diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 843db46..d06583c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ We have some guides and general documentation in the [docs](docs/) directory. Am
 - [Tests](docs/tests.md)
 - [HTTP Router](docs/router.md)
 - [Template engine](docs/template.md)
+- [Script integrations](docs/util.md)
 - [List of security fixes](docs/sec-fixes/)
 
 ## Dependencies
diff --git a/docs/running.md b/docs/running.md
index f6df44b..b6cbc97 100644
--- a/docs/running.md
+++ b/docs/running.md
@@ -9,3 +9,6 @@ The arg parsing is a bit rudimentary atm. Assume only one option supported per i
 - `debug` shows stderr (useful for debugging)
 - `debuggier` shows stderr and calltrace 
 - `shell` drops you into an environment practically equivalent to the runtime
+- `utils` lists all available [utilities](./util.md) (scripts which integrate into the
+  standard HTTP.sh environment, but are strictly for CLI use. Useful for administrative tasks.)
+- `<util> [params]` launches an utility, if it's available
diff --git a/docs/template-examples.md b/docs/template-examples.md
index 10ab8fb..ce0c13c 100644
--- a/docs/template-examples.md
+++ b/docs/template-examples.md
@@ -145,6 +145,24 @@ This is very useful for rendering data in tables:
 
 ![our example, now rendered as a table](https://f.sakamoto.pl/IwIf39cYw.png)
 
+In this specific example the loop index is readily available; However, if your code iterates over
+a list of strings and you'd need to keep track of an additional index variable, the template
+engine can do it for you with `{{-index}}`:
+
+```
+	<table>
+		<tr>
+			<th>number</th>
+		</tr>
+        {{start _list}}
+            <tr>
+                <td>{{-index}}</td>
+                <td>meow</td>
+            </tr>
+        {{end _list}}
+	</table>
+```
+
 ### integration with notORM
 
 notORM's `data_iter` function works great with nested_add; Body of a callback function can be
diff --git a/docs/util.md b/docs/util.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b11dc2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/util.md
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+# utils: integrating scripts with http.sh
+
+HTTP.sh provides a number of useful APIs designed to make interfacing with HTTP and browsers easier.
+Some of those (especially notORM) are also useful in a CLI environment, to help with migrations and
+other administrative tasks.
+
+Utils integrate into HTTP.sh through calling the main script, with the utility name as the first
+parameter. So, for `meow.sh` the invocation would be `./http.sh meow`, or `./http.sh meow [params]`
+if the util takes any parameters.
+
+Utils are automagically started within the environment, and otherwise work like normal scripts.
+Of note:
+
+- `$0` is always the `./http.sh` invocation, not your script name
+- script name is instead stored in `$HTTPSH_SCRIPTNAME`
+- `$@` contain parameters to the utility, not a full invocation.
+- at the present, only the `master.sh` config is loaded
+- the environment is equivalent to `./http.sh shell`
+
+A list of utilities can be obtained by calling `./http.sh utils`.
+
+## Built-in utils
+
+The following scripts are generic helpers shipped with HTTP.sh. We hope they'll come in handy.
+
+### notORM
+
+WIP. Currently can only dump a store out to the terminal:
+
+```bash
+$ ./http.sh notORM dump storage/new.dat
+declare -a data=([0]="0" [1]="domi" [2]="http://sdomi.pl/" [3]="" [4]="XOaj44smtzCg1p88fgG7bEnMeTNt361wK8Up4BKEiU747lcNIuMAez60zEiAaALWMwzcQ6" [5]="0" [6]="meow~" [7]="RCszUuBXQI")
+ (…)
+```
+
+### bump
+
+Acknowledges a version after a HTTP.sh update. Takes no parameters.
+
+## Future plans
+
+- List a description for each util on the `./http.sh utils` page. This would require storing more
+  metadata on the utils, TBD.
+- more 1st-party utils!
+- more work on notORM util, ideally it should allow one to do all actions on the DB
diff --git a/http.sh b/http.sh
index 2d186c8..34a9cab 100755
--- a/http.sh
+++ b/http.sh
@@ -15,9 +15,12 @@ setup_config() {
 	echo "cfg[init_version]=$HTTPSH_VERSION" >> "config/master.sh"
 }
 
-if [[ ! -f "$PWD/http.sh" ]]; then
-		echo -e "Please run HTTP.sh inside its designated directory\nRunning the script from arbitrary locations isn't supported."
-		exit 1
+if [[ "${0##*/}" == "http.sh" ]]; then
+	# make sure that working directory is http.sh root
+	cd "${0%/*}"
+elif [[ ! -f "$PWD/http.sh" ]]; then
+	echo -e "Could not detect HTTP.sh directory\nPlease run HTTP.sh inside its designated directory"
+	exit 1
 fi
 source src/version.sh
 
