diff --git a/.goreleaser.yaml b/.goreleaser.yaml
index a6211959..1b12e30a 100644
--- a/.goreleaser.yaml
+++ b/.goreleaser.yaml
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ builds:
         goarch: 386
       - goos: windows
         goarch: arm64
+    ldflags:
+      - -s -w -X cmd.version={{.Version}} -X cmd.commit={{.Commit}} -X cmd.date={{.Date}} -X cmd.builtBy=goreleaser
 
 universal_binaries:
   - replace: true
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 8610b957..853e4aed 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,2 +1,6 @@
 local:
-	goreleaser release --snapshot --clean
\ No newline at end of file
+	goreleaser release --snapshot --clean
+test-stdin:
+	go test ./cmd -run TestStdin  -count=1 -v
+test-fp:
+	go test ./cmd -run TestFp  -count=1 -v
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/cmd/clean.go b/cmd/clean.go
index cb4e1aa0..42a4f98c 100644
--- a/cmd/clean.go
+++ b/cmd/clean.go
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ var Confirm bool
 
 func init() {
 	cleanCmd.Flags().BoolVarP(&Confirm, "confirm", "y", false, "skips confirmation prompt")
-	rootCmd.AddCommand(cleanCmd)
+	RootCmd.AddCommand(cleanCmd)
 }
 
 var cleanCmd = &cobra.Command{
diff --git a/cmd/compress.go b/cmd/compress.go
index bc233d86..4a7e196c 100644
--- a/cmd/compress.go
+++ b/cmd/compress.go
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ import (
 )
 
 func init() {
-	rootCmd.AddCommand(compressCommand)
-	rootCmd.AddCommand(decompressCommand)
+	RootCmd.AddCommand(compressCommand)
+	RootCmd.AddCommand(decompressCommand)
 }
 
 var compressCommand = &cobra.Command{
diff --git a/cmd/prepare.go b/cmd/prepare.go
index 4b820086..47fe62c3 100644
--- a/cmd/prepare.go
+++ b/cmd/prepare.go
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 func init() {
-	rootCmd.AddCommand(prepareCmd)
+	RootCmd.AddCommand(prepareCmd)
 }
 
 var prepareCmd = &cobra.Command{
diff --git a/cmd/report.go b/cmd/report.go
index f930cccd..2df542b5 100644
--- a/cmd/report.go
+++ b/cmd/report.go
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 func init() {
-	rootCmd.AddCommand(reportCommand)
+	RootCmd.AddCommand(reportCommand)
 }
 
 // ripped straight from stack overflow: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/32482673/how-to-get-directory-total-size
diff --git a/cmd/root.go b/cmd/root.go
index 2e54e269..3753926f 100644
--- a/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cmd/root.go
@@ -6,15 +6,21 @@ import (
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 )
 
-var rootCmd = &cobra.Command{
+var (
+	version = "dev"
+	// commit  = "none"
+	// date    = "unknown"
+)
+
+var RootCmd = &cobra.Command{
 	Use:     "prattl",
 	Short:   "Prattl is a transcription tool",
 	Long:    "A transcription tool built with Go and Python.\nComplete documentation is available at https://github.com/prattlOrg/prattl",
-	Version: "v0.3.0",
+	Version: version,
 }
 
 func Execute() {
-	if err := rootCmd.Execute(); err != nil {
+	if err := RootCmd.Execute(); err != nil {
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/cmd/transcribe.go b/cmd/transcribe.go
index 509b9782..a3ecaac1 100644
--- a/cmd/transcribe.go
+++ b/cmd/transcribe.go
@@ -3,7 +3,10 @@ package cmd
 import (
 	"bufio"
 	"bytes"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"io"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -14,7 +17,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 func init() {
-	rootCmd.AddCommand(transcribeCmd)
+	RootCmd.AddCommand(transcribeCmd)
 }
 
 var transcribeCmd = &cobra.Command{
@@ -32,82 +35,70 @@ var transcribeCmd = &cobra.Command{
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
-			fmt.Println(fileBytes)
-			fmt.Println(string(fileBytes))
+			err = transcribeStdin(fileBytes)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
 		} else {
 			if len(args) == 0 {
 				return fmt.Errorf("requires at least 1 arg(s), only received 0")
 			}
-			fmt.Println("using filepath")
+			err = transcribeFp(args...)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
 		}
+
 		return nil
-		// fmt.Printf("Transcribing...")
-		// transcriptionMap := make(map[string]string)
-		// transcriptions, err := transcribe(args)
-		// if err != nil {
-		// 	return err
-		// }
-
-		// for i, trans := range transcriptions {
-		// 	transcriptionMap[args[i]] = trans
-		// 	// fmt.Printf("%v\n", trans)
-		// 	// _, err := io.WriteString(os.Stdout, trans+"\n")
-		// 	// if err != nil {
-		// 	// 	return fmt.Errorf("error writing to stdout: %v", err)
-		// 	// }
-		// }
-
-		// jsonOutput, err := json.Marshal(transcriptionMap)
-		// if err != nil {
-		// 	return fmt.Errorf("error marshaling to JSON: %v", err)
-		// }
-
-		// clearLine()
-		// _, err = io.WriteString(os.Stdout, string(jsonOutput)+"\n")
-		// if err != nil {
-		// 	return fmt.Errorf("error writing to stdout: %v", err)
-		// }
-
-		// return nil
 	},
 }
 
