diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 35cd7e3..b904a80 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -8,10 +8,37 @@ version = "0.5.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "36f5e3dca4e09a6f340a61a0e9c7b61e030c69fc27bf29d73218f7e5e3b7638f"
 dependencies = [
- "unicode-width",
+ "unicode-width 0.1.14",
  "yansi",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "bitflags"
+version = "2.9.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "5c8214115b7bf84099f1309324e63141d4c5d7cc26862f97a0a857dbefe165bd"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "cfg-if"
+version = "1.0.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "baf1de4339761588bc0619e3cbc0120ee582ebb74b53b4efbf79117bd2da40fd"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "cfg_aliases"
+version = "0.2.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "613afe47fcd5fac7ccf1db93babcb082c5994d996f20b8b159f2ad1658eb5724"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "clipboard-win"
+version = "5.4.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "15efe7a882b08f34e38556b14f2fb3daa98769d06c7f0c1b076dfd0d983bc892"
+dependencies = [
+ "error-code",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "console"
 version = "0.15.11"
@@ -30,6 +57,33 @@ version = "1.0.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "34aa73646ffb006b8f5147f3dc182bd4bcb190227ce861fc4a4844bf8e3cb2c0"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "errno"
+version = "0.3.11"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "976dd42dc7e85965fe702eb8164f21f450704bdde31faefd6471dba214cb594e"
+dependencies = [
+ "libc",
+ "windows-sys",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "error-code"
+version = "3.3.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "a5d9305ccc6942a704f4335694ecd3de2ea531b114ac2d51f5f843750787a92f"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "fd-lock"
+version = "4.0.4"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "0ce92ff622d6dadf7349484f42c93271a0d49b7cc4d466a936405bacbe10aa78"
+dependencies = [
+ "cfg-if",
+ "rustix",
+ "windows-sys",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "insta"
 version = "1.43.1"
@@ -47,6 +101,36 @@ version = "0.2.172"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "d750af042f7ef4f724306de029d18836c26c1765a54a6a3f094cbd23a7267ffa"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "linux-raw-sys"
+version = "0.9.4"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "cd945864f07fe9f5371a27ad7b52a172b4b499999f1d97574c9fa68373937e12"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "log"
+version = "0.4.27"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "13dc2df351e3202783a1fe0d44375f7295ffb4049267b0f3018346dc122a1d94"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "memchr"
+version = "2.7.4"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "78ca9ab1a0babb1e7d5695e3530886289c18cf2f87ec19a575a0abdce112e3a3"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "nix"
+version = "0.29.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "71e2746dc3a24dd78b3cfcb7be93368c6de9963d30f43a6a73998a9cf4b17b46"
+dependencies = [
+ "bitflags",
+ "cfg-if",
+ "cfg_aliases",
+ "libc",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "once_cell"
 version = "1.21.3"
@@ -59,6 +143,40 @@ version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
  "ariadne",
  "insta",
+ "rustyline",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "rustix"
+version = "1.0.7"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "c71e83d6afe7ff64890ec6b71d6a69bb8a610ab78ce364b3352876bb4c801266"
+dependencies = [
+ "bitflags",
+ "errno",
+ "libc",
+ "linux-raw-sys",
+ "windows-sys",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "rustyline"
+version = "15.0.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "2ee1e066dc922e513bda599c6ccb5f3bb2b0ea5870a579448f2622993f0a9a2f"
+dependencies = [
+ "bitflags",
+ "cfg-if",
+ "clipboard-win",
+ "fd-lock",
+ "libc",
+ "log",
+ "memchr",
+ "nix",
+ "unicode-segmentation",
+ "unicode-width 0.2.0",
+ "utf8parse",
+ "windows-sys",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -67,12 +185,30 @@ version = "2.7.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "bbbb5d9659141646ae647b42fe094daf6c6192d1620870b449d9557f748b2daa"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "unicode-segmentation"
+version = "1.12.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "f6ccf251212114b54433ec949fd6a7841275f9ada20dddd2f29e9ceea4501493"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "unicode-width"
 version = "0.1.14"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "7dd6e30e90baa6f72411720665d41d89b9a3d039dc45b8faea1ddd07f617f6af"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "unicode-width"
+version = "0.2.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "1fc81956842c57dac11422a97c3b8195a1ff727f06e85c84ed2e8aa277c9a0fd"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "utf8parse"
+version = "0.2.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "06abde3611657adf66d383f00b093d7faecc7fa57071cce2578660c9f1010821"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "windows-sys"
 version = "0.59.0"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 6ba1a65..c5b0dbb 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ authors = ["Khaïs COLIN"]
 
 [dependencies]
 ariadne = "0.5.1"
+rustyline = { version = "15.0.0", default-features = false, features = ["with-file-history"] }
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 insta = "1.43.1"
diff --git a/notes.org b/notes.org
index 439dc86..7420bf0 100644
--- a/notes.org
+++ b/notes.org
@@ -191,7 +191,20 @@ CLOCK: [2025-05-04 dim. 14:01]--[2025-05-04 dim. 14:14] =>  0:13
 
 * TODO use a better readline impl
 
+** DONE inform myself on the different alternatives and decide on one
+i will use rustyline, since it seems like the most feature-complete
+
+** DONE do the impl
+
+** TODO tweak it to make history work
+
 * TODO handle non-interactive input better
 
 * TODO cli tests using insta-cmd
 https://insta.rs/docs/cmd/
+
+* WAIT autocompletion
+needs a more complicated parser for that to make sense
+
+* WAIT tweak rustyline it to make multiline entry work
+need to terminate commands with semicolons for that to make sense
diff --git a/src/cli.rs b/src/cli.rs
index 4c8ee91..1323240 100644
--- a/src/cli.rs
+++ b/src/cli.rs
@@ -1,18 +1,11 @@
+use rustyline::DefaultEditor;
+
 pub fn read_input() -> Option<String> {
-    use std::io::{BufRead, Write};
+    let mut rl = DefaultEditor::new().ok()?;
 
-    print!("osdb > ");
-    std::io::stdout().flush().expect("failed to flush stdout");
-
-    let mut input = String::new();
-    let len = std::io::stdin()
-        .lock()
-        .read_line(&mut input)
-        .expect("failed to read input from stdin");
-
-    if len == 0 {
-        None
-    } else {
-        Some(input)
+    let readline = rl.readline("osdb> ");
+    match readline {
+        Ok(line) => Some(line),
+        Err(_) => None,
     }
 }