diff --git a/cmd/osbuild-playground/main.go b/cmd/osbuild-playground/main.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a7939b1b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/osbuild-playground/main.go
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"flag"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"os"
+	"path"
+
+	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/common"
+	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/distroregistry"
+	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/dnfjson"
+	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/manifest"
+	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/rpmmd"
+)
+
+// osbuild-playground is a utility command and is often run from within the
+// source tree.  Find the dnf-json binary in case the osbuild-composer package
+// isn't installed.  This prioritises the local source version over the system
+// version if run from within the source tree.
+func findDnfJsonBin() string {
+	locations := []string{"./dnf-json", "/usr/libexec/osbuild-composer/dnf-json", "/usr/lib/osbuild-composer/dnf-json"}
+	for _, djPath := range locations {
+		_, err := os.Stat(djPath)
+		if !os.IsNotExist(err) {
+			return djPath
+		}
+	}
+
+	// can't run: panic
+	panic(fmt.Sprintf("could not find 'dnf-json' in any of the known paths: %+v", locations))
+}
+
+func main() {
+	// Path to MyOptions or '-' for stdin
+	myOptionsArg := flag.Arg(0)
+
+	myOptions := &MyOptions{}
+	if myOptionsArg != "" {
+		var reader io.Reader
+		if myOptionsArg == "-" {
+			reader = os.Stdin
+		} else {
+			var err error
+			reader, err = os.Open(myOptionsArg)
+			if err != nil {
+				panic("Could not open path to image options: " + err.Error())
+			}
+		}
+		file, err := ioutil.ReadAll(reader)
+		if err != nil {
+			panic("Could not read image options: " + err.Error())
+		}
+		err = json.Unmarshal(file, &myOptions)
+		if err != nil {
+			panic("Could not parse image options: " + err.Error())
+		}
+	}
+
+	distros := distroregistry.NewDefault()
+	d := distros.FromHost()
+	if d == nil {
+		panic("host distro not supported")
+	}
+
+	arch, err := d.GetArch(common.CurrentArch())
+	if err != nil {
+		panic("host arch not supported")
+	}
+
+	repos, err := rpmmd.LoadRepositories([]string{"./"}, d.Name())
+	if err != nil {
+		panic("could not load repositories for distro " + d.Name())
+	}
+
+	home, err := os.UserHomeDir()
+	if err != nil {
+		panic("os.UserHomeDir(): " + err.Error())
+	}
+
+	solver := dnfjson.NewSolver(d.ModulePlatformID(), d.Releasever(), arch.Name(), path.Join(home, ".cache/osbuild-playground/rpmmd"))
+	solver.SetDNFJSONPath(findDnfJsonBin())
+
+	// Set cache size to 3 GiB
+	solver.SetMaxCacheSize(1 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024)
+
+	manifest := manifest.New()
+
+	// TODO: figure out the runner situation
+	err = MyManifest(&manifest, myOptions, repos[arch.Name()], "org.osbuild.fedora36")
+	if err != nil {
+		panic("MyManifest() failed: " + err.Error())
+	}
+
+	packageSpecs := make(map[string][]rpmmd.PackageSpec)
+	for name, chain := range manifest.GetPackageSetChains() {
+		packages, err := solver.Depsolve(chain)
+		if err != nil {
+			panic(fmt.Sprintf("failed to depsolve for pipeline %s: %s\n", name, err.Error()))
+		}
+		packageSpecs[name] = packages
+	}
+
+	bytes, err := manifest.Serialize(packageSpecs)
+	if err != nil {
+		panic("failed to serialize manifest: " + err.Error())
+	}
+
+	os.Stdout.Write(bytes)
+	if err := solver.CleanCache(); err != nil {
+		// print to stderr but don't exit with error
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "could not clean dnf cache: %s", err.Error())
+	}
+}
diff --git a/cmd/osbuild-playground/playground.go b/cmd/osbuild-playground/playground.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b9acbc024
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/osbuild-playground/playground.go
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/manifest"
+	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/rpmmd"
+)
+
+// MyOptions contains the arguments passed in as a JSON blob.
+// You can replace them with whatever you want to use to
+// configure your image. In the current example they are
+// unused.
+type MyOptions struct {
+	MyOption string `json:"my_option"`
+}
+
+// Build your manifest by attaching pipelines to it
+//
+// @m is the manifest you are constructing
+// @options are what was passed in on the commandline
+// @repos are the default repositories for the host OS/arch
+// @runner is needed by any build pipelines
+//
+// Return nil when you are done, or an error if something
+// went wrong. Your manifest will be streamed to stdout and
+// can be piped directly to either jq for inspection or
+// osbuild for building.
+func MyManifest(m *manifest.Manifest, options *MyOptions, repos []rpmmd.RepoConfig, runner string) error {
+	// Let's create a simple OCI container!
+
+	// configure a build pipeline
+	build := manifest.NewBuildPipeline(m, runner, repos)
+
+	// create a non-bootable OS tree containing the `core` comps group
+	os := manifest.NewOSPipeline(m, build, false, "", "", repos, nil, manifest.BOOTLOADER_GRUB, "", "")
+	os.ExtraBasePackages = []string{
+		"@core",
+	}
+
+	// create an OCI container containing the OS tree created above
+	manifest.NewOCIContainerPipeline(m, build, &os.BasePipeline, "x86_64", "my-container.tar")
+
+	return nil
+}