diff --git a/bin/cosmic-log b/bin/cosmic-log
index 445e9f0..2ea0164 100755
--- a/bin/cosmic-log
+++ b/bin/cosmic-log
@@ -3,23 +3,118 @@
 # TODO: create new messages for ship using templates
 # TODO: better isolate listings.gophermap from accidental clobbering
 
+version="0.1.0"
 user=$(whoami)
 ships=$(find /var/gopher -user "$user" -type d -exec basename {} \;)
 numships=$(echo "${ships}" | wc -l)
-tmp="$HOME/.cosmiclog"
+tmp=$(mktemp -t "$(basename "$0").tmp.XXXXXXX") || die "Failed to create temporary file" 1
+
+flag_help=0
+flag_version=0
+flag_debug=0
+flag_shortlist=0
+
+arg_options="hvds:z"
+arg_log=1
+arg_ship=""
+
+die () {
+  msg="$1"
+  code="$2"
+  # exit code defaults to 1
+  if printf "%s" "$code" | grep -q '^[0-9]+$'; then
+    code=1
+  fi
+  # output message to stdout or stderr based on code
+  if [ -n "$msg" ]; then
+    if [ "$code" -eq 0 ]; then
+      printf "%s\\n" "$msg"
+    else
+      printf "%s\\n" "$msg" >&2
+    fi
+  fi
+  exit "$code"
+}
 
 finish () {
   rm -f "$tmp"
 }
 trap finish EXIT
 
-check_yn () {
-  read -r answer
-  if [ "$answer" != "${answer#[Yy]}" ] ; then
-    printf 1 # true
-  else
-    printf 0 # false
+parse_input () {
+  if ! parsed=$(getopt $arg_options "$@"); then
+    die "Invalid input" 2
   fi
+
+  eval set -- "$parsed"
+
+  while true; do
+    case "$1" in
+      -h)
+        flag_help=1
+        arg_log=0
+        shift
+        ;;
+      -v)
+        flag_version=1
+        arg_log=0
+        shift
+        ;;
+      -d)
+        flag_debug=1
+        arg_log=0
+        shift
+        ;;
+      -s)
+        shift
+        arg_ship="$1"
+        shift
+        ;;
+      -z)
+        flag_shortlist=1
+        shift
+        ;;
+      --)
+        shift
+        break
+        ;;
+      *)
+        die "Internal error: $1" 3
+        ;;
+    esac
+  done
+}
+
+show_help () {
+  printf "%s [-hvd] [-s shipname]\\n\\n" "$(basename "$0")"
+  printf "  -h                          Show this help\\n"
+  printf "  -v                          Show current version info\\n"
+  printf "  -d                          Debug mode\\n"
+  printf "  -s [shipname]               Only log messages for ship named\\n"
+  printf "\\n"
+  printf "Passing no options will enter interactive mode.\\n\\n"
+  printf "\\n"
+}
+
+read_key () {
+  _key=
+  if [ -t 0 ]; then
+    if [ -z "$_stty" ]; then
+      _stty=$(stty -g)
+    fi
+    stty -echo -icanon min 1
+    _key=$(dd bs=1 count=1 2>/dev/null)
+    stty "$_stty"
+  fi
+}
+
+yesno () {
+  read_key
+  case $_key in
+    y ) result=0 ;;
+    * ) result=1 ;;
+  esac
+  return $result
 }
 
 check_log () {
@@ -37,12 +132,11 @@ check_log () {
   else
     # check each unpublished message for sending
     IFS='
-'
+    '
     for u in $uniq
     do
       printf "\\n   Send message %s? " "$(basename "$u" | sed 's/\.[^.]*$//')"
-      res=$(check_yn)
-      if [ "$res" -eq 1 ]; then
+      if yesno; then
         # prompt for title and prepare output
         printf "Title for message %s? " "$(basename "$u" | sed 's/\.[^.]*$//')"
         read -r title
@@ -56,18 +150,52 @@ check_log () {
   fi
 }
 
-printf "INITIALIZING QEC...\\n"
-printf "Ready to transmit for [%s]\\n" "${user}"
-if [ "$numships" -eq 0 ]; then
-  printf "No registered ships found in system.\\n"
-elif [ "$numships" -eq 1 ]; then
-  check_log "$ships"
-else
-    IFS='
-'
-  for f in $ships
-  do
-    check_log "$(basename "$f")"
-  done
-  unset IFS
-fi
+main() {
+  parse_input "$@"
+
+  # debug
+  if [ $flag_debug -gt 0 ]; then
+    set -x
+  fi
+
+  # shortlist for bash completion
+  if [ $flag_shortlist -gt 0 ]; then
+    out="$ships"
+    die "${out}" 0
+  fi
+
+  # version
+  if [ $flag_version -gt 0 ]; then
+    printf "%s\\n" "$version"
+  fi
+
+  # print help
+  if [ $flag_help -gt 0 ]; then
+    show_help
+  fi
+
+  # standard log if no params
+  if [ $arg_log -gt 0 ]; then
+    printf "INITIALIZING QEC...\\n"
+    printf "Ready to transmit for [%s]\\n" "${user}"
+    if [ "$numships" -eq 0 ]; then
+      printf "No registered ships found in system.\\n"
+    elif [ "$numships" -eq 1 ]; then
+      if [ -z "$arg_ship" ] || [ "$ships" = "$arg_ship" ]; then
+        check_log "$ships"
+      fi
+    else
+      IFS='
+      '
+      for f in $ships
+      do
+        if [ -z "$arg_ship" ] || [ "$f" = "$arg_ship" ]; then
+          check_log "$(basename "$f")"
+        fi
+      done
+      unset IFS
+    fi
+  fi
+}
+
+main "$@"
diff --git a/completion/cosmic-log.d b/completion/cosmic-log.d
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..29f811a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/completion/cosmic-log.d
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+_log() {
+  local cur
+  cur=${COMP_WORDS[COMP_CWORD]}
+  local helplist
+  helplist=$(log -z)
+  COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W "$helplist" -- "$cur" ) )
+}
+
+# Detect if current shell is ZSH, and if so, load this file in bash
+# compatibility mode.
+if [ -n "$ZSH_VERSION" ]; then
+  autoload bashcompinit
+  bashcompinit
+fi
+
+complete -o default -o nospace -F _log log