diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 7fb45e13..13a14a5e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,3 +4,4 @@ yarn-error.log
 .merlin
 .parcel-cache
 .DS_Store
+.auctex-auto
diff --git a/syntax/README.md b/syntax/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4a12efba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/syntax/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# The syntax and semantics of squiggle
+
+We give the syntax in a BNF-like specification
+
+``` sh
+nix-build
+```
+shall dump `squiggle-spec.pdf` in the `result` directory. 
diff --git a/syntax/default.nix b/syntax/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e164fdff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/syntax/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+{ chan ? "a7ecde854aee5c4c7cd6177f54a99d2c1ff28a31" #  21.11 tag
+, pkgs ? import (builtins.fetchTarball { url = "https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/${chan}.tar.gz"; }) {}
+}:
+# Style sheets https://github.com/citation-style-language/styles/
+with pkgs;
+let deps = [
+      (texlive.combine
+        { inherit (texlive)
+        scheme-full;
+        }
+      )
+    ];
+in
+  stdenv.mkDerivation {
+    name = "render_squiggle-spec";
+    src = ./spec;
+    buildInputs = deps;
+    buildPhase = ''
+      echo rendering...
+      pdflatex main
+      biber main
+      pdflatex main
+      pdflatex main
+      echo rendered.
+    '';
+    installPhase = ''
+      mkdir -p $out
+      cp main.pdf $out/squiggle-spec.pdf
+      '';
+  }
diff --git a/syntax/spec/appendix.tex b/syntax/spec/appendix.tex
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..177c4b4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/syntax/spec/appendix.tex
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+\documentclass[../main.tex]{subfiles}
+\begin{document}
+\section{Appendix}
+
+\end{document}
diff --git a/syntax/spec/biblio.bib b/syntax/spec/biblio.bib
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4f2c3d64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/syntax/spec/biblio.bib
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+@book{@PFPL,
+    author = {Robert Harper},
+    title = {Practical Foundations for Programming Languages},
+    year = {2016}
+}
diff --git a/syntax/spec/introduction.tex b/syntax/spec/introduction.tex
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4d018394
--- /dev/null
+++ b/syntax/spec/introduction.tex
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+\documentclass[../main.tex]{subfiles}
+\begin{document}
+\section{Design goals of Squiggle}
+
+\end{document}
diff --git a/syntax/spec/main.tex b/syntax/spec/main.tex
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b9268f39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/syntax/spec/main.tex
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+\documentclass{article}
+\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
+\usepackage{syntax}
+\setlength{\grammarparsep}{2ex plus 0.1ex minus 0.05ex}
+% \usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
+\usepackage{bussproofs}
+\usepackage{amsfonts}
+\usepackage{subfiles}
+
+\usepackage{hyperref}
+\hypersetup{colorlinks = true, citecolor = blue}
+
+\usepackage[backend=biber, hyperref=true, citestyle=authoryear]{biblatex}
+\addbibresource{biblio.bib}
+
+\title{pluto-spec}
+\author{Platonic.Systems}
+\date{February 2022}
+
+\begin{document}
+\maketitle{}
+
+\nocite{*}
+\subfile{introduction}
+\subfile{syntax}
+\subfile{semantics}
+\subfile{appendix}
+\printbibliography
+\end{document}
diff --git a/syntax/spec/semantics.tex b/syntax/spec/semantics.tex
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..efad6de3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/syntax/spec/semantics.tex
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+\documentclass[../main.tex]{subfiles}
+\begin{document}
+\section{Semantics}\label{section:semantics}
+
+\end{document}
diff --git a/syntax/spec/syntax.tex b/syntax/spec/syntax.tex
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..21fd743a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/syntax/spec/syntax.tex
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+\documentclass[../main.tex]{subfiles}
+\begin{document}
+\section{Syntax}\label{section:syntax}
+\subsection{Base types and 44 ast nodes}
+In regex notation, we provide the following means of describing literals as well as the specification of the constants T and F.
+    \begin{center}
+    \begin{tabular}{c c c}
+        \texttt{var} & ::= & [a-z][a-zA-Z0-9]* \\
+        \texttt{int} & ::= & "-"? [0-9]+ \\
+        \texttt{byte} & ::= & "0x" [0-9a-fA-F] \\
+        \texttt{bytestring} & ::= & "0x" [0-9a-fA-F]+ \\
+        \texttt{text} & ::= & <too tough to get latex to compile it lol>  \\
+        \texttt{bool} & ::= & [TF] \\
+        \texttt{unit} & ::= & [()]
+    \end{tabular}
+    \end{center}
+    \label{tab:atomsregex}
+
+Additionally, we have builtins as follows, (with semantics given in \ref{section:dynamics}). \textbf{Morgan: should a let ast node be in this list of builtins??}
+\begin{grammar}
+    <builtin> ::=
+        "AddInteger" \alt "SubtractInteger" \alt "MultiplyInteger"
+        \alt "DivideInteger" \alt "QuotientInteger" \alt "RemainderInteger"
+        \alt "ModInteger" \alt "EqualsInteger" \alt "LessThanInteger"
+        \alt "LessThanEqualsInteger" \alt "AppendByteString"
+        \alt "ConsByteString" \alt "SliceByteString" \alt "LengthByteString"
+        \alt "IndexByteString" \alt "EqualsByteString" \alt "LessThanByteString"
+        \alt "LessThanEqualsByteString" \alt "Sha2_256" \alt "Sha3_256" \alt "Blake2b_256"
+        \alt "VerifySignature" \alt "AppendString" \alt "EqualsString"
+        \alt "EncodeUtf8" \alt "DecodeUtf8" \alt "IfThenElse" \alt "ChooseUnit"
+        \alt "MkCons" \alt "HeadList" \alt "TailList" \alt "NullList"
+        \alt "ChooseData" \alt "ConstrData" \alt "MapData" \alt "ListData"
+        \alt "IData" \alt "BData" \alt "UnConstrData" \alt "UnMapData"
+        \alt "EqualsData" \alt "MkPairData" \alt "MkNilData" \alt "MkNilPairData"
+\end{grammar}
+
+Many of which have syntax sugars for infix application, like so
+\begin{grammar}
+    <infixbuiltin> ::=
+        "+i" \alt "-i" \alt "*i" \alt "/i" \alt "//i" \alt $\%$"i" \alt "==i" \alt "lti" \alt $\leq$"i" \alt "+b" \alt ":b" \alt "!b" \alt "==b" \alt "ltb" \alt $\leq$"b" \alt "+s" \alt "==s" \alt "==d"
+\end{grammar}
+\textit{Sorry, having trouble getting lessthan sign to render rn}. In the small step dynamics given in \ref{section:dynamics}, only abstract syntax (i.e. $<builtin>$) will be provided, not concrete syntax (i.e. including sugar).
+
+\end{document}