diff --git a/.env b/.env
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b9fe4ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.env
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+PROXY_ADDRESS="http://localhost:3000"
+TARGET_URL="https://gist.githubusercontent.com/mattes/23e64faadb5fd4b5112f379903d2572e/raw/ddbf0a56001367467f71bda64347aa881d83533c/example.json"
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 1785abb..411b0c8 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -2,9 +2,6 @@
 # ref: https://github.com/github/gitignore/blob/main/Rust.gitignore
 cgt* # ignore instatiations of my test template
 
-# don't leak secret env vars
-.env  
-
 # exclude compiled files and binaries
 debug/
 target/
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index f5e89e6..1f917e5 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 [workspace]
+resolver = "2"
 members = [
     "client",
     "proxy"
diff --git a/client/Cargo.toml b/client/Cargo.toml
index db2a136..8276576 100644
--- a/client/Cargo.toml
+++ b/client/Cargo.toml
@@ -8,9 +8,11 @@ repository  = "https://github.com/pluto/web-proof-tee"
 version     = "0.1.0"
 
 [dependencies]
-anyhow             = "1.0"
+reqwest = { version = "0.11", features = ["json"] }
+tokio = { version = "1.0", features = ["full"] }
+serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }
+serde_json = "1.0"
+dotenv = "0.15"
+anyhow = "1.0"
 tracing            = "0.1"
 tracing-subscriber = { version = "0.3", features = ["env-filter", "fmt"] }
-tokio              = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }
-reqwest = "0.12.9"
-
diff --git a/client/src/lib.rs b/client/src/lib.rs
deleted file mode 100644
index 10720ae..0000000
--- a/client/src/lib.rs
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-#![allow(unused_imports)]
-#![allow(unused_variables)]
-#![allow(dead_code)]
-#![allow(unreachable_code)]
-#![allow(non_snake_case)]
-#![allow(clippy::clone_on_copy)]
-#![allow(unused_mut)]
-#[cfg(test)] mod tests;
diff --git a/client/src/main.rs b/client/src/main.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1c0e444
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/src/main.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+//! Client to connect to a proxy re-encryption server
+// #![allow(unused_imports)]
+// #![allow(unused_variables)]
+// #![allow(dead_code)]
+// #![allow(unreachable_code)]
+// #![allow(non_snake_case)]
+// #![allow(unused_mut)]
+
+use std::env;
+
+use anyhow::{Context, Result};
+use dotenv::dotenv;
+use serde::Deserialize;
+use tracing::{debug, error, info, warn};
+
+#[derive(Clone, Debug, Deserialize)]
+struct Response {
+    _hello: String,
+}
+
+#[tokio::main]
+async fn main() -> Result<()> {
+    dotenv().ok();
+    tracing_init();
+    info!("Starting proxy client");
+
+    let proxy_addr = env::var("PROXY_ADDRESS").unwrap_or_else(|_| {
+        let default = "http://localhost:3000".to_string();
+        warn!("PROXY_ADDRESS not set, using default: {}", default);
+        default
+    });
+    let target_url = env::var("TARGET_URL")
+        .unwrap_or_else(|_| {
+            let default = "https://gist.githubusercontent.com/mattes/23e64faadb5fd4b5112f379903d2572e/raw/ddbf0a56001367467f71bda64347aa881d83533c/example.json".to_string();
+            warn!("TARGET_URL not set, using default: {}", default);
+            default
+        });
+
+    info!(
+        proxy_addr = %proxy_addr,
+        target_url = %target_url,
+        "Sending request through proxy"
+    );
+    let response = reqwest::Client::new()
+        .get(&proxy_addr)
+        .header("X-Target-URL", target_url)
+        .send()
+        .await
+        .context("Failed to send request")?;
+    debug!(
+        status = %response.status(),
+        headers = ?response.headers(),
+        "Received response from proxy"
+    );
+
+    if !response.status().is_success() {
+        let status = response.status();
+        let text = response.text().await?;
+        error!(
+            status = %status,
+            error_body = %text,
+            "Request failed"
+        );
+        anyhow::bail!("Request failed with status {}: {}", status, text);
+    }
+
+    let data: Response = response.json().await.context("Failed to parse response as JSON")?;
+    info!(
+        response = ?data,
+        "Successfully received and parsed response"
+    );
+
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+fn tracing_init() {
+    tracing_subscriber::fmt()
+        .with_env_filter(env::var("RUST_LOG").unwrap_or_else(|_| "info,proxy_client=debug".into()))
+        .init();
+}
diff --git a/proxy/Cargo.toml b/proxy/Cargo.toml
index 559cd30..1c18177 100644
--- a/proxy/Cargo.toml
+++ b/proxy/Cargo.toml
@@ -14,10 +14,10 @@ tracing-subscriber = { version = "0.3", features = ["env-filter", "fmt"] }
 tokio              = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }
 # futures            = "0.3"
 
-[dev-dependencies]
-rstest     = "0.18"
-env_logger = "0.11"
-criterion  = "0.5"
+# [dev-dependencies]
+# rstest     = "0.18"
+# env_logger = "0.11"
+# criterion  = "0.5"
 
 # [[bench]]
 # name = "bench"