diff --git a/fs/lxfs/src/main.c b/fs/lxfs/src/main.c
index 05b993c..563dcdc 100644
--- a/fs/lxfs/src/main.c
+++ b/fs/lxfs/src/main.c
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ int main() {
             switch(msg->header.command) {
             case COMMAND_MOUNT: lxfsMount((MountCommand *) msg); break;
             case COMMAND_OPEN: lxfsOpen((OpenCommand *) msg); break;
+            case COMMAND_READ: lxfsRead((RWCommand *) msg); break;
             default:
                 luxLogf(KPRINT_LEVEL_WARNING, "unimplemented command 0x%04X, dropping message...\n", msg->header.command);
             }
diff --git a/fs/lxfs/src/read.c b/fs/lxfs/src/read.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..795439a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fs/lxfs/src/read.c
@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+/*
+ * luxOS - a unix-like operating system
+ * Omar Elghoul, 2024
+ * 
+ * lxfs: Driver for the lxfs file system
+ */
+
+#include <liblux/liblux.h>
+#include <lxfs/lxfs.h>
+#include <vfs.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <fnctl.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <errno.h>
+
+/* lxfsRead(): reads from an opened file on an lxfs volume
+ * params: rcmd - read command message
+ * returns: nothing, response relayed to vfs
+ */
+
+void lxfsRead(RWCommand *rcmd) {
+    rcmd->header.header.response = 1;
+    rcmd->header.header.length = sizeof(RWCommand);
+
+    // get the mountpoint
+    Mountpoint *mp = findMP(rcmd->device);
+    if(!mp) {
+        rcmd->header.header.status = -EIO;
+        luxSendDependency(rcmd);
+        return;
+    }
+
+    // and the file entry
+    LXFSDirectoryEntry entry;
+    if(!lxfsFind(&entry, mp, rcmd->path)) {
+        rcmd->header.header.status = -ENOENT;
+        luxSendDependency(rcmd);
+        return;
+    }
+
+    // use the file entry to read metadata as well as find the first file block
+    uint64_t first = lxfsReadNextBlock(mp, entry.block, mp->meta);
+    if(!first) {
+        rcmd->header.header.status = -EIO;
+        luxSendDependency(rcmd);
+        return;
+    }
+
+    LXFSFileHeader *metadata = (LXFSFileHeader *) mp->meta;
+
+    // input validation
+    if(rcmd->position >= metadata->size) {
+        rcmd->header.header.status = -EOVERFLOW;
+        luxSendDependency(rcmd);
+        return;
+    }
+
+    size_t truelen;
+    if((rcmd->position + rcmd->length) > metadata->size)
+        truelen = metadata->size - rcmd->position;
+    else
+        truelen = rcmd->length;
+    
+    RWCommand *res = calloc(1, sizeof(RWCommand) + truelen);
+    if(!res) {
+        rcmd->header.header.status = -ENOMEM;
+        luxSendDependency(rcmd);
+        return;
+    }
+
+    // copy the header
+    memcpy(res, rcmd, sizeof(RWCommand));
+
+    // now calculate which block to start from and offset into the firsty block
+    uint64_t startBlock = rcmd->position / mp->blockSizeBytes;
+    uint64_t startOffset = rcmd->position % mp->blockSizeBytes;
+    uint64_t block = first;
+
+    // find the starting block
+    while(startBlock) {
+        block = lxfsNextBlock(mp, block);
+        if(!block) {
+            free(res);
+            rcmd->header.header.status = -EIO;
+            luxSendDependency(rcmd);
+            return;
+        }
+
+        startBlock--;
+    }
+
+    // and begin - we will use separate counters for this, because even though
+    // we have an ideal "true length" to read, we cannot guarantee that we will
+    // actually read that many bytes due to things like I/O errors, file system
+    // corruption, missing blocks, etc
+    size_t readCount = 0;
+    size_t remaining = truelen;
+    while(readCount < truelen) {
+        size_t s;
+
+        // here and ONLY here we're allowed to break out of the loop without
+        // throwing errors, provided we've read at least some of the file
+        if(block == LXFS_BLOCK_EOF) break;
+        block = lxfsReadNextBlock(mp, block, mp->dataBuffer);
+        if(!block) break;
+
+        if(!readCount) {
+            // special case for starting block
+            if(remaining >= (mp->blockSizeBytes - startOffset)) s = mp->blockSizeBytes - startOffset;
+            else s = remaining;
+
+            memcpy((void *)((uintptr_t)res->data + readCount), mp->dataBuffer+startOffset, s);
+        } else {
+            // for all other blocks
+            if(remaining > mp->blockSizeBytes) s = mp->blockSizeBytes;
+            else s = remaining;
+
+            memcpy((void *)((uintptr_t)res->data + readCount), mp->dataBuffer, s);
+        }
+
+        readCount += s;
+        remaining -= s;
+    }
+
+    // appropriately update the file descriptor position and status flags
+    if(readCount) {
+        res->position += readCount;
+        res->length = readCount;
+        res->header.header.status = readCount;
+        res->header.header.length += readCount;
+    } else {
+        res->header.header.status = -EIO;
+    }
+
+    luxSendDependency(res);
+    free(res);
+}
\ No newline at end of file