diff --git a/piker/cli.py b/piker/cli.py
index daefd1e1..5ce7b943 100644
--- a/piker/cli.py
+++ b/piker/cli.py
@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@
 Console interface to broker client/daemons.
 """
 from functools import partial
+from importlib import import_module
+from os import path, makedirs, stat
+from collections import defaultdict
+import json
+import ast
 
 import click
 import trio
@@ -13,6 +18,8 @@ from .brokers import core, get_brokermod
 log = get_logger('cli')
 DEFAULT_BROKER = 'robinhood'
 
+_config_dir = click.get_app_dir('piker')
+_watchlists_data_path = path.join(_config_dir, 'watchlists.json')
 
 def run(main, loglevel='info'):
     log = get_console_log(loglevel)
@@ -135,3 +142,115 @@ def watch(loglevel, broker, rate, name):
         rate = broker_limit
         log.warn(f"Limiting {brokermod.__name__} query rate to {rate}/sec")
     trio.run(_async_main, name, watchlists[name], brokermod, rate)
+
+    # broker_conf_path = os.path.join(
+    #     click.get_app_dir('piker'), 'watchlists.json')
+    # from piker.testing import _quote_streamer as brokermod
+    trio.run(_async_main, name, watchlists[name], brokermod)
+
+
+@cli.group()
+@click.option('--loglevel', '-l', default='warning', help='Logging level')
+@click.pass_context
+def watchlists(ctx, loglevel):
+    """Watchlists cl commands and operations
+    """
+    # import pdb; pdb.set_trace()
+    get_console_log(loglevel)  # activate console logging
+
+    ctx.obj = {}
+
+    if not path.isdir(_config_dir):
+        log.debug(f"Creating config dir {_config_dir}")
+        makedirs(_config_dir)
+
+    if path.isfile(_watchlists_data_path):
+        f = open(_watchlists_data_path, 'r')
+        if not stat(_watchlists_data_path).st_size == 0:
+            ctx.obj = json.load(f)
+        f.close()
+    else:
+        f = open(_watchlists_data_path, 'w')
+        f.close()
+
+@watchlists.command(help='show watchlist')
+@click.argument('name', nargs=1, required=False)
+@click.pass_context
+def show(ctx, name):
+    watchlist = ctx.obj
+    click.echo(colorize_json(
+            watchlist if name is None else watchlist[name]))
+
+
+@watchlists.command(help='add a new watchlist')
+@click.argument('name', nargs=1, required=True)
+@click.pass_context
+def new(ctx, name):
+    watchlist = ctx.obj
+    f = open(_watchlists_data_path, 'w')
+    watchlist.setdefault(name, [])
+    json.dump(watchlist, f)
+    f.close()
+
+
+@watchlists.command(help='add ticker to watchlist')
+@click.argument('name', nargs=1, required=True)
+@click.argument('ticker_name', nargs=1, required=True)
+@click.pass_context
+def add(ctx, name, ticker_name):
+    watchlist = ctx.obj
+    f = open(_watchlists_data_path, 'w')
+    if name in watchlist:
+        watchlist[name].append(str(ticker_name).upper())
+    json.dump(watchlist, f)
+    f.close()
+
+
+@watchlists.command(help='remove ticker from watchlist')
+@click.argument('name', nargs=1, required=True)
+@click.argument('ticker_name', nargs=1, required=True)
+@click.pass_context
+def remove(ctx, name, ticker_name):
+    watchlist = ctx.obj
+    f = open(_watchlists_data_path, 'w')
+    if name in watchlist:
+        watchlist[name].remove(str(ticker_name).upper())
+    json.dump(watchlist, f)
+    f.close()
+
+
+@watchlists.command(help='delete watchlist')
+@click.argument('name', nargs=1, required=True)
+@click.pass_context
+def delete(ctx, name):
+    watchlist = ctx.obj
+    f = open(_watchlists_data_path, 'w')
+    if name in watchlist:
+        del watchlist[name]
+    json.dump(watchlist, f)
+    f.close()
+
+
+@watchlists.command(help='merge a watchlist from another user')
+@click.argument('watchlist_to_merge', nargs=1, required=True)
+@click.pass_context
+def merge(ctx, watchlist_to_merge):
+    watchlist = ctx.obj
+    f = open(_watchlists_data_path, 'w')
+    merged_watchlist = defaultdict(list)
+    watchlist_to_merge = ast.literal_eval(watchlist_to_merge)
+    for d in (watchlist, watchlist_to_merge):
+        for key, value in d.items():
+            merged_watchlist[key].extend(value)
+    json.dump(merged_watchlist, f)
+    f.close()
+    print('merge these') #remember to convert to set
+
+@watchlists.command(help='dump a text respresentation of a watchlist to console')
+@click.argument('name', nargs=1, required=False)
+@click.pass_context
+def dump(ctx, name):
+    watchlist = ctx.obj
+    f = open(_watchlists_data_path, 'r')
+    print(json.dumps(watchlist))
+    f.close()