diff --git a/tooling/nargo_cli/Cargo.toml b/tooling/nargo_cli/Cargo.toml
index 0ae6073f0a1..bd9f14b035c 100644
--- a/tooling/nargo_cli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/tooling/nargo_cli/Cargo.toml
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ serde.workspace = true
 serde_json.workspace = true
 prettytable-rs = "0.10"
 rayon = "1.7.0"
+reedline-repl-rs = "1.0.7"
 thiserror.workspace = true
 tower.workspace = true
 async-lsp = { version = "0.0.5", default-features = false, features = [
diff --git a/tooling/nargo_cli/src/cli/debug_cmd.rs b/tooling/nargo_cli/src/cli/debug_cmd.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..931704b2bfd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tooling/nargo_cli/src/cli/debug_cmd.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+use clap::Args;
+use nargo_toml::{get_package_manifest, resolve_workspace_from_toml, PackageSelection};
+use noirc_driver::CompileOptions;
+use noirc_frontend::graph::CrateName;
+use crate::backends::Backend;
+use crate::errors::CliError;
+use super::NargoConfig;
+
+use reedline_repl_rs::clap::{
+    Arg as ReplArg,
+    ArgMatches as ReplArgMatches,
+    Command as ReplCommand,
+};
+use reedline_repl_rs::{Repl, Result as ReplResult};
+
+/// Launches an interactve shell for debugging
+
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, Args)]
+pub(crate) struct DebugCommand {
+    /// The name of the package to detail
+    #[clap(long, conflicts_with = "workspace")]
+    package: Option<CrateName>,
+
+    /// Detail all packages in the workspace
+    #[clap(long, conflicts_with = "package")]
+    workspace: bool,
+
+    #[clap(flatten)]
+    compile_options: CompileOptions,
+}
+
+pub(crate) fn run(
+    _backend: &Backend,
+    args: DebugCommand,
+    config: NargoConfig,
+) -> Result<(), CliError> {
+    let toml_path = get_package_manifest(&config.program_dir)?;
+    let default_selection =
+        if args.workspace { PackageSelection::All } else { PackageSelection::DefaultOrAll };
+    let selection = args.package.map_or(default_selection, PackageSelection::Selected);
+    let _workspace = resolve_workspace_from_toml(&toml_path, selection)?;
+
+    let mut repl = Repl::new(())
+        .with_name("debug")
+        .with_version(env!["CARGO_PKG_VERSION"])
+        .with_command(
+            ReplCommand::new("placeholder")
+                .arg(ReplArg::new("x").required(true))
+                .about("placeholer command. remove me!"),
+            placeholder,
+        );
+    repl.run().unwrap();
+
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+fn placeholder<T>(args: ReplArgMatches, _context: &mut T) -> ReplResult<Option<String>> {
+    Ok(Some(format!(
+        "placeholder. x={}",
+        args.get_one::<String>("x").unwrap()
+    )))
+}
diff --git a/tooling/nargo_cli/src/cli/mod.rs b/tooling/nargo_cli/src/cli/mod.rs
index 56d36095518..0324c7e8848 100644
--- a/tooling/nargo_cli/src/cli/mod.rs
+++ b/tooling/nargo_cli/src/cli/mod.rs
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ mod backend_cmd;
 mod check_cmd;
 mod codegen_verifier_cmd;
 mod compile_cmd;
+mod debug_cmd;
 mod execute_cmd;
 mod info_cmd;
 mod init_cmd;
@@ -58,6 +59,7 @@ enum NargoCommand {
     New(new_cmd::NewCommand),
     Init(init_cmd::InitCommand),
     Execute(execute_cmd::ExecuteCommand),
+    Debug(debug_cmd::DebugCommand),
     Prove(prove_cmd::ProveCommand),
     Verify(verify_cmd::VerifyCommand),
     Test(test_cmd::TestCommand),
@@ -92,6 +94,7 @@ pub(crate) fn start_cli() -> eyre::Result<()> {
         NargoCommand::Init(args) => init_cmd::run(&backend, args, config),
         NargoCommand::Check(args) => check_cmd::run(&backend, args, config),
         NargoCommand::Compile(args) => compile_cmd::run(&backend, args, config),
+        NargoCommand::Debug(args) => debug_cmd::run(&backend, args, config),
         NargoCommand::Execute(args) => execute_cmd::run(&backend, args, config),
         NargoCommand::Prove(args) => prove_cmd::run(&backend, args, config),
         NargoCommand::Verify(args) => verify_cmd::run(&backend, args, config),