diff --git a/hostcontrol/Cargo.lock b/hostcontrol/Cargo.lock
index dc422b4..0bf3de0 100644
--- a/hostcontrol/Cargo.lock
+++ b/hostcontrol/Cargo.lock
@@ -656,6 +656,46 @@ dependencies = [
  "libc",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "clap"
+version = "4.5.60"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "2797f34da339ce31042b27d23607e051786132987f595b02ba4f6a6dffb7030a"
+dependencies = [
+ "clap_builder",
+ "clap_derive",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "clap_builder"
+version = "4.5.60"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "24a241312cea5059b13574bb9b3861cabf758b879c15190b37b6d6fd63ab6876"
+dependencies = [
+ "anstream",
+ "anstyle",
+ "clap_lex",
+ "strsim",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "clap_derive"
+version = "4.5.55"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "a92793da1a46a5f2a02a6f4c46c6496b28c43638adea8306fcb0caa1634f24e5"
+dependencies = [
+ "heck",
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "clap_lex"
+version = "1.0.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "3a822ea5bc7590f9d40f1ba12c0dc3c2760f3482c6984db1573ad11031420831"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "clipboard-win"
 version = "5.4.0"
@@ -1443,9 +1483,11 @@ checksum = "dfa686283ad6dd069f105e5ab091b04c62850d3e4cf5d67debad1933f55023df"
 name = "hostcontrol"
 version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
+ "clap",
  "eframe",
  "egui",
  "env_logger",
+ "log",
  "nalgebra",
  "nalgebra-macros",
  "serialport",
@@ -1759,9 +1801,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "log"
-version = "0.4.27"
+version = "0.4.29"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "13dc2df351e3202783a1fe0d44375f7295ffb4049267b0f3018346dc122a1d94"
+checksum = "5e5032e24019045c762d3c0f28f5b6b8bbf38563a65908389bf7978758920897"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "mach2"
@@ -2935,6 +2977,12 @@ version = "0.1.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "6637bab7722d379c8b41ba849228d680cc12d0a45ba1fa2b48f2a30577a06731"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "strsim"
+version = "0.11.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "7da8b5736845d9f2fcb837ea5d9e2628564b3b043a70948a3f0b778838c5fb4f"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "strum"
 version = "0.26.3"
diff --git a/hostcontrol/Cargo.toml b/hostcontrol/Cargo.toml
index f83ff16..e4099bf 100644
--- a/hostcontrol/Cargo.toml
+++ b/hostcontrol/Cargo.toml
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ version = "0.1.0"
 edition = "2021"
 
 [dependencies]
+clap = { version = "4.0", features = ["derive"] }
 nalgebra = { version = "0.33" }
 serialport = { version = "4", default-features = false }
 thiserror = "2"
@@ -11,3 +12,4 @@ nalgebra-macros = "^0.2.2"
 env_logger = "0.11.8"
 egui = "0.31.1"
 eframe = "0.31.1"
+log = "0.4.29"
diff --git a/hostcontrol/src/main.rs b/hostcontrol/src/main.rs
index fd7a634..ce9d0c1 100644
--- a/hostcontrol/src/main.rs
+++ b/hostcontrol/src/main.rs
@@ -1,10 +1,24 @@
 use std::{thread::sleep, time::Duration};
+use clap::Parser;
 
 mod stage;
 
+#[derive(clap::Parser, Debug)]
+#[command(version, about, long_about = None)]
+struct CliArgs {
+    /// Interface to talk to movement stage
+    #[arg(long, default_value="/dev/ttyACM0")]
+    stage_device: String,
+
+    /// Speed of the stage device (bps)
+    #[arg(long, default_value="115200")]
+    tty_speed: u32,
+}
+
 fn main() {
+    let args = CliArgs::parse();
     env_logger::init();
-    let stage_io = stage::StageIO::new("/dev/ttyACM0", 115200).unwrap();
+    let stage_io = stage::StageIO::new(&args.stage_device, args.tty_speed).unwrap();
     let mut s = stage::Stage::new(stage_io, 1.12).unwrap();
     let origin = nalgebra::vector![3000.0, 0.0, -6000.0];
     //println!("{}", s.version().unwrap());
diff --git a/hostcontrol/src/stage.rs b/hostcontrol/src/stage.rs
index 2f510b5..3d9fefb 100644
--- a/hostcontrol/src/stage.rs
+++ b/hostcontrol/src/stage.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 use std::time::Duration;
 use thiserror::Error;
+use log::debug;
 
 fn new_camera_rotation(theta: f64) -> nalgebra::Matrix3<f64> {
     nalgebra::matrix![
@@ -55,6 +56,8 @@ pub type StageIOResult<T> = std::result::Result<T, StageIOError>;
 impl StageIO {
     pub fn new(port: &str, speed: u32) -> StageIOResult<Self> {
 	let serial = serialport::new(port, speed).timeout(Duration::from_secs(60)).open()?;
+	// TODO: read and discard initial characters; some devices like to be
+	// chatty on start-up.
 	Ok(Self { serial })
     }
 
@@ -71,10 +74,12 @@ impl StageIO {
     }
 
     // Send request and wait for response deliminated with a newline
-    fn send_request<S: AsRef<str>>(&mut self, command: S) -> StageIOResult<String> {
+    pub fn send_request<S: AsRef<str>>(&mut self, command: S) -> StageIOResult<String> {
+	debug!("->: {:?}", command.as_ref());
         self.serial.write_all(command.as_ref().as_bytes()).map_err(|e| StageIOError::Write(e))?;
-        let res = self.receive_until("\n")?;
-        Ok(res.trim().to_string())
+        let response = self.receive_until("\n")?;
+	debug!("<-: {:?}", response);
+        Ok(response.trim().to_string())
     }
 }