diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 140d41e..ec03c0d 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ chrono-tz = "0.8.3"
 phf = { version = "0.11.2", features = ["macros"] }
 phf_codegen = "0.11.1"
 chrono = "0.4.26"
+regex = "1.8.4"
 
 [build-dependencies]
 chrono = "0.4.26"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index bc5d571..bfe2019 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -18,4 +18,49 @@ My first Rust project, intended to offer a simple way to display the current tim
         - `/svg/2023-06-14-3PM-CST`
         - `2023-06-14-3PM-CST.svg`
         - `/jpeg/2023.06.14.33` (14th of June, 2023, 2:33 PM UTC)
-        - `/jpeg/2023.06.14.33T-5` (14th of June, 2023, 2:33 PM UTC-5)
\ No newline at end of file
+        - `/jpeg/2023.06.14.33T-5` (14th of June, 2023, 2:33 PM UTC-5)
+
+## Structure
+
+1. Routing
+    - Handle different input formats at the route layer
+2. Parsing
+    - Module for parsing input
+3. Cache Layer
+    - Given all route options, provide a globally available cache for the next layer
+4. SVG Template Rendering
+    - Template rendering based on parsed input
+5. (Optional) Rasterization
+    - If rasterization is requested, render SVG to PNG
+6. (Catch-all) Error Handling
+    - All errors/panics will be caught in separate middleware
+
+## Input Parsing
+
+- Separators can be any of the following: `.`, `,`, `-`, `:` and ` `.
+    - They must be consistent through the date section and the time section (they can be different between the two).
+- Date order can be modified with `?date=[YMD|DMY|MDY]`. By default, it is `YMD`.
+- Time is not required, but will default each value to 0 (except HOUR, which is the minimum specified value).
+- Millisecond precision is allowed, but will be ignored in most outputs. Periods or commas are allowed as separators.
+- Timezones can be qualified in a number of ways, but will default to UTC if not specified.
+    - Fully qualified TZ identifiers like "America/Chicago" are specified using the `tz` query parameter.
+    - Abbreviated TZ identifiers like "CST" are specified inside the time string, after the time, separated by a dash.
+        - Abbreviated terms are incredibly ambiguous, and should be avoided if possible. For ease of use, they are
+          available, but several of them are ambiguous, and the preferred TZ has been specified in code.
+        - Full table available in [`abbr_tz`](./src/abbr_tz). Comments designated with `#`. Preferred interpretation
+          designated arbitrarily by me. Table sourced
+          from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_time_zone_abbreviations)
+
+```shell
+2023-06-14-3  # 3AM UTC
+2023-06-14-3-45  # 3:45AM UTC
+2023-06-14-3PM-CST
+2023.06.14.15-CST  # 3PM CST
+2023.06.14.15-45-CST  # 3:45PM CST
+2023.06.14.15-45-30-CST  # 3:45:30PM CST
+2023.06.14.15-45-30.123-CST  # 3:45:30.123PM CST
+2023.06.14.15-45-30,123-CST  # 3:45:30.123PM CST
+```
+
+## Output Formats
+
diff --git a/src/parse.rs b/src/parse.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8870529
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/parse.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,228 @@
+use std::str::FromStr;
+use regex::{Regex, Captures, Match};
+use lazy_static::lazy_static;
+use crate::separator::Separable;
+
+lazy_static! {
+    // First, second, third groups required (date segments)
+    static ref ABSOLUTE_TIME: Regex = Regex::new(r"^(\d+)[.,-: ](\d+)[.,-: ](\d+)[.,-: ](?<time>[^\w]*?(?:PM|AM)?)(?<tz>[.,-: ]\w{2,5})?$").unwrap();
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug, Copy, Clone, Default)]
+pub enum DateSegmentOrder {
+    #[default]
+    YearMonthDay,
+    MonthDayYear,
+    DayMonthYear,
+}
+
+impl FromStr for DateSegmentOrder {
+    type Err = ();
+
+    /*
+    Case-sensitive match on the string representation of the enum.
+     */
+    fn from_str(s: &str) -> Result<Self, Self::Err> {
+        match s {
+            "YMD" => Ok(DateSegmentOrder::YearMonthDay),
+            "MDY" => Ok(DateSegmentOrder::MonthDayYear),
+            "DMY" => Ok(DateSegmentOrder::DayMonthYear),
+            _ => Err(()),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug, Copy, Clone, Default)]
+pub struct ExtractionOptions {
+    date_segment_order: DateSegmentOrder,
+    strict: bool,
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug, PartialEq)]
+pub struct ExtractedTime {
+    year: u32,
+    month: u32,
+    day: u32,
+    hour: u32,
+    minute: u32,
+    second: u32,
+    timezone: String,
+}
+
+trait ExtractAbsolute {
+    fn extract_absolute(&self, options: ExtractionOptions) -> Result<ExtractedTime, String>;
+}
+
+impl ExtractAbsolute for String {
+    fn extract_absolute(&self, options: ExtractionOptions) -> Result<ExtractedTime, String> {
+        let capture: Captures = ABSOLUTE_TIME.captures(self).expect(format!("Invalid absolute time format: {}", self).as_str());
+        println!("{:?}", capture);
+        let (year, month, day): (u32, u32, u32) = {
+            fn as_u32(capture: Option<Match>) -> u32 {
+                capture.unwrap().as_str().parse().unwrap()
+            }
+            let (first, second, third) = (as_u32(capture.get(1)), as_u32(capture.get(2)), as_u32(capture.get(3)));
+            match options.date_segment_order {
+                DateSegmentOrder::YearMonthDay => {
+                    (first, second, third)
+                }
+                DateSegmentOrder::MonthDayYear => {
+                    (third, first, second)
+                }
+                DateSegmentOrder::DayMonthYear => {
+                    (third, second, first)
+                }
+            }
+        };
+
+        let (hour, minute, second): (u32, u32, u32) = if capture.name("time").unwrap().len() > 0 {
+            // Split the time segment using the separator characters defined in the Separable trait.
