diff --git a/src/repository.rb b/src/repository.rb
index 28ce619..a50f9c4 100644
--- a/src/repository.rb
+++ b/src/repository.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 require_relative 'util.rb'
 
+require 'fileutils'
+
 class Repository
 
 	def initialize(path)
@@ -15,4 +17,29 @@ class Repository
 		}
 	end
 
+	def searchIngest
+		# create our ingest directory path
+		ingestPath = File.join(@basePath, 'ingest')
+		# search for files in ingest; ignore non-files (e.g. directories)
+		ingestFiles = Dir.entries(ingestPath).select { |f| File.file? File.join(ingestPath, f) }
+
+		return ingestFiles
+	end
+
+	def archiveFile(filename)
+		# create source and destination paths for the copy
+		ingestPath = File.join(@basePath, 'ingest', filename)
+		archivePath = File.join(@basePath, 'archive', filename)
+
+		# perform the copy, preserving file attributes
+		FileUtils.cp(ingestPath, archivePath, preserve: true)
+	end
+
+	def cleanupFile(filename)
+		# create ingest path
+		ingestPath = File.join(@basePath, 'ingest', filename)
+		# remove the file
+		FileUtils.remove_file(ingestPath)
+	end
+
 end
diff --git a/src/transcoder.rb b/src/transcoder.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0b6c5c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/transcoder.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+class Transcoder
+
+	def initialize(config, repository)
+		@config = config
+		@repository = repository
+	end
+
+	def start
+		puts "Starting transcoder..."
+
+		# search for files in ingest
+		ingestFiles = @repository.searchIngest()
+		ingestFiles.each { |ifile|
+			# archive the file
+			@repository.archiveFile(ifile)
+			# perform the transcode
+			# // TODO self.transcode(ifile)
+			# clean up the file from ingest
+			@repository.cleanupFile(ifile)
+		}
+	end
+
+end
diff --git a/src/zealot.rb b/src/zealot.rb
index 2007d41..f5d1b63 100755
--- a/src/zealot.rb
+++ b/src/zealot.rb
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 require_relative 'config.rb'
 require_relative 'repository.rb'
+require_relative 'transcoder.rb'
 
 # create new configuration instance
 c = Config.new('~/.config/zealot.toml')
@@ -9,5 +10,8 @@ c = Config.new('~/.config/zealot.toml')
 # create new repository instance
 r = Repository.new(c.get('transcoder.repository'))
 
-# print repository directory as a test
-puts c.get('transcoder.repository')
+# create new transcoder instance
+t = Transcoder.new(c, r)
+
+# start the transcoder
+t.start()