@@ -56,7 +59,12 @@ fi
 source config/master.sh
 
 if [[ "$HTTPSH_VERSION" != "${cfg[init_version]}" ]]; then
-	echo "WARN: HTTP.sh was updated since this instance was initialized (config v${cfg[init_version]:-(none)}, runtime v$HTTPSH_VERSION). There may be breaking changes. Edit cfg[init_version] in config/master.sh to remove this warning."
+	echo "WARN: HTTP.sh was updated since this instance was initialized (config v${cfg[init_version]:-(none)}, runtime v$HTTPSH_VERSION). There may be breaking changes.
+
+Check for breaking changes (announced on IRC and in `git log`),
+then use this to ACK the message:
+
+./http.sh bump"
 fi	
 
 while read i; do
@@ -99,6 +107,32 @@ if [[ "$1" == 'shell' ]]; then
 	exit 0
 fi
 
+if [[ "$1" == "utils" ]]; then # list all available utils
+	# would be cool to make this more generic
+	ls "${cfg[namespace]}/util/" "src/util"
+	exit 0
+fi
+
+for path in "${cfg[namespace]}/util/" "src/util/"; do
+	HTTPSH_SCRIPTNAME="$(basename "$1")"
+	if [[ -x "$path$HTTPSH_SCRIPTNAME.sh" ]]; then
+		shift
+		shopt -s extglob
+		source src/account.sh
+		source src/mail.sh
+		source src/mime.sh
+		source src/misc.sh
+		source src/notORM.sh
+		source src/template.sh
+		source "${cfg[namespace]}/config.sh"
+		source "$path$HTTPSH_SCRIPTNAME.sh"
+		exit 0
+	elif [[ -f "$path$HTTPSH_SCRIPTNAME.sh" ]]; then
+		echo "[WARN] util '$1' found, but not executable. Ignoring..." >&2
+	fi
+done
+unset path HTTPSH_SCRIPTNAME
+
 cat <<EOF >&2
  _    _ _______ _______ _____  ______ _    _ 
 | |  | |_______|_______|  _  \/  ___/| |  | |
@@ -127,13 +161,19 @@ if [[ -f "${cfg[namespace]}/config.sh" ]]; then
 	unset run_once
 fi
 
+if [[ "${cfg[ip]}" == *":"* ]]; then
+    socat_listen="TCP6-LISTEN"
+else
+    socat_listen="TCP-LISTEN"
+fi
+
 if [[ ${cfg[socat_only]} == true ]]; then
 	echo "[INFO] listening directly via socat, assuming no ncat available"
 	echo "[HTTP] listening on ${cfg[ip]}:${cfg[port]}"
 	if [[ ${cfg[dbg]} == true ]]; then
-		socat tcp-listen:${cfg[port]},bind=${cfg[ip]},fork "exec:bash -c \'src/server.sh ${cfg[debuggier]}\'"
+		socat $socat_listen:${cfg[port]},bind=${cfg[ip]},fork "exec:bash -c \'src/server.sh ${cfg[debuggier]}\'"
 	else
-		socat tcp-listen:${cfg[port]},bind=${cfg[ip]},fork "exec:bash -c src/server.sh" 2>> /dev/null
+		socat $socat_listen:${cfg[port]},bind=${cfg[ip]},fork "exec:bash -c src/server.sh" 2>> /dev/null
 		if [[ $? != 0 ]]; then
 			echo "[WARN] socat quit with a non-zero status; Maybe the port is in use?"
 		fi
@@ -154,7 +194,7 @@ else
 				ncat -i 600s -l -U "$socket" -c src/server.sh -k 2>> /dev/null
 			done &
 		fi
-		socat TCP-LISTEN:${cfg[port]},fork,bind=${cfg[ip]} UNIX-CLIENT:$socket &
+		socat $socat_listen:${cfg[port]},fork,bind=${cfg[ip]} UNIX-CLIENT:$socket &
 		echo "[HTTP] listening on ${cfg[ip]}:${cfg[port]} through '$socket'"
 	fi
 
diff --git a/src/notORM.sh b/src/notORM.sh
index 887f741..4ca7ba9 100755
--- a/src/notORM.sh
+++ b/src/notORM.sh
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ data_iter() {
 	[[ ! -f "$1" ]] && return 4
 	local store="$1"
 	local IFS=$'\n'
-	local r=2
+	local _r=2
 
 	if [[ "$2" == '{' ]]; then
 		_data_parse_pairs
@@ -216,10 +216,10 @@ data_iter() {
 		done
 		"$callback" # only reached if an entry matched all constraints
 		[[ $? == 255 ]] && return 255
-		r=0
+		_r=0
 	done < "$store"
 
-	return $r
+	return $_r
 }
 
 # replace a value in `store` with `array`, filtering by `search`.
diff --git a/src/server.sh b/src/server.sh
index 6be454e..4810a05 100755
--- a/src/server.sh
+++ b/src/server.sh
@@ -224,30 +224,33 @@ if [[ "${r[post]}" == true ]] && [[ "${r[status]}" == 200 ||  "${r[status]}" ==
 	# I could have done it as an array, but this solution works, and it's
 	# speedy enough so I don't care.
 
