new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/MonetDB-CLI/MonetDB/CLI.pm
@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+package MonetDB::CLI;
+
+our $VERSION = '0.03';
+
+our @Modules = split /;/, $ENV{PERL_MONETDB_CLI_MODULES}
+  || 'MonetDB::CLI::MapiPP';
+
+sub connect
+{
+  my $class = shift;
+
+  eval "require( $_ )" and return $_->connect( @_ ) for @Modules;
+
+  chomp $@; die "No MonetDB::CLI implementation found: $@";
+}
+
+__PACKAGE__;
+
+=head1 NAME
+
+MonetDB::CLI - MonetDB Call Level Interface
+
+=head1 SYNOPSIS
+
+  use MonetDB::CLI();
+
+  my $cxn = MonetDB::CLI->connect( $host, $port, $user, $pass, $lang, $db );
+
+  my $req = $cxn->query('select * from env() env');
+  while ( my $cnt = $req->fetch ) {
+    print $req->field( $_ ) for 0 .. $cnt-1;
+  }
+
+=head1 DESCRIPTION
+
+MonetDB::CLI is a call level interface for MonetDB, somewhat similar
+to SQL/CLI, ODBC, JDBC or DBI.
+
+B<Note:> In its current incarnation, this interface resembles the MonetDB
+Application Programming Interface.
+In the future, MAPI will be replaced by the MonetDB/Five Communication Layer
+(MCL).
+It is not guaranteed that this call level interface stays the same!
+
+=head2 The C<connect()> method
+
+  my $cxn = MonetDB::CLI->connect( $host, $port, $user, $pass, $lang, $db );
+
+This method tries to load an implementation module from C<@Modules> and
+delegates to the C<connect()> method of the first successful loaded module.
+Otherwise, an exception is raised.
+
+The default list of implementation modules can be changed with the
+C<PERL_MONETDB_CLI_MODULES> environment variable.
+A semicolon-separated list of module names is expected.
+
+=head2 Connection object methods
+
+It's up to the implementation modules to provide the methods for the
+connection object:
+
+  my $req = $cxn->query( $statement );  # request object
+
+=head2 Request object methods
+
+It's up to the implementation modules to provide the methods for the
+request object:
+
+  print $req->querytype;
+  print $req->id;
+  print $req->rows_affected;
+  print $req->columncount;
+
+  for ( 0 .. $req->columncount - 1 ) {
+    print $req->name  ( $_ );
+    print $req->type  ( $_ );
+    print $req->length( $_ );
+  }
+  while ( my $cnt = $req->fetch ) {
+    print $req->field( $_ ) for 0 .. $cnt-1;
+  }
+
+=head1 AUTHORS
+
+Steffen Goeldner E<lt>sgoeldner@cpan.orgE<gt>.
+
+=head1 COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE
+
+This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
+License, v. 2.0.  If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
+file, You can obtain one at http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.
+
+Copyright 1997 - July 2008 CWI, August 2008 - 2016 MonetDB B.V.
+
+
+=head1 SEE ALSO
+
+=head2 MonetDB
+
+  Homepage    : http://www.monetdb.org/
+
+=head2 Perl modules
+
+L<MonetDB::CLI::MapiLib>, L<MonetDB::CLI::MapiXS>, L<MonetDB::CLI::MapiPP>
+
+=cut