diff --git a/src/base.rs b/src/base.rs
index e69de29..f00e5aa 100644
--- a/src/base.rs
+++ b/src/base.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+use std::fs;
+
+pub fn write_tree(directory: String) {
+    let entries = fs::read_dir(&directory).unwrap();
+
+    for entry in entries {
+        let item = entry.unwrap();
+        let metadata = item.metadata().unwrap();
+        let name = item.file_name();
+        let full = format!("{}/{}", directory, name.to_str().unwrap());
+        if metadata.is_file() {
+            println!("{}", full);
+        } else if metadata.is_dir() {
+            write_tree(full);
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 00db0b6..e3798a5 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -19,12 +19,17 @@ fn main() {
                 .about("outputs the original object from the provided hash")
                 .arg(Arg::with_name("hash").index(1).required(true)),
         )
+        .subcommand(
+            SubCommand::with_name("write-tree")
+                .about("write the current working directory to the database"),
+        )
         .get_matches();
 
     match matches.subcommand_name() {
         Some("init") => init(),
         Some("hash-object") => hash_object(matches),
         Some("cat-file") => cat_file(matches),
+        Some("write-tree") => write_tree(),
         _ => println!("unknown sub command"),
     }
 }
@@ -54,3 +59,7 @@ fn cat_file(matches: ArgMatches) {
         println!("{}", file_contents)
     }
 }
+
+fn write_tree() {
+    base::write_tree(".".to_owned())
+}