diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4ab695c..0876482 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,13 +1,19 @@
 # Kales
 
-Let's see how hard it would be to create web framework 
-like Ruby on Rails but in Kotlin. 
-Kales run on top of [Ktor](https://ktor.io/).
+A modern web framework built for developer productivity and safety.  
+Kales run on top of [Ktor](https://ktor.io/) and uses a Model-View-Controller architecture. 
 
-It uses a Model-View-Controller architecture. Database access is
-done via [JDBI](http://jdbi.org/) and configured from a `database.yml` resource file (similar to Rails).
+Database access is done via [JDBI](http://jdbi.org/) and configured from a `database.yml` resource 
+file (similar to Rails).
 
-## Running 
+More documentation coming soon!
+
+## Usage
+
+Kales comes with a command line application `kales-cli` that can generate most of the boilerplate
+needed to bootstrap a new web app using Kales. More details about this coming soon!
+
+## Running the example app
 
 ```
 ./gradlew sampleapp:run
@@ -36,8 +42,11 @@ data class Video(
     val title: String
 ) : ApplicationRecord() {
   companion object {
-    // Returns all records in the table
     fun all() = allRecords<Video>()
+
+    fun where(vararg clause: Pair<String, Any>) = whereRecords<Video>(clause.toMap())
+
+    fun find(id: Int) = findRecord<Video>(id)
   }
 }
 ```
@@ -51,8 +60,11 @@ class ExampleController(call: ApplicationCall) : ApplicationController(call) {
     return null
   }
 
-  override fun show() =
-      IndexView(IndexViewModel(call.parameters["id"] ?: "?", listOf()))
+  override fun show(): Any? {
+    bindings = ShowViewModel(Video.find(call.parameters["id"]?.toInt()
+        ?: throw IllegalArgumentException("Missing parameter id")))
+    return null
+  }
 }
 ```
 
diff --git a/activemodel/build.gradle b/activemodel/build.gradle
index 3d1ed38..abb462a 100644
--- a/activemodel/build.gradle
+++ b/activemodel/build.gradle
@@ -23,4 +23,5 @@ dependencies {
   api "org.jdbi:jdbi3-postgres:$jdbiVersion"
   implementation 'org.yaml:snakeyaml:1.23'
   testImplementation "com.google.truth:truth:$truthVersion"
+  testRuntime 'com.h2database:h2:1.4.197'
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/activemodel/src/main/kotlin/kales/ApplicationRecord.kt b/activemodel/src/main/kotlin/kales/ApplicationRecord.kt
index 2033d4b..526591b 100644
--- a/activemodel/src/main/kotlin/kales/ApplicationRecord.kt
+++ b/activemodel/src/main/kotlin/kales/ApplicationRecord.kt
@@ -1,32 +1,85 @@
 package kales
 
+import org.jdbi.v3.core.Handle
 import org.jdbi.v3.core.Jdbi
+import org.jdbi.v3.core.h2.H2DatabasePlugin
+import org.jdbi.v3.core.kotlin.KotlinPlugin
 import org.jdbi.v3.core.kotlin.mapTo
+import org.jdbi.v3.postgres.PostgresPlugin
 import org.yaml.snakeyaml.Yaml
 
 abstract class ApplicationRecord {
   companion object {
-    val JDBI: Jdbi = Jdbi.create(dbConnectionString()).installPlugins()
+    val JDBI: Jdbi = Jdbi.create(dbConnectionString())
+        .installPlugin(PostgresPlugin())
+        .installPlugin(H2DatabasePlugin())
+        .installPlugin(KotlinPlugin())
 
     @Suppress("UNCHECKED_CAST")
     private fun dbConnectionString(): String {
       val yaml = Yaml()
       val stream = ApplicationRecord::class.java.classLoader.getResourceAsStream("database.yml")
       val data = yaml.load<Map<String, Any>>(stream)
-      val devData = data["development"] as Map<String, String>
-      val host = devData["host"]
-      val adapter = devData["adapter"]
-      val database = devData["database"]
-      val username = devData["username"]
-      val password = devData["password"]
-      return "jdbc:$adapter://$host/$database?user=$username&password=$password"
+      // TODO handle muliple environments
+      val devData = data["development"] as? Map<String, String> ?: throwMissingField("development")
+      val adapter = devData["adapter"] ?: throwMissingField("adapter")
+      val host = devData["host"] ?: throwMissingField("host")
+      val database = devData["database"] ?: throwMissingField("database")
+      return if (adapter == "h2") {
+        "jdbc:$adapter:$host:$database"
+      } else {
+        val username = devData["username"] ?: ""
+        val password = devData["password"] ?: ""
+        "jdbc:$adapter://$host/$database?user=$username&password=$password"
+      }
     }
 
+    private fun throwMissingField(name: String): Nothing =
+        throw IllegalArgumentException(
+            "Please set a value for the field '$name' in the file database.yml")
+
     inline fun <reified T : ApplicationRecord> allRecords(): List<T> {
-      JDBI.open().use {
-        val tableName = T::class.simpleName!!.toLowerCase()
-        return it.createQuery("select * from ${tableName}s").mapTo<T>().list()
+      useJdbi {
+        val tableName = toTableName<T>()
+        return it.createQuery("select * from $tableName").mapTo<T>().list()
       }
