diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0e660e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+MIT License
+
+Copyright (c) 2022 Kyle McGough
+
+Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
+SOFTWARE.
diff --git a/duration.go b/duration.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ec88110
--- /dev/null
+++ b/duration.go
@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+package duration
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"math"
+	"strconv"
+	"time"
+	"unicode"
+)
+
+// Duration holds all the smaller units that make up the duration
+type Duration struct {
+	Years   float64
+	Months  float64
+	Weeks   float64
+	Days    float64
+	Hours   float64
+	Minutes float64
+	Seconds float64
+}
+
+const (
+	parsingPeriod = iota
+	parsingTime
+)
+
+var (
+	// ErrUnexpectedInput is returned when an input in the duration string does not match expectations
+	ErrUnexpectedInput = errors.New("unexpected input")
+)
+
+// Parse attempts to parse the given duration string into a *Duration
+// if parsing fails an error is returned instead
+func Parse(d string) (*Duration, error) {
+	state := parsingPeriod
+	duration := &Duration{}
+	num := ""
+	var err error
+
+	for _, char := range d {
+		switch char {
+		case 'P':
+			state = parsingPeriod
+		case 'T':
+			state = parsingTime
+		case 'Y':
+			if state != parsingPeriod {
+				return nil, ErrUnexpectedInput
+			}
+
+			duration.Years, err = strconv.ParseFloat(num, 64)
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			num = ""
+		case 'M':
+			if state == parsingPeriod {
+				duration.Months, err = strconv.ParseFloat(num, 64)
+				if err != nil {
+					return nil, err
+				}
+				num = ""
+			} else if state == parsingTime {
+				duration.Minutes, err = strconv.ParseFloat(num, 64)
+				if err != nil {
+					return nil, err
+				}
+				num = ""
+			}
+		case 'W':
+			if state != parsingPeriod {
+				return nil, ErrUnexpectedInput
+			}
+
+			duration.Weeks, err = strconv.ParseFloat(num, 64)
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			num = ""
+		case 'D':
+			if state != parsingPeriod {
+				return nil, ErrUnexpectedInput
+			}
+
+			duration.Days, err = strconv.ParseFloat(num, 64)
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			num = ""
+		case 'H':
+			if state != parsingTime {
+				return nil, ErrUnexpectedInput
+			}
+
+			duration.Hours, err = strconv.ParseFloat(num, 64)
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			num = ""
+		case 'S':
+			if state != parsingTime {
+				return nil, ErrUnexpectedInput
+			}
+
+			duration.Seconds, err = strconv.ParseFloat(num, 64)
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			num = ""
+		default:
+			if unicode.IsNumber(char) || char == '.' {
+				num += string(char)
+				continue
+			}
+
+			return nil, ErrUnexpectedInput
+		}
+	}
+
+	return duration, nil
+}
+
+// ToTimeDuration converts the *Duration to the standard library's time.Duration
+// note that for *Duration's with period values of a month or year that the duration becomes a bit fuzzy
+// since obviously those things vary month to month and year to year
+// I used the values that Google's search provided me with as I couldn't find anything concrete on what they should be
+func (duration *Duration) ToTimeDuration() time.Duration {
+	var timeDuration time.Duration
+
+	timeDuration += time.Duration(math.Round(duration.Years * 3.154e+16))
+	timeDuration += time.Duration(math.Round(duration.Months * 2.628e+15))
+	timeDuration += time.Duration(math.Round(duration.Weeks * 6.048e+14))
+	timeDuration += time.Duration(math.Round(duration.Days * 8.64e+13))
+	timeDuration += time.Duration(math.Round(duration.Hours * 3.6e+12))
+	timeDuration += time.Duration(math.Round(duration.Minutes * 6e+10))
+	timeDuration += time.Duration(math.Round(duration.Seconds * 1e+9))
+
+	return timeDuration
+}
diff --git a/duration_test.go b/duration_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f8f1444
--- /dev/null
+++ b/duration_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+package duration
+
+import (
+	"reflect"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+)
+
+func TestParse(t *testing.T) {
+	type args struct {
+		d string
+	}
+	tests := []struct {
+		name    string
+		args    args
