diff --git a/moots-1-simple/src/lib.rs b/moots-1-simple/src/lib.rs
index ca4380a..0683428 100644
--- a/moots-1-simple/src/lib.rs
+++ b/moots-1-simple/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
-use std::sync::Arc;
+use hubble_sync_rocksdb::RocksEngine;
 
 pub mod serve;
+pub mod store;
 pub mod sync;
 
 pub struct Moots {
-    pub db: Arc<rocksdb::DB>,
+    pub storage: RocksEngine,
 }
diff --git a/moots-1-simple/src/store.rs b/moots-1-simple/src/store.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..48b6ed1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/moots-1-simple/src/store.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+pub static FOLLOWS_KEY_PREFIX: &[u8] = b"follows:";
+
+pub fn follows_key(us: &str, them: &str, rkey: &str) -> Vec<u8> {
+    [
+        FOLLOWS_KEY_PREFIX,
+        us.as_bytes(),
+        &[0x00],
+        them.as_bytes(),
+        &[0x00],
+        rkey.as_bytes(),
+    ].concat()
+}
+
+pub fn our_follows_prefix(us: &str) -> Vec<u8> {
+    [
+        FOLLOWS_KEY_PREFIX,
+        us.as_bytes(),
+        &[0x00],
+    ].concat()
+}
diff --git a/moots-1-simple/src/sync.rs b/moots-1-simple/src/sync.rs
index 818ba66..b90823d 100644
--- a/moots-1-simple/src/sync.rs
+++ b/moots-1-simple/src/sync.rs
@@ -1,9 +1,13 @@
 use hubble_sync::{
     AccountStatus, AppResult, Commit, RepoContext, ResyncData, SimpleSyncConsumer, StorageEngine,
+    OpKind,
 };
 use hubble_sync_rocksdb::RocksEngine;
 
-use crate::Moots;
+use crate::{Moots, store};
+
+/// if someone follows more than 1M people, we just drop them. moots meaningless.
+const FOLLOWS_LIMIT: usize = 1_000_000;
 
 impl SimpleSyncConsumer for Moots {
     type Engine = RocksEngine;
@@ -14,6 +18,27 @@ impl SimpleSyncConsumer for Moots {
         ctx: &RepoContext,
         batch: &mut <Self::Engine as StorageEngine>::Batch,
     ) -> AppResult<Self::Engine, ()> {
+        for op in commit.ops {
+            if !op.path.starts_with("app.bsky.graph.follow/") {
+                // ignore everything that's not a change to follows
+                continue;
+            }
+            match op.kind {
+                OpKind::Create { cid } => {
+                    // 1. get the block, decode cbor (i guess we should grab struct from jacq)
+                    // 2. extract the follow subject
+                    // 3. generate the key with our did (ctx), the subject (cbor), and the rkey (commit.path)
+                    // 4. add a put for the key to the batch (empty value)
+                },
+                OpKind::Delete { prev } => {
+                    // 1. generate the key, same way as create (i guess we can combine things?)
+                    // 2. add a delete for the key to the batch
+                },
+                OpKind::Update { .. } => {
+                    tracing::warn!("ignoring update to follows (not a valid operation)");
+                }
+            }
+        }
         Ok(())
     }