     }
+
+    inline fun <reified T : ApplicationRecord> whereRecords(clause: Map<String, Any>): List<T> {
+      useJdbi {
+        val tableName = toTableName<T>()
+        val whereClause = clause.keys.joinToString(" and ") { k -> "$k = :$k" }
+        val query = it.createQuery("select * from $tableName where $whereClause")
+        clause.forEach { k, v -> query.bind(k, v) }
+        return query.mapTo<T>().list()
+      }
+    }
+
+    inline fun <reified T : ApplicationRecord> createRecord(values: Map<String, Any>): Int {
+      useJdbi {
+        val tableName = toTableName<T>()
+        val cols = values.keys.joinToString(prefix = "(", postfix = ")")
+        val refs = values.keys.joinToString(prefix = "(", postfix = ")") { k -> ":$k" }
+        val update = it.createUpdate("insert into $tableName $cols values $refs")
+        values.forEach { k, v -> update.bind(k, v) }
+        return update.execute()
+      }
+    }
+
+    /** TODO I think Rails raises RecordNotFound in this case instead of returning null. Should we do the same? */
+    inline fun <reified T : ApplicationRecord> findRecord(id: Int): T? {
+      useJdbi {
+        val tableName = toTableName<T>()
+        return it.createQuery("select * from $tableName where id = :id")
+            .bind("id", id)
+            .mapTo<T>()
+            .findFirst()
+            .orElse(null)
+      }
+    }
+
+    inline fun <T> useJdbi(block: (Handle) -> T) = JDBI.open().use { block(it) }
+
+    inline fun <reified T> toTableName() = "${T::class.simpleName!!.toLowerCase()}s"
   }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/activemodel/src/test/kotlin/kales/ApplicationRecordTest.kt b/activemodel/src/test/kotlin/kales/ApplicationRecordTest.kt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e8a340b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/activemodel/src/test/kotlin/kales/ApplicationRecordTest.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+package kales
+
+import com.google.common.truth.Truth.assertThat
+import org.junit.Test
+
+class ApplicationRecordTest {
+  @Test fun `test no records`() {
+    withTestDb {
+      assertThat(TestModel.all()).isEmpty()
+      assertThat(TestModel.where("id" to 1)).isEmpty()
+      assertThat(TestModel.find(1)).isNull()
+      assertThat(TestModel.find(2)).isNull()
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test fun `test all`() {
+    withTestDb {
+      TestModel.create("name" to "Hello World")
+      TestModel.create("name" to "Ping Pong")
+      val expectedModel1 = TestModel(1, "Hello World")
+      val expectedModel2 = TestModel(2, "Ping Pong")
+      assertThat(TestModel.all()).containsExactly(expectedModel1, expectedModel2)
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test fun `test where`() {
+    withTestDb {
+      TestModel.create("name" to "Hello World")
+      TestModel.create("name" to "Ping Pong")
+      val expectedModel1 = TestModel(1, "Hello World")
+      val expectedModel2 = TestModel(2, "Ping Pong")
+      assertThat(TestModel.where("name" to "Hello World")).containsExactly(expectedModel1)
+      assertThat(TestModel.where("id" to 1, "name" to "Hello World")).containsExactly(expectedModel1)
+      assertThat(TestModel.where("id" to 1)).containsExactly(expectedModel1)
+      assertThat(TestModel.where("id" to 2)).containsExactly(expectedModel2)
+      assertThat(TestModel.where("id" to 3)).isEmpty()
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test fun `test find`() {
+    withTestDb {
+      TestModel.create("name" to "Hello World")
+      TestModel.create("name" to "Ping Pong")
+      assertThat(TestModel.find(1)).isEqualTo(TestModel(1, "Hello World"))
+      assertThat(TestModel.find(2)).isEqualTo(TestModel(2, "Ping Pong"))
+      assertThat(TestModel.find(3)).isNull()
+    }
+  }
+
+  private fun withTestDb(block: () -> Unit) {
+    ApplicationRecord.JDBI.withHandle<Any, RuntimeException> {
+      it.execute("CREATE TABLE testmodels (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT, name VARCHAR)")
+      block()
+    }
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/activemodel/src/test/kotlin/kales/TestModel.kt b/activemodel/src/test/kotlin/kales/TestModel.kt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e1a6fde
--- /dev/null
+++ b/activemodel/src/test/kotlin/kales/TestModel.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+package kales
+
+data class TestModel(
+    val id: Int,
+    val name: String
+) : ApplicationRecord() {
+  companion object {
+    fun all() = allRecords<TestModel>()
+
+    fun where(vararg clause: Pair<String, Any>) = whereRecords<TestModel>(clause.toMap())
+
+    fun create(vararg values: Pair<String, Any>) = createRecord<TestModel>(values.toMap())
+
+    fun find(id: Int) = findRecord<TestModel>(id)