+		want    *Duration
+		wantErr bool
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "period-only",
+			args: args{d: "P4Y"},
+			want: &Duration{
+				Years: 4,
+			},
+			wantErr: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "time-only-decimal",
+			args: args{d: "T2.5S"},
+			want: &Duration{
+				Seconds: 2.5,
+			},
+			wantErr: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "full",
+			args: args{d: "P3Y6M4DT12H30M5.5S"},
+			want: &Duration{
+				Years:   3,
+				Months:  6,
+				Days:    4,
+				Hours:   12,
+				Minutes: 30,
+				Seconds: 5.5,
+			},
+			wantErr: false,
+		},
+	}
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			got, err := Parse(tt.args.d)
+			if (err != nil) != tt.wantErr {
+				t.Errorf("Parse() error = %v, wantErr %v", err, tt.wantErr)
+				return
+			}
+			if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, tt.want) {
+				t.Errorf("Parse() got = %v, want %v", got, tt.want)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestDuration_ToTimeDuration(t *testing.T) {
+	type fields struct {
+		Years   float64
+		Months  float64
+		Weeks   float64
+		Days    float64
+		Hours   float64
+		Minutes float64
+		Seconds float64
+	}
+	tests := []struct {
+		name   string
+		fields fields
+		want   time.Duration
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "seconds",
+			fields: fields{
+				Seconds: 33.3,
+			},
+			want: time.Second*33 + time.Millisecond*300,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "hours, minutes, and seconds",
+			fields: fields{
+				Hours:   2,
+				Minutes: 33,
+				Seconds: 17,
+			},
+			want: time.Hour*2 + time.Minute*33 + time.Second*17,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "days",
+			fields: fields{
+				Days: 2,
+			},
+			want: time.Hour * 24 * 2,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "weeks",
+			fields: fields{
+				Weeks: 1,
+			},
+			want: time.Hour * 24 * 7,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "fractional weeks",
+			fields: fields{
+				Weeks: 12.5,
+			},
+			want: time.Hour*24*7*12 + time.Hour*84,
+		},
+	}
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			duration := &Duration{
+				Years:   tt.fields.Years,
+				Months:  tt.fields.Months,
+				Weeks:   tt.fields.Weeks,
+				Days:    tt.fields.Days,
+				Hours:   tt.fields.Hours,
+				Minutes: tt.fields.Minutes,
+				Seconds: tt.fields.Seconds,
+			}
+			if got := duration.ToTimeDuration(); got != tt.want {
+				t.Errorf("ToTimeDuration() = %v, want %v", got, tt.want)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f4d17c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+module github.com/sosodev/duration
+
+go 1.17
diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b57ebd7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+# duration
+
+It's a Go module for parsing [ISO 8601 durations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601#Durations) and converting them to the often much more useful `time.Duration`.
+
+## why?
+
+ISO 8601 is a pretty common standard and sometimes these durations show up in the wild.
+
+## installation
+
+`go get github.com/sosodev/duration`
+
+## usage
+
+```go
+package main
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"time"
+    "github.com/sosodev/duration"
+)
+
+func main() {
+    d, err := duration.Parse("P3Y6M4DT12H30M5.5S")
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+    }
+	
+	fmt.Println(d.Years) // 3
+	fmt.Println(d.Months) // 6
+	fmt.Println(d.Days) // 4
+	fmt.Println(d.Hours) // 12
+	fmt.Println(d.Minutes) // 30
+	fmt.Println(d.Seconds) // 5.5
+	
+	d, err = duration.Parse("T33.3S")
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+    }
+	
+	fmt.Println(d.ToTimeDuration() == time.Second*33+time.Millisecond*300) // true
+}
+```
+
+## correctness
+
+This module aims to implement the ISO8601 duration specification correctly. It properly supports fractional units and has unit tests
+that assert the correctness of it's parsing and conversion to a `time.Duration`.
+
+With that said durations with months or years specified will be converted to `time.Duration` with a little fuzziness. Since I
+couldn't find a standard value, and they obviously vary, for those I used `2.628e+15` nanoseconds for a month and `3.154e+16` nanoseconds for a year.