diff --git a/justfile b/justfile
index 914e6288..2f821385 100644
--- a/justfile
+++ b/justfile
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 test:
 	cargo test
+	cargo run -- quine
 
 # list all recipies
 list:
@@ -8,16 +9,8 @@ list:
 args:
 	@echo "I got some arguments: ARG0=${ARG0} ARG1=${ARG1} ARG2=${ARG2}"
 
-# make a quine and compile it
-quine: create compile
-
-# create our quine
-create:
-	mkdir -p tmp
-	echo 'int printf(const char*, ...); int main() { char *s = "int printf(const char*, ...); int main() { char *s = %c%s%c; printf(s, 34, s, 34); return 0; }"; printf(s, 34, s, 34); return 0; }' > tmp/gen0.c
-
-# make sure it's really a quine
-compile:
+# make a quine, compile it, and verify it
+quine: create
 	cc tmp/gen0.c -o tmp/gen0
 	./tmp/gen0 > tmp/gen1.c
 	cc tmp/gen1.c -o tmp/gen1
@@ -25,6 +18,12 @@ compile:
 	diff tmp/gen1.c tmp/gen2.c
 	@echo 'It was a quine!'
 
+# create our quine
+create:
+	mkdir -p tmp
+	echo 'int printf(const char*, ...); int main() { char *s = "int printf(const char*, ...); int main() { char *s = %c%s%c; printf(s, 34, s, 34); return 0; }"; printf(s, 34, s, 34); return 0; }' > tmp/gen0.c
+
+
 # clean up
 clean:
 	rm -r tmp
diff --git a/notes b/notes
index 25b43f53..34799379 100644
--- a/notes
+++ b/notes
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
 notes
 -----
 
+-- report double compile error
+-- actually run recipes
+-- actually parse recipe and validate contents
+-- think about maybe using multiple cores
+-- should pre-requisite order really be arbitrary?
+-- test plan order
+
 - look through all justfiles for features of make that I use. so far:
   . phony
   . SHELL := zsh
@@ -8,9 +15,11 @@ notes
   . make variables
 - ask travis for his justfiles
 
+- comment code
+
 command line arguments:
 - --show recipe: print recipe information
-- --list if there's a bad recipe given
+- --list recipes if  a bad recipe given
 
 execution:
 - indent for line continuation
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 56155294..adf2050c 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ fn re(pattern: &str) -> Regex {
   Regex::new(pattern).unwrap()
 }
 
-pub struct Recipe<'a> {
+struct Recipe<'a> {
   line:               usize,
   name:               &'a str,
   leading_whitespace: &'a str,
@@ -49,6 +49,56 @@ pub struct Recipe<'a> {
   dependencies:       BTreeSet<&'a str>,
 }
 
+impl<'a> Recipe<'a> {
+  fn run(&self) -> Result<(), RunError<'a>> {
+    // TODO: actually run recipes
+    warn!("running {}", self.name);
+    for command in &self.commands {
+     warn!("{}", command);
+    }
+    // Err(RunError::Code{recipe: self.name, code: -1})
+    Ok(())
+  }
+}
+
+fn resolve<'a>(
+  text:     &'a str,
+  recipes:  &BTreeMap<&str, Recipe<'a>>,
+  resolved: &mut HashSet<&'a str>,
+  seen:     &mut HashSet<&'a str>,
+  stack:    &mut Vec<&'a str>,
+  recipe:   &Recipe<'a>,
+) -> Result<(), Error<'a>> {
+  if resolved.contains(recipe.name) {
+    return Ok(())
+  }
+  stack.push(recipe.name);
+  seen.insert(recipe.name);
+  for dependency_name in &recipe.dependencies {
+    match recipes.get(dependency_name) {
+      Some(dependency) => if !resolved.contains(dependency.name) {
+        if seen.contains(dependency.name) {
+          let first = stack[0];
+          stack.push(first);
+          return Err(error(text, recipe.line, ErrorKind::CircularDependency {
+            circle: stack.iter()
+              .skip_while(|name| **name != dependency.name)
+              .cloned().collect()
+          }));
+        }
+        return resolve(text, recipes, resolved, seen, stack, dependency);
+      },
+      None => return Err(error(text, recipe.line, ErrorKind::UnknownDependency {
+        name:    recipe.name,
+        unknown: dependency_name
+      })),
+    }
+  }
+  resolved.insert(recipe.name);
+  stack.pop();
+  Ok(())
+}
+
 #[derive(Debug)]
 pub struct Error<'a> {
   text: &'a str,
@@ -162,7 +212,7 @@ impl<'a> Display for Error<'a> {
 }
 
 pub struct Justfile<'a> {
-  pub recipes: BTreeMap<&'a str, Recipe<'a>>,
+  recipes: BTreeMap<&'a str, Recipe<'a>>,
 }
 
 impl<'a> Justfile<'a> {
@@ -180,18 +230,67 @@ impl<'a> Justfile<'a> {
     first.map(|recipe| recipe.name)
   }
 
-  pub fn run(&self, recipes: &[&str]) {
-    if recipes.len() == 0 {
-      println!("running first recipe");
-    } else {
-      for recipe in recipes {
-        println!("running {}...", recipe);
-      }
-    }
+  pub fn count(&self) -> usize {
+    self.recipes.len()
   }
 
