diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..77fcc507
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+# Byte-compiled / optimized / DLL files
+__pycache__/
+*.py[cod]
+*$py.class
+
+# C extensions
+*.so
+
+# Virtual environments
+venv/
+.env/
+.venv/
+env/
+ENV/
+
+# Distribution / packaging
+.Python
+build/
+develop-eggs/
+dist/
+downloads/
+eggs/
+.eggs/
+lib/
+lib64/
+parts/
+sdist/
+var/
+wheels/
+share/python-wheels/
+*.egg-info/
+.installed.cfg
+*.egg
+MANIFEST
+
+# PyInstaller
+*.manifest
+*.spec
+
+# Unit test / coverage reports
+.coverage
+.coverage.*
+.cache
+nosetests.xml
+coverage.xml
+*.cover
+*.py,cover
+*.hypothesis/
+.pytest_cache/
+
+# Jupyter Notebook
+.ipynb_checkpoints
+
+# PEP 582 (used by eg. pipx)
+__pypackages__/
+
+# PyCharm / VS Code settings
+.idea/
+.vscode/
+
+# Local config
+*.env
+*.ini
+*.toml
+*.cfg
+
+# Logs
+*.log
+
+# Mac/Linux/Windows system files
+.DS_Store
+Thumbs.db
+
diff --git a/markitect/__init__.py b/markitect/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/markitect/parser.py b/markitect/parser.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..116720db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/markitect/parser.py
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+from markdown_it import MarkdownIt
+
+def parse_markdown_to_ast(md_content: str):
+    md = MarkdownIt()
+    tokens = md.parse(md_content)
+    # Convert to a JSON-serializable list of dicts (tokens are objects, so we dict-ify them recursively)
+    def token_to_dict(token):
+        d = {
+            'type': token.type,
+            'tag': token.tag,
+            'attrs': token.attrs,
+            'map': token.map,
+            'nesting': token.nesting,
+            'level': token.level,
+            'children': [token_to_dict(child) if child else None for child in token.children] if token.children else None,
+            'content': token.content,
+            'markup': token.markup,
+            'info': token.info,
+            'meta': token.meta,
+            'block': token.block,
+            'hidden': token.hidden
+        }
+        return {k: v for k, v in d.items() if v is not None}  # Remove None values for cleanliness
+
+    return [token_to_dict(token) for token in tokens]
diff --git a/tests/test_parser.py b/tests/test_parser.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..18ab44cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_parser.py
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+import pytest
+from markitect.parser import parse_markdown_to_ast
+
+def test_parse_basic_markdown():
+    md_content = "# Heading\nThis is a paragraph."
+    expected_ast = [
+    {
+        'type': 'heading_open',
+        'tag': 'h1',
+        'attrs': {},
+        'map': [0, 1],
+        'nesting': 1,
+        'level': 0,
+        'content': '',
+        'markup': '#',
+        'info': '',
+        'meta': {},
+        'block': True,
+        'hidden': False
+    },
+    {
+        'type': 'inline',
+        'tag': '',
+        'attrs': {},
+        'map': [0, 1],
+        'nesting': 0,
+        'level': 1,
+        'children': [
+            {
+                'type': 'text',
+                'tag': '',
+                'attrs': {},
+                'nesting': 0,
+                'level': 0,
+                'content': 'Heading',
+                'markup': '',
+                'info': '',
+                'meta': {},
+                'block': False,
+                'hidden': False
+            }
+        ],
+        'content': 'Heading',
+        'markup': '',
+        'info': '',
+        'meta': {},
+        'block': True,
+        'hidden': False
+    },
+    {
+        'type': 'heading_close',
+        'tag': 'h1',
+        'attrs': {},
+        'nesting': -1,
+        'level': 0,
+        'content': '',
+        'markup': '#',
+        'info': '',
+        'meta': {},
+        'block': True,
+        'hidden': False
+    },
+    {
+        'type': 'paragraph_open',
+        'tag': 'p',
+        'attrs': {},
+        'map': [1, 2],
+        'nesting': 1,
+        'level': 0,
+        'content': '',
+        'markup': '',
+        'info': '',
+        'meta': {},
+        'block': True,
+        'hidden': False
+    },
+    {
+        'type': 'inline',
+        'tag': '',
+        'attrs': {},
+        'map': [1, 2],
+        'nesting': 0,
+        'level': 1,
+        'children': [
+            {
+                'type': 'text',
+                'tag': '',
+                'attrs': {},
+                'nesting': 0,
+                'level': 0,
+                'content': 'This is a paragraph.',
+                'markup': '',
+                'info': '',
+                'meta': {},
+                'block': False,
+                'hidden': False
+            }
+        ],
+        'content': 'This is a paragraph.',
+        'markup': '',
+        'info': '',
+        'meta': {},
+        'block': True,
+        'hidden': False
+    },
+    {
+        'type': 'paragraph_close',
+        'tag': 'p',
+        'attrs': {},
+        'nesting': -1,
+        'level': 0,
+        'content': '',
+        'markup': '',
+        'info': '',
+        'meta': {},
+        'block': True,
+        'hidden': False
+    }
+]
+    assert parse_markdown_to_ast(md_content) == expected_ast