-	if [[ $tmpdir ]]; then
-		declare post_multipart
-		tmpfile=$(mktemp -p $tmpdir)
-		dd iflag=fullblock of=$tmpfile ibs=${r[content_length]} count=1 obs=1M
+	if [[ "$tmpdir" ]]; then
+		if [[ "${cfg[enable_multipart]}" == true ]]; then
+			# FIXME: ugly, potentially leaky, potentially dangerous code ahead
+			declare post_multipart
+			tmpfile=$(mktemp -p $tmpdir)
+			dd iflag=fullblock of=$tmpfile ibs="${r[content_length]}" count=1 obs=1M
 
-		delimeter_len=$(echo -n "${r[content_boundary]}"$'\015' | wc -c)
-		boundaries_list=$(echo -ne $(grep $tmpfile -ao -e ${r[content_boundary]} --byte-offset | sed -E 's/:(.*)//g') | sed -E 's/ [0-9]+$//')
+			delimeter_len=$(echo -n "${r[content_boundary]}"$'\015' | wc -c)
+			boundaries_list=$(echo -ne $(grep $tmpfile -ao -e "${r[content_boundary]}" --byte-offset | sed -E 's/:(.*)//g') | sed -E 's/ [0-9]+$//')
 
-		for i in $boundaries_list; do
-			tmpout=$(mktemp -p $tmpdir)
-			dd iflag=fullblock if=$tmpfile ibs=$(($i+$delimeter_len)) obs=1M skip=1 | while true; do
-				read -r line
-				if [[ $line == $'\015' ]]; then
-					cat - > $tmpout
-					break
-				fi
+			for i in $boundaries_list; do
+				tmpout=$(mktemp -p $tmpdir)
+				dd iflag=fullblock if=$tmpfile ibs=$(($i+$delimeter_len)) obs=1M skip=1 | while true; do
+					read -r line
+					if [[ $line == $'\015' ]]; then
+						cat - > $tmpout
+						break
+					fi
+				done
+				length=$(grep $tmpout --byte-offset -ae ${r[content_boundary]} | sed -E 's/:(.*)//' | head -n 1)
+				outfile=$(mktemp -p $tmpdir)
+				post_multipart+=($outfile)
+				dd iflag=fullblock if=$tmpout ibs=$length count=1 obs=1M of=$outfile
+				rm $tmpout
 			done
-			length=$(grep $tmpout --byte-offset -ae ${r[content_boundary]} | sed -E 's/:(.*)//' | head -n 1)
-			outfile=$(mktemp -p $tmpdir)
-			post_multipart+=($outfile)
-			dd iflag=fullblock if=$tmpout ibs=$length count=1 obs=1M of=$outfile
-			rm $tmpout
-		done
-		rm $tmpfile
+			rm $tmpfile
+		fi
 	else
 		if [[ "${r[content_length]}" ]]; then
 			read -r -N "${r[content_length]}" data
diff --git a/src/template.sh b/src/template.sh
index e2f072c..dab253f 100755
--- a/src/template.sh
+++ b/src/template.sh
@@ -8,11 +8,7 @@ function render() {
 	local _tpl_ctrl=$'\02'
 	local tplfile
 
-	_template_find_absolute_path "$2"
-
-	if [[ ! "$tplfile" ]]; then
-		exit 1 # fail hard
-	fi
+	_template_find_absolute_path "$2" || exit 1
 
 	if [[ "$3" != true ]]; then
 		local template="$(tr -d "${_tpl_newline}${_tpl_ctrl}" < "$tplfile" | sed 's/\&/�UwU�/g')"
@@ -27,6 +23,7 @@ function render() {
 	# recursion is currently unsupported here, i feel like it may break things?
 	if [[ "$template" == *'{{#'* && "$3" != true ]]; then
 		local subtemplate=
+		local _old_tplfile="$tplfile"
 		while read key; do
 			# below check prevents the loop loading itself as a template.
 			# this is possibly not enough to prevent all recursions, but
@@ -34,19 +31,20 @@ function render() {
 			local i
 			local IFS=''
 