-  pub fn contains(&self, name: &str) -> bool {
-    self.recipes.contains_key(name)
+  pub fn recipes(&self) -> Vec<&'a str> {
+    self.recipes.keys().cloned().collect()
+  }
+
+  fn run_recipe(&self, recipe: &Recipe<'a>, ran: &mut HashSet<&'a str>) -> Result<(), RunError> {
+    for dependency_name in &recipe.dependencies {
+      if !ran.contains(dependency_name) {
+        try!(self.run_recipe(&self.recipes[dependency_name], ran));
+      }
+    }
+    try!(recipe.run());
+    ran.insert(recipe.name);
+    Ok(())
+  }
+
+  pub fn run<'b>(&'a self, names: &[&'b str]) -> Result<(), RunError<'b>> 
+    where 'a: 'b
+  {
+    let mut missing = vec![];
+    for recipe in names {
+      if !self.recipes.contains_key(recipe) {
+        missing.push(*recipe);
+      }
+    }
+    if missing.len() > 0 {
+      return Err(RunError::UnknownRecipes{recipes: missing});
+    }
+    let recipes = names.iter().map(|name| self.recipes.get(name).unwrap()).collect::<Vec<_>>();
+    let mut ran = HashSet::new();
+    for recipe in recipes {
+      try!(self.run_recipe(recipe, &mut ran));
+    }
+    Ok(())
+  }
+}
+
+pub enum RunError<'a> {
+  UnknownRecipes{recipes: Vec<&'a str>},
+  // Signal{recipe: &'a str, signal: i32},
+  Code{recipe: &'a str, code: i32},
+}
+
+impl<'a> Display for RunError<'a> {
+  fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter) -> Result<(), fmt::Error> {
+    match self {
+      &RunError::UnknownRecipes{ref recipes} => {
+        if recipes.len() == 1 { 
+          try!(write!(f, "Justfile does not contain recipe: {}", recipes[0]));
+        } else {
+          try!(write!(f, "Justfile does not contain recipes: {}", recipes.join(" ")));
+        };
+      },
+      &RunError::Code{recipe, code} => {
+        try!(write!(f, "Recipe \"{}\" failed with code {}", recipe, code));
+      },
+    }
+    Ok(())
   }
 }
 
@@ -296,41 +395,6 @@ pub fn parse<'a>(text: &'a str) -> Result<Justfile, Error> {
   let mut seen     = HashSet::new();
   let mut stack    = vec![];
 
-  fn resolve<'a>(
-    text:     &'a str,
-    recipes:  &BTreeMap<&str, Recipe<'a>>,
-    resolved: &mut HashSet<&'a str>,
-    seen:     &mut HashSet<&'a str>,
-    stack:    &mut Vec<&'a str>,
-    recipe:   &Recipe<'a>,
-  ) -> Result<(), Error<'a>> {
-    stack.push(recipe.name);
-    seen.insert(recipe.name);
-    for dependency_name in &recipe.dependencies {
-      match recipes.get(dependency_name) {
-        Some(dependency) => if !resolved.contains(dependency.name) {
-          if seen.contains(dependency.name) {
-            let first = stack[0];
-            stack.push(first);
-            return Err(error(text, recipe.line, ErrorKind::CircularDependency {
-              circle: stack.iter()
-                .skip_while(|name| **name != dependency.name)
-                .cloned().collect()
-            }));
-          }
-          return resolve(text, recipes, resolved, seen, stack, dependency);
-        },
-        None => return Err(error(text, recipe.line, ErrorKind::UnknownDependency {
-          name:    recipe.name,
-          unknown: dependency_name
-        })),
-      }
-    }
-    resolved.insert(recipe.name);
-    stack.pop();
-    Ok(())
-  }
-
   for (_, ref recipe) in &recipes {
     try!(resolve(text, &recipes, &mut resolved, &mut seen, &mut stack, &recipe));
   }
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 662fa8aa..590fd169 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -61,38 +61,25 @@ fn main() {
 
   let justfile = j::parse(&text).unwrap_or_else(|error| die!("{}", error));
 
-  if let Some(recipes) = matches.values_of("recipe") {
-    let mut missing = vec![];
-    for recipe in recipes {
-      if !justfile.recipes.contains_key(recipe) {
-        missing.push(recipe);
-      }
-    }
-    if missing.len() > 0 {
-      die!("unknown recipe{}: {}", if missing.len() == 1 { "" } else { "s" }, missing.join(" "));
-    }
-  }
-
   if matches.is_present("list") {
-    if justfile.recipes.len() == 0 {
+    if justfile.count() == 0 {
       warn!("Justfile contains no recipes");
     } else {
-      warn!("{}", justfile.recipes.keys().cloned().collect::<Vec<_>>().join(" "));
+      warn!("{}", justfile.recipes().join(" "));
     }
     std::process::exit(0);
   }
 
-  if let Some(values) = matches.values_of("recipe") {
-    let names = values.collect::<Vec<_>>();
-    for name in names.iter() {
-      if !justfile.contains(name) {
-        die!("Justfile does not contain recipe \"{}\"", name);
-      }
-    }
-    justfile.run(&names)
+  let names = if let Some(names) = matches.values_of("recipe") {
+    names.collect::<Vec<_>>()
   } else if let Some(name) = justfile.first() {
-    justfile.run(&[name])
+    vec![name]
   } else {
     die!("Justfile contains no recipes");
+  };
+
+  if let Err(run_error) = justfile.run(&names) {
+    warn!("{}", run_error);
+    std::process::exit(if let j::RunError::Code{code, ..} = run_error { code } else { -1 });
   }
 }