diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0096c4f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[submodule "vendor/nerutils"]
+	path = vendor/nerutils
+	url = https://git.neru.rip/neru/nerutils
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 0267695..abb366e 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ endfunction()
 # dependencies
 # ---------------------
 find_package(OpenSSL REQUIRED)
+add_subdirectory(vendor)
 
 # ---------------------
 # warnings
@@ -56,6 +57,6 @@ endif()
 # ------------------------------
 file(GLOB_RECURSE UNLOCKER_SOURCES CONFIGURE_DEPENDS "src/unlocker/*.cpp" "src/unlocker/*.h")
 add_executable(dbd-unlocker ${UNLOCKER_SOURCES})
-target_link_libraries(dbd-unlocker PRIVATE ${OPENSSL_LIBRARIES} dbd-unlocker-warnings)
+target_link_libraries(dbd-unlocker PRIVATE dbd-unlocker-warnings ${OPENSSL_LIBRARIES} nerutils)
 target_include_directories(dbd-unlocker PRIVATE ${OPENSSL_INCLUDE__DIR})
-group_files("${UNLOCKER_SOURCES}")
\ No newline at end of file
+group_files("${UNLOCKER_SOURCES}")
diff --git a/vendor/CMakeLists.txt b/vendor/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fc74dc9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vendor/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+add_subdirectory(nerutils)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/vendor/nerutils b/vendor/nerutils
new file mode 160000
index 0000000..0a9dead
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vendor/nerutils
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 0a9deadbd2adc702601bd8c7a42daf2aa888f3e0