diff --git a/src/execnet/_dictimport.py b/src/execnet/_dictimport.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f1e84b1a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/execnet/_dictimport.py
@@ -0,0 +1,142 @@
+# incomplete, to be completed later
+# this will replace concat based bootstrap
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import base64
+import json
+import os
+import pkgutil
+import sys
+import types
+import zlib
+from importlib import import_module
+from importlib.abc import Loader
+from importlib.metadata import Distribution
+from importlib.metadata import DistributionFinder
+from typing import IO
+from typing import Any
+from typing import Iterable
+from typing import NamedTuple
+from typing import NewType
+from typing import Protocol
+from typing import Sequence
+from typing import cast
+from typing import runtime_checkable
+
+ModuleName = NewType("ModuleName", str)
+
+
+class DictDistribution(Distribution):
+    data: dict[str, str]
+
+    def __init__(self, data: dict[str, str]) -> None:
+        self.data = data
+
+    def read_text(self, filename):
+        return self.data[filename]
+
+    def locate_file(self, path: str | os.PathLike[str]) -> os.PathLike[str]:
+        raise FileNotFoundError(path)
+
+
+class ModuleInfo(NamedTuple):
+    name: ModuleName
+    is_pkg: bool
+    source: str
+
+
+class DictImporter(DistributionFinder, Loader):
+    """a limited loader/importer for distributins send via json-lines"""
+
+    def __init__(
+        self, sources: dict[ModuleName, ModuleInfo], distribution: DictDistribution
+    ):
+        self.sources = sources
+        self.distribution = distribution
+
+    def find_distributions(
+        self, context: DistributionFinder.Context | None = None
+    ) -> Iterable[Distribution]:
+        # TODO: filter
+        return [self.distribution]
+
+    def find_module(
+        self, fullname: str, path: Sequence[str | bytes] | None = None
+    ) -> Loader | None:
+        if ModuleName(fullname) in self.sources:
+            return self
+        return None
+
+    def load_module(self, fullname: str) -> types.ModuleType:
+        # print "load_module:",  fullname
+
+        info = self.sources[ModuleName(fullname)]
+
+        co = compile(info.source, fullname, "exec")
+        module = sys.modules.setdefault(fullname, types.ModuleType(fullname))
+        module.__loader__ = self
+        if info.is_pkg:
+            module.__path__ = [fullname]
+
+        exec(co, module.__dict__)
+        return sys.modules[fullname]
+
+    def get_source(self, name: str) -> str | None:
+        res = self.sources.get(ModuleName(name))
+        if res is None:
+            return None
+        else:
+            return res.source
+
+
+def bootstrap(
+    modules: dict[ModuleName, ModuleInfo],
+    distribution: dict[str, str],
+    entry: str,
+    args: dict[str, Any],
+    set_argv: list[str] | None,
+) -> None:
+    importer = DictImporter(modules, distribution=DictDistribution(distribution))
+    sys.meta_path.append(importer)
+    module, attr = entry.split(":")
+    loaded_module = import_module(module)
+    entry_func = getattr(loaded_module, entry)
+    if set_argv is not None:
+        sys.argv[1:] = set_argv
+    entry_func(**args)
+
+
+def bootstrap_stdin(stream: IO[bytes] | IO[str]) -> None:
+    bootstrap_args = decode_b85_zip_json(stream.readline())
+    bootstrap(**bootstrap_args)
+
+
+def decode_b85_zip_json(encoded: bytes | str):
+    packed = base64.b85decode(encoded)
+    unpacked = zlib.decompress(packed)
+    return json.loads(unpacked)
+
+
+@runtime_checkable
+class SourceProvidingLoader(Protocol):
+    def get_source(self, name: str) -> str: ...
+
+
+def naive_pack_module(module: types.ModuleType, dist: Distribution) -> object:
+    assert module.__file__ is not None
+    assert module.__path__
+    data: dict[ModuleName, ModuleInfo] = {}
+    for info in pkgutil.walk_packages(module.__path__, f"{module.__name__}."):
+        spec = info.module_finder.find_spec(info.name, None)
+        assert spec is not None
+        loader = cast(SourceProvidingLoader, spec.loader)
+
+        source = loader.get_source(info.name)
+        data[ModuleName(info.name)] = ModuleInfo(
+            name=ModuleName(info.name), is_pkg=info.ispkg, source=source
+        )
+    return data
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    bootstrap_stdin(sys.stdin)