diff --git a/private/taskq.rkt b/private/taskq.rkt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e1beed0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/private/taskq.rkt
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+#lang racket
+
+(require db crypto racket/fasl)
+
+(provide make-taskq taskq-close)
+
+(struct taskq [dbname db stmts waiters lock] #:transparent)
+
+(define STATE-QUEUED 0)
+(define STATE-EXECUTING 1)
+(define STATE-DONE 2)
+
+(define TASKQ-INIT "create table taskq (id blob(16) primary key, task blob, state integer)")
+(define (init-stmts c)
+  (hash
+    'delete-by-state (prepare c "delete from taskq where state=?")
+    'update-state-by-state (prepare c "update taskq set state=? where state=?")
+    'create (prepare c "insert into taskq (id, task, state) values (?, ?, ?)")
+    'update-state (prepare c "update taskq set state=? where id=? and state=?; select changes()")
+    'delete-by-id (prepare c "delete from taskq where id=?")
+    'get-first-by-state (prepare c "select * from taskq where state=? limit 1")))
+
+(define (make-taskq path [initialize? #f])
+  (define c
+    (if initialize?
+      (sqlite3-connect #:database path #:mode 'create)
+      (sqlite3-connect #:database path)))
+  (when initialize?
+    (query-exec c TASKQ-INIT))
+  (define stmts (init-stmts c))
+  ;; cleanup: if we crash and come back up, there might be done tasks and executing tasks
+  ;; delete the done tasks, we don't have waiters for those anymore and any code that creates
+  ;; waiters should check for the result it wanted and re-queue if needed
+  ;; then, move executing tasks (which must have been interrupted by the crash) back to
+  ;; queued so we can run them again
+  (query-exec c (hash-ref stmts 'delete-by-state) STATE-DONE)
+  (query-exec c (hash-ref stmts 'update-state-by-state) STATE-QUEUED STATE-EXECUTING)
+  (taskq path c stmts (make-hash) (make-semaphore 1)))
+
+(define (taskq-close q)
+  (disconnect (taskq-db q)))
+
+(define (update-waiters! q id)
+  ;; ok basically fuck racket and its fucking "caveats concerning concurrent modification"
+  ;; preemptive green threads are why we can't have nice things
+  ;; it turns out in practice actually this probably won't be an issue ever but Just To Be Safe
+  ;; we use a semaphore as a mutex protecting writes on taskq-waiters
+  (call-with-semaphore
+    (taskq-lock q)
+    (lambda ()
+      (hash-ref! (taskq-waiters q) id (make-semaphore)))))
+
+(define (taskq-queue q what [num-retries 8] [retry-delay-secs 1/4])
+  (define id (crypto-random-bytes 16))
+  (with-handlers ([exn:fail:sql? (lambda (e)
+                                   (cond
+                                     [(zero? num-retries) (raise e)]
+                                     [else (sleep retry-delay-secs)
+                                           (taskq-queue q what (sub1 num-retries)
+                                                        retry-delay-secs)]))])
+    (query-exec (taskq-db q) (hash-ref (taskq-stmts q) 'create)
+                id (s-exp->fasl what) STATE-QUEUED))
+  (define sema (update-waiters! q id))
+  (semaphore-wait sema))
+
+;; blocks until the next task is available, then calls executor
+(define (taskq-execute-next q executor)
+  ;; this is a bad hack
+  ;; use filesystem-change-evt to detect writes to the database
+  ;; initialize the event first before query to avoid deadlock
+  (define evt (filesystem-change-evt (taskq-dbname q)))
+  (match (query-maybe-row (taskq-db q) (hash-ref (taskq-stmts q) 'get-first-by-state) STATE-QUEUED)
+    [#f (sync evt) (taskq-execute-next q executor)]
+    [(vector id task state)
+     (filesystem-change-evt-cancel evt)
+     ;; update state, match expected existing state so that on concurrent modification, the query
+     ;; fails and we retry with the next available row
+     (with-handlers ([exn:fail:sql? (lambda (_) (taskq-execute-next q executor))])
+        (when (zero?
+                (query-value (taskq-db q) (hash-ref (taskq-stmts q) 'update-state)
+                             STATE-EXECUTING id state))
+          (taskq-execute-next q executor)))
+     ;; now we have a unique lock to execute this row
+     (define (cleanup)
+        (query-exec (taskq-db q) (hash-ref (taskq-stmts q) 'update-state)
+                    STATE-QUEUED id STATE-EXECUTING))
+     (with-handlers ([exn? (lambda (e) (cleanup) (raise e))])
+        (executor (fasl->s-exp task)))
+     (query-exec (taskq-db q) (hash-ref (taskq-stmts q) 'update-state)
+                 STATE-DONE id STATE-EXECUTING)
+     (define sema (hash-ref (taskq-waiters q) id #f))
+     (unless (false? sema)
+       (semaphore-post sema))
+     (query-exec (taskq-db q) (hash-ref (taskq-stmts q) 'delete-by-id) id)]))
+
+(define q (make-taskq "/tmp/s.sqlite3" #t))
+
+(define (producer [n 0])
+  (printf "producing ~a\n" n)
+  (taskq-queue q n)
+  (sleep 1)
+  (producer (add1 n)))
+
+(define (consumer)
+  (taskq-execute-next q (lambda (val) (printf "consuming ~a\n" val)
+                          (sleep 2) (printf "done consuming\n")))
+  (consumer))
+
+(thread producer)
+(consumer)