diff --git a/go/binlog/gomysql_reader.go b/go/binlog/gomysql_reader.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2aac7d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/go/binlog/gomysql_reader.go
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+/*
+   Copyright 2016 GitHub Inc.
+	 See https://github.com/github/gh-osc/blob/master/LICENSE
+*/
+
+package binlog
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"reflect"
+	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/github/gh-osc/go/mysql"
+	"github.com/outbrain/golib/log"
+	gomysql "github.com/siddontang/go-mysql/mysql"
+	"github.com/siddontang/go-mysql/replication"
+)
+
+var ()
+
+const (
+	serverId = 99999
+)
+
+type GoMySQLReader struct {
+	connectionConfig *mysql.ConnectionConfig
+	binlogSyncer     *replication.BinlogSyncer
+}
+
+func NewGoMySQLReader(connectionConfig *mysql.ConnectionConfig) (binlogReader *GoMySQLReader, err error) {
+	binlogReader = &GoMySQLReader{
+		connectionConfig: connectionConfig,
+	}
+	binlogReader.binlogSyncer = replication.NewBinlogSyncer(serverId, "mysql")
+
+	// Register slave, the MySQL master is at 127.0.0.1:3306, with user root and an empty password
+	err = binlogReader.binlogSyncer.RegisterSlave(connectionConfig.Hostname, uint16(connectionConfig.Port), connectionConfig.User, connectionConfig.Password)
+	if err != nil {
+		return binlogReader, err
+	}
+
+	return binlogReader, err
+}
+
+func (this *GoMySQLReader) isDMLEvent(event *replication.BinlogEvent) bool {
+	eventType := event.Header.EventType.String()
+	if strings.HasPrefix(eventType, "WriteRows") {
+		return true
+	}
+	if strings.HasPrefix(eventType, "UpdateRows") {
+		return true
+	}
+	if strings.HasPrefix(eventType, "DeleteRows") {
+		return true
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
+// ReadEntries will read binlog entries from parsed text output of `mysqlbinlog` utility
+func (this *GoMySQLReader) ReadEntries(logFile string, startPos uint64, stopPos uint64) (entries [](*BinlogEntry), err error) {
+	// Start sync with sepcified binlog file and position
+	streamer, err := this.binlogSyncer.StartSync(gomysql.Position{logFile, uint32(startPos)})
+	if err != nil {
+		return entries, err
+	}
+
+	for {
+		ev, err := streamer.GetEvent()
+		if err != nil {
+			return entries, err
+		}
+		if rowsEvent, ok := ev.Event.(*replication.RowsEvent); ok {
+			if true {
+				fmt.Println(ev.Header.EventType)
+				fmt.Println(len(rowsEvent.Rows))
+
+				for _, rows := range rowsEvent.Rows {
+					for j, d := range rows {
+						if _, ok := d.([]byte); ok {
+							fmt.Print(fmt.Sprintf("yesbin %d:%q, %+v\n", j, d, reflect.TypeOf(d)))
+						} else {
+							fmt.Print(fmt.Sprintf("notbin %d:%#v, %+v\n", j, d, reflect.TypeOf(d)))
+						}
+					}
+					fmt.Println("---")
+				}
+			} else {
+				ev.Dump(os.Stdout)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	log.Debugf("done")
+	return entries, err
+}
diff --git a/go/binlog/testdata/mysql-bin.000066 b/go/binlog/testdata/mysql-bin.000066
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..77b03bd
Binary files /dev/null and b/go/binlog/testdata/mysql-bin.000066 differ
diff --git a/go/binlog/testdata/mysql-bin.000070 b/go/binlog/testdata/mysql-bin.000070
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..92ac64b
Binary files /dev/null and b/go/binlog/testdata/mysql-bin.000070 differ
diff --git a/go/binlog/testdata/rbr-sample-1.txt b/go/binlog/testdata/rbr-sample-1.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c75b42f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/go/binlog/testdata/rbr-sample-1.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+/*
+    these are the statements that were used to execute the RBR log:
+
+    drop table if exists samplet;
+    create table samplet(id int primary key, license int, name varchar(64), unique key license_uidx(license)) engine=innodb;
+    insert into samplet values (1,1,'a');
+    insert into samplet values (2,2,'extended'),(3,3,'extended');
+    begin;
+    insert into samplet values (4,4,'transaction');
+    insert into samplet values (5,5,'transaction');
+    insert into samplet values (6,6,'transaction');
+    commit;
+    update samplet set name='update' where id=5;
+    replace into samplet values (2,4,'replaced 2,4');
+    insert into samplet values (7,7,'7');
+    insert into samplet values (8,8,'8');
+    delete from samplet where id >= 7;
+    insert into samplet values (9,9,'9');
+    begin;
+    update samplet set name='update 9' where id=9;
+    delete from samplet where license=3;
+    insert into samplet values (10,10,'10');
+    commit;
+    update samplet set name='update 5,6' where id in (5,6);
+    begin;
+    delete from samplet where id=5;
+    rollback;
+*/
diff --git a/go/binlog/testdata/rbr-sample-2.txt b/go/binlog/testdata/rbr-sample-2.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..676e46a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/go/binlog/testdata/rbr-sample-2.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+drop table if exists samplet;
+create table samplet(id int primary key, license int, name varchar(64), b tinyblob, unique key license_uidx(license)) engine=innodb;
+insert into samplet (id, license, name) values (1,1,'a');
+insert into samplet (id, license, name) values (2,2,'extended'),(3,3,'extended');
+begin;
+insert into samplet (id, license, name) values (4,4,'transaction');
+insert into samplet (id, license, name) values (5,5,'transaction');
+insert into samplet (id, license, name) values (6,6,'transaction');
+commit;
+update samplet set name='update' where id=5;
+replace into samplet (id, license, name) values (2,4,'replaced 2,4');
+insert into samplet (id, license, name, b) values (7,7,'7', x'89504E470D0A1A0A0000000D494844520000001000000010080200000090916836000000017352474200AECE1CE90000000467414D410000B18F0BFC6105000000097048597300000EC300000EC301C76FA8640000001E49444154384F6350DAE843126220493550F1A80662426C349406472801006AC91F1040F796BD0000000049454E44AE426082');
+insert into samplet (id, license, name) values (8,8,'8');
+delete from samplet where id >= 7;
+insert into samplet (id, license, name) values (9,9,'9');
+begin;
+update samplet set name='update 9', b=x'89504E470D0A1A0A0000000D494844520000001000000010080200000090916836000000017352474200AECE1CE90000000467414D410000B18F0BFC6105000000097048597300000EC300000EC301C76FA8640000001E49444154384F6350DAE843126220493550F1A80662426C349406472801006AC91F1040F796BD0000000049454E44AE426082' where id=9;
+update samplet set name='update 9b' where id=9;
+delete from samplet where license=3;
+insert into samplet (id, license, name) values (10,10,'10');
+commit;
+update samplet set name='update 5,6' where id in (5,6);
+begin;
+delete from samplet where id=5;
+rollback;
diff --git a/go/cmd/gh-osc/main.go b/go/cmd/gh-osc/main.go
index 4cb8a10..ce1823a 100644
--- a/go/cmd/gh-osc/main.go
+++ b/go/cmd/gh-osc/main.go
@@ -11,15 +11,24 @@ import (
 	"os"
 
