diff --git a/pkg/hair/lib/Vere/Http/Client.hs b/pkg/hair/lib/Vere/Http/Client.hs
index a36040aa3..196e20d60 100644
--- a/pkg/hair/lib/Vere/Http/Client.hs
+++ b/pkg/hair/lib/Vere/Http/Client.hs
@@ -3,10 +3,78 @@
 module Vere.Http.Client where
 
 import ClassyPrelude
-import Vere.Http
+import Data.Void
+import qualified Vere.Http as Http
+import Control.Concurrent hiding (newEmptyMVar, putMVar)
+
+import Network.HTTP.Client as H
 
 -- | An http client effect is either requesting outbound, or canceling an old
 -- outbound connection.
 data Eff
-  = Request Word Request
+  = Request Word Http.Request
   | CancelRequest Word
+
+data Ev
+  = Receive Word Http.Event
+
+-- | All live requests
+data State = State H.Manager (TVar (Map Word ThreadId)) (MVar Ev)
+
+initState :: IO State
+initState = do
+  manager <- H.newManager defaultManagerSettings
+  liveReqs <- newTVarIO mempty
+  channels <- newEmptyMVar
+  pure (State manager liveReqs channels)
+
+
+emitEvent :: State -> Ev -> IO ()
+emitEvent (State _ _ chan) event =
+  putMVar chan event
+
+run :: State -> Eff -> IO ()
+run st@(State manager s _) (Request id request) = do
+  -- TODO: Handle case where id is already live
+  x <- startHTTP st id request
+  atomically $ modifyTVar s (insertMap id x)
+
+run st@(State manager s _) (CancelRequest id) =
+  join $ atomically $ do
+    m <- readTVar s
+    case lookup id m of
+      Nothing -> pure (pure ())
+      Just r -> do
+        m <- writeTVar s (deleteMap id m)
+        pure (cancelHTTP st id r)
+
+
+startHTTP :: State -> Word -> Http.Request -> IO ThreadId
+startHTTP st@(State manager _ chan) id request = forkIO $ do
+    withResponse (convertRequest request) manager $ \response -> do
+      let headers = convertResponseHeaders response
+      emitEvent st (Receive id (Http.Start headers Nothing False))
+      readChunks (H.responseBody response)
+  where
+    readChunks :: H.BodyReader -> IO ()
+    readChunks reader = do
+      chunk <- H.brRead reader
+      if null chunk
+        then emitEvent st (Receive id (Http.Continue Nothing True))
+        else do
+          emitEvent st (Receive id (Http.Continue (Just chunk) False))
+          readChunks reader
+
+
+convertRequest :: Http.Request -> H.Request
+convertRequest = undefined
+
+convertResponseHeaders :: H.Response a -> Http.ResponseHeader
+convertResponseHeaders response = undefined
+
+cancelHTTP :: State -> Word -> ThreadId -> IO ()
+cancelHTTP st requestId threadId = do
+  -- There's a race condition here because threadId could have already
+  -- finished.
+  killThread threadId
+  emitEvent st (Receive requestId (Http.Cancel))
diff --git a/pkg/hair/package.yaml b/pkg/hair/package.yaml
index ea9deca09..a1d5ceae7 100644
--- a/pkg/hair/package.yaml
+++ b/pkg/hair/package.yaml
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ dependencies:
   - containers
   - data-fix
   - ghc-prim
+  - http-client
   - integer-gmp
   - largeword
   - lens