diff --git a/bin/rst_to_pxd.py b/bin/rst_to_pxd.py
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..d691ff0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/rst_to_pxd.py
@@ -0,0 +1,184 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+from collections import defaultdict
+import re
+import sys
+import os
+import fnmatch
+import argparse
+
+"""
+This is relatively rudimentary, but works for the purpose intended
+
+To use this to parse an arb rst file
+
+python rst_to_pxd basename
+
+or to parse a flint rst file
+
+python rst_to_pxd flint/basename
+
+the pxd file is dumped to stdout
+
+for example
+python rst_to_pxd flint/fmpz_poly
+
+will output a skeleton fmpz_poly.pxd to stdout
+
+
+You will need to configure the location of the flintlib submodule directory and the locations of the flint and
+arb doc source directories.
+
+The other useful configuration is the comment_types and set which are two representations of the types that are
+not implemented and therefore we want to comment functions that reference them
+
+TODO: DRY with comment types, also should be able to add commented types from the command line.
+TODO: don't import self
+
+"""
+
+#  recognize a function definition in rst
+is_func = re.compile(r"\.\.( )+(c:)?function( )*::")
+# rename types to avoid python -- c name collisions
+rename_types = [(re.compile(r"\bfmpz\b"),"fmpz_struct"),(re.compile(r"\bfmpq\b"), "fmpq_struct")]
+# comment out functions which use these types
+comment_types = re.compile(r"(\bFILE\b)|(\bmpz_t\b)|(\bmpq_t\b)")
+comment_set = set(["FILE", "mpz_t", "mpq_t"])
+c_types = set(["char", "short", "long", "int", "float", "double"])
+type_modifers = re.compile(r"\*|(\bconst\b)|(\bunsigned\b)|(\bsigned\b)")
+import_dict = {}
+
+def get_cython_struct_types(file):
+    """
+    Extract cython types from a pxd file.
+    """
+    ret = []
+    for line in file:
+        l = line.strip()
+        if l[:8] == "ctypedef":
+            if l[-1] == ']':
+                l = l[:l.rfind('[')]
+            else:
+                l = l.strip(':')
+            ret.append(l.split()[-1])
+    return ret
+
+def fill_import_dict(pyflintlibdir):
+    """
+    Get a map from cython structs to the pxd that defines them
+    """
+    with os.scandir(pyflintlibdir) as entry:
+        for f in entry:
+            if fnmatch.fnmatch(f.name, "*.pxd"):
+                with open(f.path) as pxd:
+                    for t in get_cython_struct_types(pxd):
+                        import_dict[t] = f.name.split('.')[0]
+
+def undecorate(str):
+    """
+    remove variable name, const, *, etc. to just get types
+    """
+    ret = str.strip()
+    ret = ret[:ret.rfind(' ')]
+    ret = re.sub(type_modifers, '', ret)
+    return ret.strip()
+
+def get_parameter_types(str):
+    params = str[str.find("(") + 1 : str.rfind(")")].split(",")
+    return [undecorate(s) for s in params]
+
+def clean_types(function):
+    ret = function.strip()
+    for old, new in rename_types:
+        ret = re.sub(old, new, ret)
+    return ret
+
+def get_functions(file):
+    """
+    Get a list of functions from an rst file
+    """
+    ret = []
+    in_list = False
+    for line in file:
+        m = is_func.match(line)
+        if m:
+            ret.append( clean_types(line[m.end():]))
+            in_list = True
+        else:
+            if in_list:
+                if line.strip() == '':
+                    in_list = False
+                else:
+                    ret.append(clean_types(line))
+    return ret
+
+def get_all_types(function_list):
+    ret = set()
+    for f in function_list:
+        for t in get_parameter_types(f):
+            ret.add(t)
+    return ret
+
+def gen_imports(function_list):
+    """
+    Generate import statements for known functions.
+    """
+    imports = defaultdict(list)
+    s = get_all_types(function_list)
+    s = s - c_types
+    ret = set([])
+    for t in s:
+        if t in import_dict:
+            imports[import_dict[t]].append(t)
+        else:
+            ret.add(t)
+    for k,v in imports.items():
+        types = ", ".join(v)
+        print("from flint.flintlib." + k + " cimport " + types)
+    return ret
+
+def generate_pxd_file(h_name, opts):
+    fill_import_dict(opts.flint_lib_dir)
+    l=[]
+    docdir = opts.arb_doc_dir
+    name = h_name 
+    if name[:6] == "flint/":
+        docdir = opts.flint_doc_dir
+        name = name[6:]
+    with open(os.path.join(docdir, name + ".rst")) as f:
+        l = get_functions(f)
+        s = gen_imports(l)
+        print()
+        print ("\n# unimported types ", s - comment_set)
+        print()
+        print(r'cdef extern from "' + h_name +r'.h":')
+        for f in l:
+            if comment_types.search(f):
+                print("    # " + f)
+            else:
+                print("    " + f)
+
+
+def main(*args):
+    usage = """
+    $ cd /path/to/python-flint
+    $ bin/rst_to_pxd.py flint/fmpz --flint-doc-dir=/path/to/flint/doc/source
+    """
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Generate a pxd file from an rst file',
+                                     usage=usage)
+    parser.add_argument('--flint-lib-dir', help='location of the flintlib submodule',
+                        default="./src/flint/flintlib")
+    parser.add_argument('--arb-doc-dir', help='location of the arb doc source directory',
+                        default="/Users/davideinstein/projects/arb/doc/source")
+    parser.add_argument('--flint-doc-dir', help='location of the flint doc source directory',
+                        default="/Users/davideinstein/projects/flint2/doc/source")
+    parser.add_argument('name', help='name of the rst file to parse (e.g. flint/fmpz)')
+
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+
+    generate_pxd_file(args.name, args)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main(*sys.argv[1:])
+