diff --git a/ast/Cargo.toml b/ast/Cargo.toml
index 8a1eea319d..7050904de1 100644
--- a/ast/Cargo.toml
+++ b/ast/Cargo.toml
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ version = "0.1.0"
 authors = ["The Aleo Team <hello@aleo.org>"]
 edition = "2018"
 
+[[bin]]
+name = "leo_ast"
+path = "src/main.rs"
+
 [dependencies]
 from-pest = { version = "0.3.1" }
 lazy_static = { version = "1.3.0" }
diff --git a/ast/src/errors/parser.rs b/ast/src/errors/parser.rs
index fa5c985a66..c0726896cc 100644
--- a/ast/src/errors/parser.rs
+++ b/ast/src/errors/parser.rs
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ pub enum ParserError {
     #[error("Cannot read from the provided file path - {:?}", _0)]
     FileReadError(PathBuf),
 
+    #[error("{}", _0)]
+    JsonError(#[from] serde_json::error::Error),
+
     #[error("{}", _0)]
     SyntaxError(#[from] SyntaxError),
 
diff --git a/ast/src/lib.rs b/ast/src/lib.rs
index 784413208e..7907a140dd 100644
--- a/ast/src/lib.rs
+++ b/ast/src/lib.rs
@@ -32,16 +32,16 @@ use std::{fs, path::PathBuf};
 pub struct LeoParser;
 
 impl LeoParser {
-    /// Reads in the given file path into a string.
+    /// Loads the Leo code as a string from the given file path.
     pub fn load_file(file_path: &PathBuf) -> Result<String, ParserError> {
         Ok(fs::read_to_string(file_path).map_err(|_| ParserError::FileReadError(file_path.clone()))?)
     }
 
-    /// Parses the input file and constructs a syntax tree.
-    pub fn parse_file<'a>(file_path: &'a PathBuf, input_file: &'a str) -> Result<files::File<'a>, ParserError> {
+    /// Parses the Leo program string and constructs an abstract syntax tree.
+    pub fn parse_file<'a>(file_path: &'a PathBuf, program_string: &'a str) -> Result<files::File<'a>, ParserError> {
         // Parse the file using leo.pest
-        let mut file =
-            ast::parse(input_file).map_err(|error| ParserError::from(error.with_path(file_path.to_str().unwrap())))?;
+        let mut file = ast::parse(program_string)
+            .map_err(|error| ParserError::from(error.with_path(file_path.to_str().unwrap())))?;
 
         // Build the abstract syntax tree
         let syntax_tree = files::File::from_pest(&mut file).map_err(|_| ParserError::SyntaxTreeError)?;
@@ -50,13 +50,8 @@ impl LeoParser {
         Ok(syntax_tree)
     }
 
-    /// Serializes and stores a given syntax tree in the output file.
-    pub fn store_syntax_tree<'a>(syntax_tree: files::File<'a>, output_file: &'a str) -> Result<(), ParserError> {
-        // Serialize and store the syntax tree to the given filepath.
-        let serialized_syntax_tree = serde_json::to_string(&syntax_tree).unwrap();
-        println!("serialized = {}", serialized_syntax_tree);
-        fs::write(output_file, serialized_syntax_tree)?;
-
-        Ok(())
+    /// Serializes a given abstract syntax tree into a JSON string.
+    pub fn to_json_string(syntax_tree: &files::File) -> Result<String, ParserError> {
+        Ok(serde_json::to_string_pretty(syntax_tree)?)
     }
 }
diff --git a/ast/src/main.rs b/ast/src/main.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9c288c18d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ast/src/main.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+use leo_ast::{LeoParser, ParserError};
+use std::{env, fs, path::Path};
+
+fn to_leo_ast(filepath: &Path) -> Result<String, ParserError> {
+    // Loads the Leo code as a string from the given file path.
+    let program_filepath = filepath.to_path_buf();
+    let program_string = LeoParser::load_file(&program_filepath)?;
+
+    // Parses the Leo program string and constructs an abstract syntax tree.
+    let abstract_syntax_tree = LeoParser::parse_file(&program_filepath, &program_string)?;
+
+    // Serializes the abstract syntax tree into JSON format.
+    let serialized_ast = LeoParser::to_json_string(&abstract_syntax_tree)?;
+
+    Ok(serialized_ast)
+}
+
+fn main() -> Result<(), ParserError> {
+    // Parse the command-line arguments as strings.
+    let cli_arguments = env::args().collect::<Vec<String>>();
+
+    // Check that the correct number of command-line arguments were passed in.
+    if cli_arguments.len() < 2 || cli_arguments.len() > 3 {
+        eprintln!("Error - invalid number of command-line arguments");
+        println!("\nCommand-line usage:\n\n\tleo_ast {{input_filename}}.leo {{optional_output_filepath}}\n");
+        return Ok(()); // Exit innocently
+    }
+
+    // Create the input filepath.
+    let input_filepath = Path::new(&cli_arguments[1]);
+
+    // Create the serialized abstract syntax tree.
+    let serialized_ast = to_leo_ast(&input_filepath)?;
+    println!("{}", serialized_ast);
+
+    // Create the output filepath.
+    let output_filepath = match cli_arguments.len() == 3 {
+        true => format!(
+            "{}/{}.json",
+            cli_arguments[2],
+            input_filepath.file_stem().unwrap().to_str().unwrap()
+        ),
+        false => format!("./{}.json", input_filepath.file_stem().unwrap().to_str().unwrap()),
+    };
+
+    // Write the serialized abstract syntax tree to the output filepath.
+    fs::write(Path::new(&output_filepath), serialized_ast)?;
+
+    Ok(())
+}
diff --git a/compiler/src/compiler.rs b/compiler/src/compiler.rs
index 5f4718875c..1006480e0f 100644
--- a/compiler/src/compiler.rs
+++ b/compiler/src/compiler.rs
@@ -94,11 +94,12 @@ impl<F: Field + PrimeField, G: GroupType<F>> Compiler<F, G> {
         generate_test_constraints::<F, G>(cs, self.program, &self.imported_programs)
     }
 
+    /// Loads the Leo code as a string from the given file path.
     fn load_program(&mut self) -> Result<String, CompilerError> {
-        // Load the program syntax tree from the file path
         Ok(LeoParser::load_file(&self.main_file_path)?)
     }
 
+    /// Parses the Leo program string, constructs a syntax tree, and generates a program.
     pub fn parse_program(&mut self, program_string: &str) -> Result<(), CompilerError> {
         // Parse the program syntax tree
         let syntax_tree = LeoParser::parse_file(&self.main_file_path, program_string)?;