-			_old_tplfile="$tplfile"
-			_template_find_absolute_path "$key"
-			if [[ "$(realpath "$tplfile")" == "$_old_tplfile" ]]; then
+			_template_find_absolute_path "$key" || continue
+			local tplfile_real="$(realpath "$tplfile")"
+
+			if [[ "$tplfile_real" == "$_old_tplfile" ]]; then
 				subtemplate+="s${_tpl_ctrl}\{\{\#$key\}\}${_tpl_ctrl}I cowardly refuse to endlessly recurse\!${_tpl_ctrl}g;"
 				continue
 			fi
 			# don't even try to include files below httpsh's root
-			[[ "$(realpath "$tplfile")" != "$(dirname "$(realpath "${cfg[namespace]}")")"* ]] && continue
-			local input="$(tr -d "${_tpl_ctrl}${_tpl_newline}" < "$tplfile" | sed 's/\&/�UwU�/g')"
+			[[ "$tplfile_real" != "$(dirname "$(realpath "${cfg[namespace]}")")"* ]] && continue
+			local input="$(tr -d "${_tpl_ctrl}${_tpl_newline}" < "$tplfile_real" | sed 's/\&/�UwU�/g')"
 			garbage+="$input"$'\n'
 			input="$(tr $'\n' "${_tpl_newline}" <<< "$input")" # for another hack
 			subtemplate+="s${_tpl_ctrl}\{\{\#$key\}\}${_tpl_ctrl}${input}${_tpl_ctrl};"
-			_template_find_special_uri "$(cat "$tplfile")"
+			_template_find_special_uri "$(cat "$tplfile_real")"
 		done <<< "$(grep -Poh '{{#\K(.*?)(?=}})' <<< "$template")"
 
 		buf+="${subtemplate}"
@@ -85,7 +83,7 @@ function render() {
 			buf+="s${_tpl_ctrl}\{\{start $key\}\}.*\{\{end $key\}\}${_tpl_ctrl}\{\{$key\}\}${_tpl_ctrl};s${_tpl_ctrl}\{\{$key\}\}${_tpl_ctrl}$(tr -d "${_tpl_ctrl}" <<< "$value" | sed "s${_tpl_ctrl}{{start $key}}${_tpl_ctrl}${_tpl_ctrl};s${_tpl_ctrl}{{end $key}}${_tpl_ctrl}${_tpl_ctrl}")${_tpl_ctrl};"
 			unset "$subtemplate"
 		elif [[ "$key" == "@"* && "${ref["$key"]}" != '' ]]; then
-			local value="$(tr -d "${_tpl_ctrl}${_tpl_newline}" <<< "${ref["$key"]}" | sed -E 's/\&/�UwU�/g')"
+			local value="$(tr -d "${_tpl_ctrl}${_tpl_newline}" <<< "${ref["$key"]}" | tr '\n' "${_tpl_newline}" | sed -E 's/\&/�UwU�/g')"
 			buf+="s${_tpl_ctrl}\{\{$key\}\}${_tpl_ctrl}${value}${_tpl_ctrl}g;"
 		elif [[ "$key" == "-index" && "$3" == true ]]; then # foreach index mode
 			buf+="s${_tpl_ctrl}\{\{\-index\}\}${_tpl_ctrl}${_index}${_tpl_ctrl}g;"
@@ -140,19 +138,22 @@ function render() {
 #
 # _template_find_absolute_path(name) -> $tplfile
 _template_find_absolute_path() {
+	unset tplfile
 	if [[ "$1" == /dev/stdin || "$1" == "/dev/fd/"* ]]; then
 		tplfile="$1"
+		return
 	elif [[ ! "${template_relative_paths}" ]]; then
 		tplfile="${cfg[namespace]}/$1"
+		return
 	else
 		for (( i=0; i<${#template_relative_paths[@]}; i++ )); do
 			if [[ -f "${template_relative_paths[i]}/$1" ]]; then
 				tplfile="${template_relative_paths[i]}/$1"
-				break
+				return
 			fi
 		done
 	fi
-
+	return 1
 }
 
 _template_uri_list=()
diff --git a/src/util/bump.sh b/src/util/bump.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..7db026b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/util/bump.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+if [[ "$HTTPSH_VERSION" != "${cfg[init_version]}" ]]; then
+	sed -i '/cfg\[init_version\]=/d' config/master.sh
+	echo "cfg[init_version]=$HTTPSH_VERSION" >> "config/master.sh"
+	echo "Version bumped. I hope you checked for breaking changes!"
+else
+	echo "All good! :3"
+fi
diff --git a/src/util/notORM.sh b/src/util/notORM.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..27a9120
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/util/notORM.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+if [[ ! "$1" ]]; then
+	echo "usage: $0 $HTTPSH_SCRIPTNAME <action> [params]
+
+Action can be one of:
+  dump <store> - dump the contents of a notORM store"
+	exit 1
+elif [[ "$1" == dump ]]; then
+	x() { declare -p data; }
+	data_iter "$2" { } x
+fi
diff --git a/src/version.sh b/src/version.sh
index c290b98..3285da3 100644
--- a/src/version.sh
+++ b/src/version.sh
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
-HTTPSH_VERSION=0.97.2
+HTTPSH_VERSION=0.97.3