diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a221ac1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+target/
+.vscode/
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..33af0c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+  xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
+    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+    <groupId>com.yetanalytics</groupId>
+    <artifactId>cel-demo</artifactId>
+    <packaging>jar</packaging>
+    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <name>cel-demo</name>
+    <url>http://maven.apache.org</url>
+    <properties>
+        <maven.compiler.source>17</maven.compiler.source>
+        <maven.compiler.target>17</maven.compiler.target>
+    </properties>
+    <dependencies>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId>
+            <artifactId>junit-jupiter-engine</artifactId>
+            <version>5.11.0-M2</version>
+            <scope>test</scope>
+        </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>dev.cel</groupId>
+            <artifactId>cel</artifactId>
+            <version>0.11.0</version>
+        </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
+            <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
+            <version>2.0.16</version>
+        </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>com.yetanalytics</groupId>
+            <artifactId>xapi-tools</artifactId>
+            <version>0.0.3-beta</version>
+        </dependency>
+    </dependencies>
+    <build>
+    <plugins>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+        <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
+        <version>3.5.2</version>
+      </plugin>
+    </plugins>
+  </build>
+</project>
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/yetanalytics/CelExecutor.java b/src/main/java/com/yetanalytics/CelExecutor.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4a74b41
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/yetanalytics/CelExecutor.java
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+package com.yetanalytics;
+
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
+import dev.cel.common.CelAbstractSyntaxTree;
+import dev.cel.common.CelValidationException;
+import dev.cel.common.types.CelType;
+import dev.cel.common.types.SimpleType;
+import dev.cel.compiler.CelCompiler;
+import dev.cel.compiler.CelCompilerBuilder;
+import dev.cel.compiler.CelCompilerFactory;
+import dev.cel.parser.CelStandardMacro;
+import dev.cel.runtime.CelRuntime;
+import dev.cel.runtime.CelRuntimeFactory;
+import dev.cel.runtime.CelEvaluationException;
+import dev.cel.runtime.CelLiteRuntime.Program;
+
+public class CelExecutor {
+    private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(CelExecutor.class);
+    private CelCompiler celCompiler = CelCompilerFactory.standardCelCompilerBuilder().build();
+
+    public void runExpression(String expression) {
+        System.out.println(expression);
+    }
+
+    CelAbstractSyntaxTree compile(String expression, Map<String,CelType> varTypeMap) {
+        // Compile (parse + type-check) the expression
+        // CelCompiler is immutable and when statically configured can be moved to a
+        // static final
+        CelCompilerBuilder builder = CelCompilerFactory.standardCelCompilerBuilder()
+            .setStandardMacros(CelStandardMacro.STANDARD_MACROS)
+            .setResultType(SimpleType.BOOL);
+
+        varTypeMap.forEach((k, v) -> builder.addVar(k, v));
+
+        CelCompiler celCompiler = builder.build();
+
+        try {
+            return celCompiler.compile(expression).getAst();
+        } catch (CelValidationException e) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+                    "Failed to compile expression. Reason: " + e.getMessage(), e);
+        }
+    }
+
+    Boolean run(CelAbstractSyntaxTree ast, Map<String, Object> values) {
+        CelRuntime runtime = CelRuntimeFactory.standardCelRuntimeBuilder().build();
+
+        Boolean result = null;
+        try {
+            Program program = runtime.createProgram(ast);
+            result = (Boolean) program.eval(values);
+        } catch (CelEvaluationException e) {
+            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
+            e.printStackTrace();
+        }
+        return result;
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/yetanalytics/CelExecutorTest.java b/src/test/java/com/yetanalytics/CelExecutorTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..93dae47
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/com/yetanalytics/CelExecutorTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+package com.yetanalytics;
+
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertFalse;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
+
+import java.net.URISyntaxException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.type.TypeReference;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
+import com.yetanalytics.model.Container;
+import com.yetanalytics.model.ListElement;
+import com.yetanalytics.util.ReadStatement;
+import com.yetanalytics.xapi.model.Statement;
+
+import dev.cel.common.CelAbstractSyntaxTree;
+import dev.cel.common.types.CelType;
+import dev.cel.common.types.SimpleType;
+
+public class CelExecutorTest {
+
+    private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(CelExecutor.class);
+
+    @Test
+    public void testEasyCommand() {
+        CelExecutor ce = new CelExecutor();
+        ce.runExpression("Blargh");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testMediumCommand() {
+        CelExecutor ce = new CelExecutor();
+        ce.runExpression("Bleeegh");
+    }
+
+
+    private final String EXP_VERB_AND_ACT_ID = "statement.verb.id == '%s' && statement.object.id == '%s'";
+    private final String VAR_VERB_ID_CORRECT = "https://www.yetanalytics.com/profiles/thing/1.0/concepts/verbs/set";
+    private final String VAR_OBJ_ID_CORRECT = "https://www.yetanalytics.com/profiles/thing/1.0/concepts/activities/act1";
+
+
+    @Test
+    public void evaluateStatementConditionCorrect() throws URISyntaxException {
+        Statement statement = ReadStatement.getJsonTestFile("basic");
+        
+        Map<String,CelType> typeMap = new HashMap<String,CelType>();
+        typeMap.put("statement", SimpleType.DYN);
+
+        Map<String,Object> dyn = new ObjectMapper().convertValue(statement, new TypeReference<>() {});
