diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index f05e608..10d8477 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ require (
 
 require (
 	github.com/cpuguy83/go-md2man/v2 v2.0.2 // indirect
+	github.com/jmoiron/sqlx v1.3.5 // indirect
+	github.com/mattn/go-sqlite3 v1.14.16 // indirect
 	github.com/philhofer/fwd v1.1.2 // indirect
 	github.com/russross/blackfriday/v2 v2.1.0 // indirect
 	github.com/tinylib/msgp v1.1.8 // indirect
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index b2c58ae..c24c542 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 github.com/cpuguy83/go-md2man/v2 v2.0.2 h1:p1EgwI/C7NhT0JmVkwCD2ZBK8j4aeHQX2pMHHBfMQ6w=
 github.com/cpuguy83/go-md2man/v2 v2.0.2/go.mod h1:tgQtvFlXSQOSOSIRvRPT7W67SCa46tRHOmNcaadrF8o=
+github.com/go-sql-driver/mysql v1.6.0/go.mod h1:DCzpHaOWr8IXmIStZouvnhqoel9Qv2LBy8hT2VhHyBg=
+github.com/jmoiron/sqlx v1.3.5 h1:vFFPA71p1o5gAeqtEAwLU4dnX2napprKtHr7PYIcN3g=
+github.com/jmoiron/sqlx v1.3.5/go.mod h1:nRVWtLre0KfCLJvgxzCsLVMogSvQ1zNJtpYr2Ccp0mQ=
+github.com/lib/pq v1.2.0/go.mod h1:5WUZQaWbwv1U+lTReE5YruASi9Al49XbQIvNi/34Woo=
+github.com/mattn/go-sqlite3 v1.14.6/go.mod h1:NyWgC/yNuGj7Q9rpYnZvas74GogHl5/Z4A/KQRfk6bU=
+github.com/mattn/go-sqlite3 v1.14.16 h1:yOQRA0RpS5PFz/oikGwBEqvAWhWg5ufRz4ETLjwpU1Y=
+github.com/mattn/go-sqlite3 v1.14.16/go.mod h1:2eHXhiwb8IkHr+BDWZGa96P6+rkvnG63S2DGjv9HUNg=
 github.com/philhofer/fwd v1.1.2 h1:bnDivRJ1EWPjUIRXV5KfORO897HTbpFAQddBdE8t7Gw=
 github.com/philhofer/fwd v1.1.2/go.mod h1:qkPdfjR2SIEbspLqpe1tO4n5yICnr2DY7mqEx2tUTP0=
 github.com/russross/blackfriday/v2 v2.1.0 h1:JIOH55/0cWyOuilr9/qlrm0BSXldqnqwMsf35Ld67mk=
diff --git a/internal/can/frame.go b/internal/can/frame.go
index 1e1d0d9..7f26ca3 100644
--- a/internal/can/frame.go
+++ b/internal/can/frame.go
@@ -1,5 +1,13 @@
+// Package can provides generic CAN interfaces and types.
+//
+// It has a generic can Frame (packet), as well as a filter type.
+// we also define standard interfaces for objects that can accept
+// can frames. We can use this pattern to easily extend the capabiltiies of the program
+// by writing "adapters" to various devices/formats (xbee, sqlite, network socket, socketcan)
 package can
 
+// Frame represents a protocol-agnostic CAN frame. The Id can be standard or extended,
+// but if it is extended, the Kind should be EFF.
 type Frame struct {
 	Id   uint32
 	Data []byte
@@ -7,6 +15,8 @@ type Frame struct {
 }
 
 //go:generate stringer -output=frame_kind.go -type Kind
+
+// Kind is the type of the can Frame
 type Kind uint8
 
 const (
@@ -16,20 +26,26 @@ const (
 	ERR             // Error Frame
 )
 
+// CanFilter is a basic filter for masking out data. It has an Inverted flag
+// which indicates opposite behavior (reject all packets that match Id and Mask).
+// The filter matches when (packet.Id & filter.Mask) == filter.Id
 type CanFilter struct {
 	Id       uint32
 	Mask     uint32
 	Inverted bool
 }
 
+// CanSink is an object that can accept Frames to transmit.
 type CanSink interface {
 	Send(*Frame) error
 }
 
+// CanSource is an object that can receive Frames.
 type CanSource interface {
 	Recv() (*Frame, error)
 }
 
+// CanTransciever is an object that can both send and receive Frames.
 type CanTransciever interface {
 	CanSink
 	CanSource
diff --git a/internal/db/can_adapter.go b/internal/db/can_adapter.go
index 07ae9ca..7802473 100644
--- a/internal/db/can_adapter.go
+++ b/internal/db/can_adapter.go
@@ -3,13 +3,15 @@ package db
 import (
 	"database/sql"
 
+	"github.com/jmoiron/sqlx"
+	_ "github.com/mattn/go-sqlite3"
 	"github.com/kschamplin/gotelem/internal/can"
 )
 
 // this file implements a CAN adapter for the sqlite db.
 
 type CanDB struct {
-	Db *sql.DB
+	Db *sqlx.DB
 }
 
 func (cdb *CanDB) Send(_ *can.Frame) error {
diff --git a/internal/xbee/api_frame.go b/internal/xbee/api_frame.go
index eca34c4..cd55c3c 100644
--- a/internal/xbee/api_frame.go
+++ b/internal/xbee/api_frame.go
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+// Package xbee implements xbee API encoding and decoding.
+
+// It encodes and decodes
+// API frames from io.Writer and io.Reader by providing a WriteFrame function and
+// a scanner.split function. It also includes
 package xbee
 
 import (
@@ -48,27 +53,6 @@ func WriteFrame(w io.Writer, cmd Frameable) (n int, err error) {
 	return w.Write(frame)
 }
 
-func makeXbeeApiFrame(cmd Frameable) ([]byte, error) {
-	dataBuf, _ := cmd.Bytes()
-	frameBuf := make([]byte, len(dataBuf)+4)
-
-	// move data and construct the frame
-
-	frameBuf[0] = 0x7E // start delimiter
-
-	// length
-	// todo: check endiannes (0x7e, msb lsb)
-	binary.BigEndian.PutUint16(frameBuf[1:3], uint16(len(dataBuf)))
-
-	copy(frameBuf[3:], dataBuf)
-
-	chksum := calculateChecksum(dataBuf)
-
-	frameBuf[len(frameBuf)-1] = chksum
-
-	return frameBuf, nil
-}
-
 // now we can describe frames in other files that implement Frameable.
 // the remaining challenge is reception and actual API frames.
 // xbee uses the first byte of the "frame data" as the API identifier or command.