diff --git a/mercurial/commands.py b/mercurial/commands.py
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mercurial/commands.py
@@ -0,0 +1,146 @@
+import os, re
+from mercurial import fancyopts, ui, hg
+
+class UnknownCommand(Exception): pass
+
+def relpath(repo, args):
+    if os.getcwd() != repo.root:
+        p = os.getcwd()[len(repo.root) + 1: ]
+        return [ os.path.join(p, x) for x in args ]
+    return args
+    
+def help(ui, args):
+    ui.status("""\
+ hg commands:
+
+ add [files...]        add the given files in the next commit
+ addremove             add all new files, delete all missing files
+ annotate [files...]   show changeset number per file line
+ branch <path>         create a branch of <path> in this directory
+ checkout [changeset]  checkout the latest or given changeset
+ commit                commit all changes to the repository
+ diff [files...]       diff working directory (or selected files)
+ dump <file> [rev]     dump the latest or given revision of a file
+ dumpmanifest [rev]    dump the latest or given revision of the manifest
+ export <rev>          dump the changeset header and diffs for a revision
+ history               show changeset history
+ init                  create a new repository in this directory
+ log <file>            show revision history of a single file
+ merge <path>          merge changes from <path> into local repository
+ recover               rollback an interrupted transaction
+ remove [files...]     remove the given files in the next commit
+ serve                 export the repository via HTTP
+ status                show new, missing, and changed files in working dir
+ tags                  show current changeset tags
+ undo                  undo the last transaction
+""")
+
+def init(ui, args):
+    """create a repository"""
+    hg.repository(ui, ".", create=1)
+
+def checkout(u, repo, args):
+    node = repo.changelog.tip()
+    if args:
+        node = repo.lookup(args[0])
+    repo.checkout(node)
+
+def annotate(u, repo, args, **ops):
+    if not args:
+        return
+        
+    def getnode(rev):
+        return hg.short(repo.changelog.node(rev))
+
+    def getname(rev):
+        try:
+            return bcache[rev]
+        except KeyError:
+            cl = repo.changelog.read(repo.changelog.node(rev))
+            name = cl[1]
+            f = name.find('@')
+            if f >= 0:
+                name = name[:f]
+            bcache[rev] = name
+            return name
+    
+    bcache = {}
+    opmap = [['user', getname], ['number', str], ['changeset', getnode]]
+    if not ops['user'] and not ops['changeset']:
+        ops['number'] = 1
+
+    args = relpath(repo, args)
+    node = repo.current
+    if ops['revision']:
+        node = repo.changelog.lookup(ops['revision'])
+    change = repo.changelog.read(node)
+    mmap = repo.manifest.read(change[0])
+    maxuserlen = 0
+    maxchangelen = 0
+    for f in args:
+        lines = repo.file(f).annotate(mmap[f])
+        pieces = []
+
+        for o, f in opmap:
+            if ops[o]:
+                l = [ f(n) for n,t in lines ]
+                m = max(map(len, l))
+                pieces.append([ "%*s" % (m, x) for x in l])
+
+        for p,l in zip(zip(*pieces), lines):
+            u.write(" ".join(p) + ": " + l[1])
+
+table = {
+    "init": (init, [], 'hg init'),
+    "help": (help, [], 'hg init'),
+    "checkout|co": (checkout, [], 'hg init'),
+    "ann|annotate": (annotate,
+                     [('r', 'revision', '', 'revision'),
+                      ('u', 'user', None, 'show user'),
+                      ('n', 'number', None, 'show revision number'),
+                      ('c', 'changeset', None, 'show changeset')],
+                     'hg annotate [-u] [-c] [-n] [-r id] [files]'),
+    }
+
+norepo = "init branch help"
+
+def dispatch(args):
+    options = {}
+    opts = [('v', 'verbose', None, 'verbose'),
+            ('d', 'debug', None, 'debug'),
+            ('q', 'quiet', None, 'quiet'),
+            ('y', 'noninteractive', None, 'run non-interactively'),
+            ]
+
+    args = fancyopts.fancyopts(args, opts, options,
+                               'hg [options] <command> [options] [files]')
+
+    if not args:
+        cmd = "help"
+    else:
+        cmd, args = args[0], args[1:]
+
+    u = ui.ui(options["verbose"], options["debug"], options["quiet"],
+           not options["noninteractive"])
+
+    i = None
+    for e in table.keys():
+        if re.match(e + "$", cmd):
+            i = table[e]
+
+    # deal with this internally later
+    if not i: raise UnknownCommand(cmd)
+
+    cmdoptions = {}
+    args = fancyopts.fancyopts(args, i[1], cmdoptions, i[2])
+
+    if cmd not in norepo.split():
+        repo = hg.repository(ui = u)
+        d = lambda: i[0](u, repo, args, **cmdoptions)
+    else:
+        d = lambda: i[0](u, args, **cmdoptions)
+
+    try:
+        d()
+    except KeyboardInterrupt:
+        u.warn("interrupted!\n")