diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 66128c37f..45ed6c2b5 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -42,12 +42,54 @@ version = "0.1.6"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "4b46cbb362ab8752921c97e041f5e366ee6297bd428a31275b9fcf1e380f7299"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "anstream"
+version = "0.6.12"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "96b09b5178381e0874812a9b157f7fe84982617e48f71f4e3235482775e5b540"
+dependencies = [
+ "anstyle",
+ "anstyle-parse",
+ "anstyle-query",
+ "anstyle-wincon",
+ "colorchoice",
+ "utf8parse",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "anstyle"
 version = "1.0.6"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "8901269c6307e8d93993578286ac0edf7f195079ffff5ebdeea6a59ffb7e36bc"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "anstyle-parse"
+version = "0.2.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "c75ac65da39e5fe5ab759307499ddad880d724eed2f6ce5b5e8a26f4f387928c"
+dependencies = [
+ "utf8parse",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "anstyle-query"
+version = "1.0.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "e28923312444cdd728e4738b3f9c9cac739500909bb3d3c94b43551b16517648"
+dependencies = [
+ "windows-sys 0.52.0",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "anstyle-wincon"
+version = "3.0.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "1cd54b81ec8d6180e24654d0b371ad22fc3dd083b6ff8ba325b72e00c87660a7"
+dependencies = [
+ "anstyle",
+ "windows-sys 0.52.0",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "anyhow"
 version = "1.0.79"
@@ -237,8 +279,10 @@ version = "4.4.18"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "4df4df40ec50c46000231c914968278b1eb05098cf8f1b3a518a95030e71d1c7"
 dependencies = [
+ "anstream",
  "anstyle",
  "clap_lex",
+ "strsim",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -247,6 +291,12 @@ version = "0.6.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "702fc72eb24e5a1e48ce58027a675bc24edd52096d5397d4aea7c6dd9eca0bd1"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "colorchoice"
+version = "1.0.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "acbf1af155f9b9ef647e42cdc158db4b64a1b61f743629225fde6f3e0be2a7c7"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "convert_case"
 version = "0.4.0"
@@ -426,6 +476,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "bit-set",
  "bit-vec",
  "bytes",
+ "clap",
  "cooked-waker",
  "criterion",
  "deno_ast",
@@ -1625,6 +1676,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "syn 2.0.48",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "strsim"
+version = "0.10.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "73473c0e59e6d5812c5dfe2a064a6444949f089e20eec9a2e5506596494e4623"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "strum"
 version = "0.25.0"
@@ -2234,6 +2291,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "utf8parse"
+version = "0.2.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "711b9620af191e0cdc7468a8d14e709c3dcdb115b36f838e601583af800a370a"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "uuid"
 version = "1.7.0"
diff --git a/core/Cargo.toml b/core/Cargo.toml
index caff0c0cc..6a269763f 100644
--- a/core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/core/Cargo.toml
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ v8_use_custom_libcxx = ["v8/use_custom_libcxx"]
 include_js_files_for_snapshotting = []
 unsafe_runtime_options = []
 unsafe_use_unprotected_platform = []
+dcore = ["clap"]
 
 [dependencies]
 anyhow.workspace = true
@@ -33,6 +34,7 @@ bincode = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 bit-set.workspace = true
 bit-vec.workspace = true
 bytes.workspace = true
+clap = { version = "4.4.18", optional = true }
 cooked-waker.workspace = true
 deno_core_icudata = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 deno_ops.workspace = true
diff --git a/core/main.rs b/core/main.rs
index 16d0642f9..62457aeac 100644
--- a/core/main.rs
+++ b/core/main.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 use anyhow::anyhow;
 use anyhow::Context;
+use clap::builder::Arg;
+use clap::builder::Command;
 use deno_core::anyhow::Error;
 use deno_core::CustomModuleEvaluationKind;
 use deno_core::FastString;
@@ -69,19 +71,36 @@ fn text_module(
   )))
 }
 
-// TODO(bartlomieju): figure out how we can incorporate snapshotting here
-// static SNAPSHOT_BYTES: &[u8] = include_bytes!("../snapshot.bin");
+fn build_cli() -> Command {
+  Command::new("dcore")
+    .arg(
+      Arg::new("snapshot")
+        .long("snapshot")
+        .help("Optional path to a snapshot file that will be loaded on startup")
+        .value_hint(clap::ValueHint::FilePath)
+        .value_parser(clap::value_parser!(String))
+        .require_equals(true),
+    )
+    .arg(
+      Arg::new("file_to_run")
+        .help("A relative or absolute file to a file to run")
+        .value_hint(clap::ValueHint::FilePath)
+        .value_parser(clap::value_parser!(String))
+        .required(true),
+    )
+}
 
 fn main() -> Result<(), Error> {
-  let args: Vec<String> = std::env::args().collect();
   eprintln!(
     "🛑 deno_core binary is meant for development and testing purposes."
   );
-  if args.len() < 2 {
-    println!("Usage: cargo run -- <path_to_module>");
-    std::process::exit(1);
-  }
-  let main_url = &args[1];
+
+  let cli = build_cli();
+  let matches = cli.get_matches();
+
+  let main_url = matches.get_one::<String>("file_to_run").unwrap();
+  let load_snapshot = matches.get_one::<String>("snapshot");
+
   println!("Run {main_url}");
 
   // TODO(bartlomieju): figure out how we can incorporate snapshotting here
@@ -101,9 +120,21 @@ fn main() -> Result<(), Error> {
   // .unwrap();
   // return Ok(());
 
+  let startup_snapshot: Option<&'static [u8]> =
+    if let Some(snapshot_path) = load_snapshot {
+      let data = std::fs::read(snapshot_path).with_context(|| {
+        format!("Failed to load snapshot from: {}", snapshot_path)
+      })?;
+      let boxed_data = data.into_boxed_slice();
+      // Leak so we can obtain a static reference to the slice.
+      let static_data = Box::leak(boxed_data);
+      Some(static_data)
+    } else {
+      None
+    };
+
   let mut js_runtime = JsRuntime::new(RuntimeOptions {
-    // TODO(bartlomieju): figure out how we can incorporate snapshotting here
-    // startup_snapshot: Some(deno_core::Snapshot::Static(SNAPSHOT_BYTES)),
+    startup_snapshot,
     module_loader: Some(Rc::new(FsModuleLoader)),
     custom_module_evaluation_cb: Some(Box::new(custom_module_evaluation_cb)),
     ..Default::default()