+            let mut time = capture.name("time").unwrap().as_str().split(|c: char| c.is_separator());
+            println!("{:?}", time);
+            let (mut hour, mut minute, mut second) = (0, 0, 0);
+
+            // Iterate over the next four segments as available.
+            if let Some(next_hour) = time.next() { hour = next_hour.parse().unwrap(); }
+            if let Some(next_minute) = time.next() { minute = next_minute.parse().unwrap(); }
+            if let Some(next_second) = time.next() { second = next_second.parse().unwrap(); }
+            time.next();  // Skip the milliseconds segment
+
+            // Prevent additional segments from being present.
+            let remaining = time.count();
+            if remaining > 0 {
+                return Err("Invalid time format: too many segments".to_string());
+            }
+
+            (hour, minute, second)
+        } else {
+            (0, 0, 0)
+        };
+
+        Ok(ExtractedTime {
+            year,
+            month,
+            day,
+            hour,
+            minute,
+            second,
+            timezone: "UTC".to_string(),
+        })
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use crate::parse::{ExtractAbsolute, ExtractedTime};
+
+    #[test]
+    fn extract_hour() {
+        // 3:00 AM UTC
+        assert_eq!("2023-06-14-3".to_string().extract_absolute(Default::default()).unwrap(), ExtractedTime {
+            year: 2023,
+            month: 6,
+            day: 14,
+            hour: 3,
+            minute: 0,
+            second: 0,
+            timezone: "UTC".to_string(),
+        });
+
+        // 3:00 PM CST
+        assert_eq!("2023.06.14.15-CST".to_string().extract_absolute(Default::default()), Ok(ExtractedTime {
+            year: 2023,
+            month: 6,
+            day: 14,
+            hour: 15,
+            minute: 0,
+            second: 0,
+            timezone: "CST".to_string(),
+        }));
+
+        // 3:00 PM CST
+        assert_eq!("2023-06-14-3PM-CST".to_string().extract_absolute(Default::default()), Ok(ExtractedTime {
+            year: 2023,
+            month: 6,
+            day: 14,
+            hour: 12 + 3,
+            minute: 0,
+            second: 0,
+            timezone: "CST".to_string(),
+        }));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn extract_minute() {
+        // 3:45 AM UTC
+        assert_eq!("2023-06-14-3-45".to_string().extract_absolute(Default::default()), Ok(ExtractedTime {
+            year: 2023,
+            month: 6,
+            day: 14,
+            hour: 3,
+            minute: 45,
+            second: 0,
+            timezone: "UTC".to_string(),
+        }));
+
+        // 3:45 PM CST
+        assert_eq!("2023.06.14.15-45-CST".to_string().extract_absolute(Default::default()), Ok(ExtractedTime {
+            year: 2023,
+            month: 6,
+            day: 14,
+            hour: 15,
+            minute: 45,
+            second: 0,
+            timezone: "CST".to_string(),
+        }));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn extract_seconds() {
+        // 3:45:30 PM CST
+        assert_eq!("2023.06.14.15-45-30-CST".to_string().extract_absolute(Default::default()), Ok(ExtractedTime {
+            year: 2023,
+            month: 6,
+            day: 14,
+            hour: 15,
+            minute: 45,
+            second: 30,
+            timezone: "CST".to_string(),
+        }));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn handle_milliseconds() {
+        // Handle comma
+        assert_eq!("2023.06.14.15-45-30,123".to_string().extract_absolute(Default::default()), Ok(ExtractedTime {
+            year: 2023,
+            month: 6,
+            day: 14,
+            hour: 12 + 3,
+            minute: 45,
+            second: 30,
+            timezone: "UTC".to_string(),
+        }));
+
+
+        // Handle period
+        assert_eq!("2023.06.14.15-45-30.456".to_string().extract_absolute(Default::default()), Ok(ExtractedTime {
+            year: 2023,
+            month: 6,
+            day: 14,
+            hour: 12 + 3,
+            minute: 45,
+            second: 30,
+            timezone: "UTC".to_string(),
+        }));
+
+        // Handle comma and timezone
+        assert_eq!("2023.06.14.15-45-30,123-CST".to_string().extract_absolute(Default::default()), Ok(ExtractedTime {
+            year: 2023,
+            month: 6,
+            day: 14,
+            hour: 15,
+            minute: 45,
+            second: 30,
+            timezone: "CST".to_string(),
+        }));
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/separator.rs b/src/separator.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..81484e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/separator.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+pub trait Separable {
+    fn is_separator(&self) -> bool;
+}
+
+impl Separable for char {
+    fn is_separator(&self) -> bool {
+        *self == ' ' || *self == '-' || *self == ',' || *self == ':' || *self == '.'
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file