exception e) {
+      e.printStackTrace();
+      return;
     }
 
     try{
-      Swagger swagger = (Swagger) Json.mapper()
-        .readValue(new File("swagger.json"), Swagger.class);
+      codegenInput
+        .opts(clientArgs)
+        .model(swagger);
 
-      new Codegen()
-        .config(config)
-        .generate(swagger);
+      new Codegen().opts(codegenInput).generate();
     }
     catch (Exception e) {
       e.printStackTrace();
     }
   }
+
+  static CodegenConfig getConfig(String name) {
+    if("objc".equals(name))
+      return new ObjcClientCodegen();
+    else if("java".equals(name)) 
+      return new JavaClientCodegen();
+    else
+      throw new RuntimeException("unsupported client type");
+  }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/CodegenConfig.java b/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/CodegenConfig.java
index 78604490ba1..43a5f2902ab 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/CodegenConfig.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/CodegenConfig.java
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ public interface CodegenConfig {
   String toModelName(String name);
   String toParamName(String name);
   String escapeReservedWord(String name);
-
   String getTypeDeclaration(Property p);
   String getTypeDeclaration(String name);
 
@@ -26,6 +25,9 @@ public interface CodegenConfig {
 
   List<SupportingFile> supportingFiles();
 
+  void setOutputDir(String dir);
+  String getOutputDir();
+
   CodegenModel fromModel(String name, Model model);
   CodegenOperation fromOperation(String resourcePath, String httpMethod, Operation operation);
   Set<String> defaultIncludes();
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/DefaultCodegen.java b/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/DefaultCodegen.java
index 04bc9f55bcb..877d8ffe0f8 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/DefaultCodegen.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/DefaultCodegen.java
@@ -71,6 +71,13 @@ public class DefaultCodegen {
     return outputFolder;
   }
 
+  public void setOutputDir(String dir) {
+    this.outputFolder = dir;
+  }
+  public String getOutputDir() {
+    return outputFolder();
+  }
+
   public void setTemplateDir(String templateDir) {
     this.templateDir = templateDir;
   }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/DefaultGenerator.java b/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/DefaultGenerator.java
index c5f5d37db21..0cfe4c8b7cd 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/DefaultGenerator.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/DefaultGenerator.java
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import com.wordnik.swagger.models.*;
 import com.wordnik.swagger.models.properties.*;
 import com.wordnik.swagger.util.*;
 
+import com.wordnik.swagger.codegen.languages.*;
 import com.samskivert.mustache.*;
 
 import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
@@ -13,13 +14,23 @@ import java.io.*;
 
 public class DefaultGenerator implements Generator {
   private CodegenConfig config;
+  private ClientOptInput opts = null;
+  private Swagger swagger = null;
+
+  public Generator opts(ClientOptInput opts) {
+    this.opts = opts;
+
+    this.swagger = opts.getModel();
+    ClientOpts clientOpts = opts.getOpts();
+    this.config = opts.getConfig();
 
-  public Generator config(CodegenConfig config) {
-    this.config = config;
     return this;
   }
 
-  public void generate(Swagger swagger) {
+  public void generate() {
+    if(swagger == null || config == null) {
+      throw new RuntimeException("missing swagger input or config!");
+    }
     try {
       Map<String, Object> models = null;
       Map<String, Object> operations = null;
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/Generator.java b/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/Generator.java
index be5b7ff9db0..929ae580991 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/Generator.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/Generator.java
@@ -3,6 +3,6 @@ package com.wordnik.swagger.codegen;
 import com.wordnik.swagger.models.Swagger;
 
 public interface Generator {
-  Generator config(CodegenConfig config);
-  void generate(Swagger swagger);
+  Generator opts(ClientOptInput opts);
+  void generate();
 }
\ No newline at end of file