 func checkStdin() (bool, error) {
-	fileStat, err := os.Stdin.Stat()
-	if err != nil {
-		return false, fmt.Errorf("getting stdin stat failed: %v", err)
-	}
-	// check if stdin is pipe
-	if fileStat.Mode()&os.ModeNamedPipe == 0 {
-		return false, nil
-	} else {
-		return true, nil
-	}
+	// fileStat, err := os.Stdin.Stat()
+	// if err != nil {
+	// 	return false, fmt.Errorf("getting stdin stat failed: %v", err)
+	// }
+	// // check if stdin is pipe
+	// return fileStat.Mode()&os.ModeNamedPipe != 0, nil
+	return true, nil
 }
 
 func readStdin() ([]byte, error) {
-	scanner := bufio.NewScanner(os.Stdin)
-	scannerBytes := make([]byte, 0)
-	for scanner.Scan() {
-		if len(scanner.Bytes()) == 0 {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("stdin is empty")
+	reader := bufio.NewReader(os.Stdin)
+	var fileBytes []byte
+	for {
+		b, err := reader.ReadByte()
+		if err != nil && !errors.Is(err, io.EOF) {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to read file byte: %v", err)
 		}
-		scannerBytes = append(scannerBytes, scanner.Bytes()...)
-	}
-	if err := scanner.Err(); err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("reading from stdin failed: %v", err)
+		// process the one byte b
+		if err != nil {
+			// end of file
+			break
+		}
+		fileBytes = append(fileBytes, b)
 	}
-	return scannerBytes, nil
+	return fileBytes, nil
 }
 
-func transcribe(fps []string) ([]string, error) {
-	returnStrings := []string{}
+func transcribeStdin(fileBytes []byte) error {
+	fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "Transcribing..")
+	transcription, err := transcribe(fileBytes)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	clearLine()
+	fmt.Println(transcription[0])
+	return nil
+}
 
+func transcribeFp(fps ...string) error {
+	fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "Transcribing..")
 	var allBytes []byte
 	for i, fp := range fps {
 		fileBytes, err := os.ReadFile(fp)
 		if err != nil {
-			return returnStrings, fmt.Errorf("error reading file: %v", err)
+			return fmt.Errorf("error reading file: %v", err)
 		}
 		allBytes = append(allBytes, fileBytes...)
 
@@ -116,44 +107,65 @@ func transcribe(fps []string) ([]string, error) {
 		}
 
 	}
+	transcriptionMap := make(map[string]string)
+	transcriptions, err := transcribe(allBytes)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	for i, trans := range transcriptions {
+		transcriptionMap[fps[i]] = trans
+	}
+	jsonOutput, err := json.Marshal(transcriptionMap)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("marshaling to JSON failed: %v", err)
+	}
+	clearLine()
+	_, err = io.WriteString(os.Stdout, string(jsonOutput)+"\n")
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("writing to stdout failed: %v", err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
 
+func transcribe(file []byte) ([]string, error) {
+	fmt.Println(file)
 	program, err := pysrc.ReturnFile("transcribe.py")
 	if err != nil {
-		return returnStrings, err
+		return nil, err
 	}
 
 	env, err := pysrc.GetPrattlEnv()
 	if err != nil {
-		return returnStrings, err
+		return nil, err
 	}
+
 	cmd, err := env.ExecutePython("-c", program)
 	if err != nil {
-		return returnStrings, err
+		return nil, err
 	}
+
 	var out bytes.Buffer
 	var stderr bytes.Buffer
+	cmd.Stdout = &out
+	cmd.Stderr = &stderr
 	stdin, err := cmd.StdinPipe()
 	if err != nil {
-		return returnStrings, fmt.Errorf("error instantiating pipe: %v", err)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error instantiating pipe: %v", stderr.String())
 	}
-	cmd.Stdout = &out
-	cmd.Stderr = &stderr
 	if err = cmd.Start(); err != nil {
-		return returnStrings, fmt.Errorf("error starting command: %v", err)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error starting command: %v", stderr.String())
 	}
-	_, err = stdin.Write(allBytes)
+	_, err = stdin.Write(file)
 	if err != nil {
-		return returnStrings, fmt.Errorf("error writing to stdin: %v", err)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error writing to stdin: %v", stderr.String())
 	}
 	stdin.Close()
 	if err = cmd.Wait(); err != nil {
-		return returnStrings, fmt.Errorf("error waiting for command: %v", err)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error waiting for command: %v", stderr.String())
 	}
 
 	output := out.String()
-	// fmt.Println(output)
-
-	returnStrings = strings.Split(strings.ToLower(output), embed.SeparatorExpectedString)
+	returnStrings := strings.Split(strings.ToLower(output), embed.SeparatorExpectedString)
 
 	for _, str := range returnStrings {
 		str = fmt.Sprintf("---%s---\n", str)
diff --git a/cmd/transcribe_test.go b/cmd/transcribe_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0d381bc8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/transcribe_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+package cmd_test
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/prattlOrg/prattl/cmd"
+)
+
+var audio00 = filepath.Clean("../test_audio/test.mp3")
+var audio01 = filepath.Clean("../test_audio/transcribing_1.mp3")
+
+func TestStdin(t *testing.T) {
+	dat, err := os.ReadFile(audio00)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	// t.Log(dat)
+
+	root := cmd.RootCmd
+	in := bytes.NewBuffer(dat)
+	root.SetIn(in)
+	root.SetArgs([]string{"transcribe"})
+	err = root.Execute()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.FailNow()
+	}
+}
+
+func TestFp(t *testing.T) {
+	root := cmd.RootCmd
+	root.SetArgs([]string{"transcribe", audio00, audio01})
+	err := root.Execute()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.FailNow()
+	}
+}