 	"github.com/github/gh-osc/go/binlog"
+	"github.com/github/gh-osc/go/mysql"
 	"github.com/outbrain/golib/log"
 )
 
 // main is the application's entry point. It will either spawn a CLI or HTTP itnerfaces.
 func main() {
-	mysqlBasedir := flag.String("mysql-basedir", "", "the --basedir config for MySQL (auto-detected if not given)")
-	mysqlDatadir := flag.String("mysql-datadir", "", "the --datadir config for MySQL (auto-detected if not given)")
+	var connectionConfig mysql.ConnectionConfig
+
+	// mysqlBasedir := flag.String("mysql-basedir", "", "the --basedir config for MySQL (auto-detected if not given)")
+	// mysqlDatadir := flag.String("mysql-datadir", "", "the --datadir config for MySQL (auto-detected if not given)")
 	internalExperiment := flag.Bool("internal-experiment", false, "issue an internal experiment")
 	binlogFile := flag.String("binlog-file", "", "Name of binary log file")
+
+	flag.StringVar(&connectionConfig.Hostname, "host", "127.0.0.1", "MySQL hostname (preferably a replica, not the master)")
+	flag.IntVar(&connectionConfig.Port, "port", 3306, "MySQL port (preferably a replica, not the master)")
+	flag.StringVar(&connectionConfig.User, "user", "root", "MySQL user")
+	flag.StringVar(&connectionConfig.Password, "password", "", "MySQL password")
+
 	quiet := flag.Bool("quiet", false, "quiet")
 	verbose := flag.Bool("verbose", false, "verbose")
 	debug := flag.Bool("debug", false, "debug mode (very verbose)")
@@ -51,7 +60,14 @@ func main() {
 
 	if *internalExperiment {
 		log.Debug("starting experiment")
-		binlogReader := binlog.NewMySQLBinlogReader(*mysqlBasedir, *mysqlDatadir)
+		var binlogReader binlog.BinlogReader
+		var err error
+
+		//binlogReader = binlog.NewMySQLBinlogReader(*mysqlBasedir, *mysqlDatadir)
+		binlogReader, err = binlog.NewGoMySQLReader(&connectionConfig)
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Fatale(err)
+		}
 		binlogReader.ReadEntries(*binlogFile, 0, 0)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/go/mysql/connection.go b/go/mysql/connection.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fc4115b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/go/mysql/connection.go
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+/*
+   Copyright 2016 GitHub Inc.
+	 See https://github.com/github/gh-osc/blob/master/LICENSE
+*/
+
+package mysql
+
+// ConnectionConfig is the minimal configuration required to connect to a MySQL server
+type ConnectionConfig struct {
+	Hostname string
+	Port     int
+	User     string
+	Password string
+}