diff --git a/tracker/build.gradle b/tracker/build.gradle
index f7ee12c4..60c438cf 100644
--- a/tracker/build.gradle
+++ b/tracker/build.gradle
@@ -22,6 +22,6 @@ apply plugin : 'com.github.johnrengelman.shadow'
 
 dependencies {
     compile project(":core")
-    compile 'org.eclipse.lsp4j:org.eclipse.lsp4j.jsonrpc:0.9.0'
+    compile 'com.github.arteam:simple-json-rpc-server:1.0'
 }
 
diff --git a/tracker/src/main/groovy/com/muwire/tracker/TrackRequest.java b/tracker/src/main/groovy/com/muwire/tracker/TrackRequest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4e102c1b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tracker/src/main/groovy/com/muwire/tracker/TrackRequest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+package com.muwire.tracker;
+
+public class TrackRequest {
+    String infoHash;
+    
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return "infoHash: " +infoHash;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/tracker/src/main/groovy/com/muwire/tracker/Tracker.groovy b/tracker/src/main/groovy/com/muwire/tracker/Tracker.groovy
index 7e662df9..3df3e864 100644
--- a/tracker/src/main/groovy/com/muwire/tracker/Tracker.groovy
+++ b/tracker/src/main/groovy/com/muwire/tracker/Tracker.groovy
@@ -1,6 +1,12 @@
 package com.muwire.tracker
 
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets
+
+import com.github.arteam.simplejsonrpc.server.JsonRpcServer
+import com.muwire.core.Core
 import com.muwire.core.MuWireSettings
+import com.muwire.core.UILoadedEvent
+import com.muwire.core.files.AllFilesLoadedEvent
 
 class Tracker {
     
@@ -53,5 +59,54 @@ class Tracker {
             
             trackerProps.withPrintWriter { jsonProps.store(it, "") }
         }
+        
+        Properties p = new Properties()
+        mwProps.withReader("UTF-8", { p.load(it) } )
+        MuWireSettings muSettings = new MuWireSettings(p)
+        p = new Properties()
+        trackerProps.withInputStream { p.load(it) }
+        
+        InetAddress toBind = InetAddress.getByName(p['jsonrpc.iface'])
+        int port = Integer.parseInt(p['jsonrpc.port'])
+        ServerSocket ss = new ServerSocket(port, Integer.MAX_VALUE, toBind)
+        
+        Core core = new Core(muSettings, home, VERSION, "MuWire Tracker")
+        
+
+        // init json service object
+        TrackerService trackerService = new TrackerService()
+        JsonRpcServer rpcServer = new JsonRpcServer()
+                
+        Thread coreStarter = new Thread({ 
+            core.startServices()
+            core.eventBus.publish(new UILoadedEvent()) 
+        } as Runnable)
+        coreStarter.start()
+        
+        println "json rpc listening on $toBind:$port"
+        
+        try {
+            while(true) {
+                Socket s = ss.accept()
+                try {
+                    println "accepted connection from " + s.getInetAddress()
+                    def reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(s.getInputStream()))
+                    String request;
+                    while((request = reader.readLine()) != null) {
+                        println "got request \"$request\""
+                        String response = rpcServer.handle(request, trackerService)
+                        println "sending response \"$response\""
+                        s.getOutputStream().newWriter("UTF-8").write(response)
+                        s.getOutputStream().write("\n".getBytes(StandardCharsets.US_ASCII))
+                        s.getOutputStream().flush()
+                    }
+                } finally {
+                    s.close()
+                }
+            }
+        } catch (Exception bad) {
+            bad.printStackTrace()
+        }
+        
     }
 }
diff --git a/tracker/src/main/groovy/com/muwire/tracker/TrackerService.groovy b/tracker/src/main/groovy/com/muwire/tracker/TrackerService.groovy
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a42ce9a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tracker/src/main/groovy/com/muwire/tracker/TrackerService.groovy
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+package com.muwire.tracker
+
+import com.github.arteam.simplejsonrpc.core.annotation.JsonRpcMethod
+import com.github.arteam.simplejsonrpc.core.annotation.JsonRpcService
+
+@JsonRpcService
+class TrackerService {
+    
+    private final TrackerStatus status = new TrackerStatus()
+    
+    TrackerService() {
+        status.status = "Starting"
+    }
+    
+    @JsonRpcMethod
+    public TrackerStatus status() {
+        status
+    }
+}
diff --git a/tracker/src/main/groovy/com/muwire/tracker/TrackerStatus.groovy b/tracker/src/main/groovy/com/muwire/tracker/TrackerStatus.groovy
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..54baad7b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tracker/src/main/groovy/com/muwire/tracker/TrackerStatus.groovy
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+package com.muwire.tracker
+
+class TrackerStatus {
+    String status
+    int connections
+    int swarms
+}