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/activemodel/src/test/resources/database.yml b/activemodel/src/test/resources/database.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0150be8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/activemodel/src/test/resources/database.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+development:
+  adapter: h2
+  host: mem
+  database: test
+  username:
+  password:
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/kales/src/main/kotlin/kales/KalesApplication.kt b/kales/src/main/kotlin/kales/KalesApplication.kt
index ebf9dd7..cbc3e42 100644
--- a/kales/src/main/kotlin/kales/KalesApplication.kt
+++ b/kales/src/main/kotlin/kales/KalesApplication.kt
@@ -7,12 +7,16 @@ import io.ktor.application.install
 import io.ktor.features.CallLogging
 import io.ktor.features.DefaultHeaders
 import io.ktor.html.respondHtmlTemplate
+import io.ktor.http.content.files
+import io.ktor.http.content.static
+import io.ktor.http.content.staticRootFolder
 import io.ktor.routing.Route
 import io.ktor.routing.Routing
 import io.ktor.routing.get
 import kales.actionpack.ApplicationController
 import kales.actionview.ActionView
 import kales.actionview.ApplicationLayout
+import java.io.File
 import kotlin.reflect.KClass
 import kotlin.reflect.full.createInstance
 import kotlin.reflect.full.primaryConstructor
@@ -29,6 +33,12 @@ class KalesApplication<T : ApplicationLayout>(
     application.install(Routing) {
       routing = this
       routes()
+      static("assets") {
+        staticRootFolder = File("assets")
+        files("javascripts")
+        files("stylesheets")
+        files("images")
+      }
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/sampleapp/src/main/kotlin/kales/sample/app/controllers/ExampleController.kt b/sampleapp/src/main/kotlin/kales/sample/app/controllers/ExampleController.kt
index d759260..4653676 100644
--- a/sampleapp/src/main/kotlin/kales/sample/app/controllers/ExampleController.kt
+++ b/sampleapp/src/main/kotlin/kales/sample/app/controllers/ExampleController.kt
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@ package kales.sample.app.controllers
 import io.ktor.application.ApplicationCall
 import kales.actionpack.ApplicationController
 import kales.sample.app.models.Video
-import kales.sample.app.views.example.IndexView
 import kales.sample.app.views.example.IndexViewModel
+import kales.sample.app.views.example.ShowViewModel
 
 class ExampleController(call: ApplicationCall) : ApplicationController(call) {
   override fun index(): Any? {
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@ class ExampleController(call: ApplicationCall) : ApplicationController(call) {
     return null
   }
 
-  override fun show() =
-      IndexView(IndexViewModel(call.parameters["id"] ?: "?", listOf()))
+  override fun show(): Any? {
+    bindings = ShowViewModel(Video.find(call.parameters["id"]?.toInt()
+        ?: throw IllegalArgumentException("Missing parameter id")))
+    return null
+  }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/sampleapp/src/main/kotlin/kales/sample/app/models/Video.kt b/sampleapp/src/main/kotlin/kales/sample/app/models/Video.kt
index 7bcf3a6..08b14ea 100644
--- a/sampleapp/src/main/kotlin/kales/sample/app/models/Video.kt
+++ b/sampleapp/src/main/kotlin/kales/sample/app/models/Video.kt
@@ -8,5 +8,9 @@ data class Video(
 ) : ApplicationRecord() {
   companion object {
     fun all() = allRecords<Video>()
+
+    fun where(vararg clause: Pair<String, Any>) = whereRecords<Video>(clause.toMap())
+
+    fun find(id: Int) = findRecord<Video>(id)
   }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/sampleapp/src/main/kotlin/kales/sample/app/views/example/ShowView.kt b/sampleapp/src/main/kotlin/kales/sample/app/views/example/ShowView.kt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1a6a935
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sampleapp/src/main/kotlin/kales/sample/app/views/example/ShowView.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+package kales.sample.app.views.example
+
+import kales.actionview.ActionView
+import kotlinx.html.FlowContent
+import kotlinx.html.h2
+import kotlinx.html.h3
+
+class ShowView(
+    bindings: ShowViewModel? = ShowViewModel()
+) : ActionView<ShowViewModel>(bindings) {
+  override fun render(content: FlowContent) {
+    content.apply {
+      h2 { +"Details" }
+      h3 {
+        +"Video ${bindings?.video}"
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/sampleapp/src/main/kotlin/kales/sample/app/views/example/ShowViewModel.kt b/sampleapp/src/main/kotlin/kales/sample/app/views/example/ShowViewModel.kt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..da6ccae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sampleapp/src/main/kotlin/kales/sample/app/views/example/ShowViewModel.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+package kales.sample.app.views.example
+
+import kales.actionview.ViewModel
+import kales.sample.app.models.Video
+
+data class ShowViewModel(
+    val video: Video? = null
+) : ViewModel
\ No newline at end of file