+        Map<String, Object> varMap = new HashMap<String, Object>();
+        varMap.put("statement", dyn);
+
+        CelExecutor ce = new CelExecutor();
+        String expression = String.format(EXP_VERB_AND_ACT_ID, VAR_VERB_ID_CORRECT, VAR_OBJ_ID_CORRECT);
+        
+        CelAbstractSyntaxTree ast = ce.compile(expression, typeMap);
+
+        Boolean result = ce.run(ast, varMap);
+
+        assertTrue(result);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void evaluateStatementConditionIncorrect() throws URISyntaxException {
+        Statement statement = ReadStatement.getJsonTestFile("basic");
+        
+        Map<String,CelType> typeMap = new HashMap<String,CelType>();
+        typeMap.put("statement", SimpleType.DYN);
+
+        Map<String,Object> dyn = new ObjectMapper().convertValue(statement, new TypeReference<>() {});
+        Map<String, Object> varMap = new HashMap<String, Object>();
+        varMap.put("statement", dyn);
+
+        CelExecutor ce = new CelExecutor();
+        String expression = String.format(EXP_VERB_AND_ACT_ID, "verbo", VAR_OBJ_ID_CORRECT);
+        
+        CelAbstractSyntaxTree ast = ce.compile(expression, typeMap);
+
+        Boolean result = ce.run(ast, varMap);
+
+        assertFalse(result);
+    }
+
+    private final String EXP_ITERATION = "data.elements.filter(x, x.value == '%s').size() > 0";
+
+    @Test
+    public void testIteration() throws URISyntaxException {
+        // make a stupid object with a list inside
+        Container container = new Container();
+        container.setElements(new ArrayList<ListElement>());
+        container.getElements().add(new ListElement("Thing1"));
+        container.getElements().add(new ListElement("Thing2"));
+        container.getElements().add(new ListElement("Thing3"));
+        
+        //generic object datatype
+        Map<String,CelType> typeMap = new HashMap<String,CelType>();
+        typeMap.put("data", SimpleType.DYN);
+
+        //convert to generic maps and lists and put as data map
+        Map<String,Object> containerData = new ObjectMapper().convertValue(container, new TypeReference<>() {});
+        Map<String, Object> varMap = new HashMap<String, Object>();
+        varMap.put("data", containerData);
+
+        CelExecutor ce = new CelExecutor();
+        String expression = String.format(EXP_ITERATION, "Thing2");
+        
+        CelAbstractSyntaxTree ast = ce.compile(expression, typeMap);
+
+        Boolean result = ce.run(ast, varMap);
+
+        assertTrue(result);
+
+        String badExpression = String.format(EXP_ITERATION, "Woooo");
+        CelAbstractSyntaxTree badAst = ce.compile(badExpression, typeMap);
+
+        Boolean badResult = ce.run(badAst, varMap);
+
+        assertFalse(badResult);
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/yetanalytics/model/Container.java b/src/test/java/com/yetanalytics/model/Container.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..52be626
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/com/yetanalytics/model/Container.java
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+package com.yetanalytics.model;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+public class Container {
+
+    private List<ListElement> elements;
+
+    public List<ListElement> getElements() {
+        return elements;
+    }
+
+    public void setElements(List<ListElement> elements) {
+        this.elements = elements;
+    }
+    
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/yetanalytics/model/ListElement.java b/src/test/java/com/yetanalytics/model/ListElement.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..00078d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/com/yetanalytics/model/ListElement.java
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+package com.yetanalytics.model;
+
+public class ListElement {
+
+    public ListElement(String val){
+        this.value = val;
+    }
+
+    private String value;
+
+    public String getValue() {
+        return value;
+    }
+
+    public void setValue(String value) {
+        this.value = value;
+    }
+    
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/yetanalytics/util/ReadStatement.java b/src/test/java/com/yetanalytics/util/ReadStatement.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5cee8e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/com/yetanalytics/util/ReadStatement.java
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+package com.yetanalytics.util;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
+import com.yetanalytics.CelExecutor;
+import com.yetanalytics.xapi.model.Statement;
+import com.yetanalytics.xapi.util.Mapper;
+
+public class ReadStatement {
+    
+    private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(CelExecutor.class);
+
+    public static Statement getJsonTestFile(String filename){
+        String path = String.format("src/test/resources/statements/%s.json", filename);
+        File file = new File(path);
+        Statement stmt = null;
+        try {
+            stmt = Mapper.getMapper().readValue(file, Statement.class);
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            log.error("failed to read statement at location: {}", path, e);
+        }
+        return stmt;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/test/resources/statements/basic.json b/src/test/resources/statements/basic.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..96da417
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/statements/basic.json
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+{
+  "id": "6fbd600f-d87c-4c74-801a-2ec2e53231c8",
+  "actor": {
+    "name": "Cliff Casey",
+    "account": {
+      "homePage": "https://users.training.com",
+      "name": "23897525"
+    }
+  },
+  "verb": {
+    "id": "https://www.yetanalytics.com/profiles/thing/1.0/concepts/verbs/set",
+    "display": { "en-us": "Set" }
+  },
+  "object": {
+    "id": "https://www.yetanalytics.com/profiles/thing/1.0/concepts/activities/act1",
+    "definition": {
+      "name": {
+        "en-us": "Activity 1"
+      },
+      "description": {
+        "en-us": "The First Activity"
+      }
+    }
+  },
+  "authority": {
+    "name": "Yet Analytics Inc",
+    "mbox": "mailto:authority@yetanalytics.com"
+  },
+  "version": "1.0.3",
+  "stored": "2023-10-27T09:03:21.722Z",
+  "timestamp": "2023-10-27T09:03:21.723Z"
+}