diff --git a/src/bin/dlcrate.rs b/src/bin/dlcrate.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6e47f3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/bin/dlcrate.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+use clap::Parser;
+use color_eyre::eyre::eyre;
+use color_eyre::eyre::Result;
+use color_eyre::eyre::WrapErr;
+use std::process::Command;
+
+use utils_rs::common::parsers;
+
+#[derive(Parser, Debug)]
+struct Args {
+    /// name and version of the crate in the format <name>:<version>
+    #[arg(value_parser=parsers::parse_name_version)]
+    name_version: (String, String),
+}
+
+fn download(name: &str, version: &str) -> Result<()> {
+    let url = format!("https://static.crates.io/crates/{name}/{name}-{version}.crate");
+    let _ = Command::new("wget")
+        .arg(&url)
+        .arg("--output-document")
+        .arg(format!("{}-{}.tar.gz", name, version))
+        .status()
+        .wrap_err_with(|| eyre!("Failed to download crate from {}", url))?;
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+fn main() -> Result<()> {
+    // setup color_eyre panic and error report handlers
+    color_eyre::install()?;
+
+    // parse args
+    let args = Args::parse();
+
+    let (crate_name, version) = args.name_version;
+    download(&crate_name, &version)
+}
diff --git a/src/common/parsers.rs b/src/common/parsers.rs
index 61c1cb4..f551977 100644
--- a/src/common/parsers.rs
+++ b/src/common/parsers.rs
@@ -1,16 +1,28 @@
-use std::error::Error;
+// use std::error::Error;
+use color_eyre::eyre::{eyre, Result};
 use std::path::PathBuf;
 
-// TODO: add tests for parse_dir
 // TODO: setup CI on gitlab to run tests on every commit
 
+// TODO: add tests
 /// custom parser to validate that an arg is a directory
 #[allow(dead_code)]
-pub fn parse_dir(s: &str) -> Result<PathBuf, Box<dyn Error + Send + Sync + 'static>> {
+pub fn parse_dir(s: &str) -> Result<PathBuf> {
     let path = PathBuf::from(s);
     if path.is_dir() {
         Ok(path)
     } else {
-        Err(format!("{} is not a directory", s).into())
+        Err(eyre!(format!("{} is not a directory", s)))
     }
 }
+
+// TODO: add tests
+/// custom parser to parse a crate-version input of the form
+/// `<crate_name>:<crate_version>`
+#[allow(dead_code)]
+pub fn parse_name_version(s: &str) -> Result<(String, String)> {
+    let parts = s
+        .split_once(':')
+        .ok_or_else(|| eyre!("invalid input (should be in the format <name>:<version>)"))?;
+    Ok((String::from(parts.0), String::from(parts.1)))
+}