diff --git a/packages/swift-client/README.md b/packages/swift-client/README.md
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+# Electric Swift client
+
+WIP: initial sketch of a Swift client.
+
+## Notes
+
+- `ElectricShape` **Class**: This class manages the synchronization and data handling for a single ElectricSQL shape.
+- `@Published` **Property Wrapper**: This makes the `data` property observable, allowing you to update UI elements or other parts of your application whenever the shape data changes.
+- **Initialization**: The `init` method sets up the base URL, table name, and optional where clause for the shape.
+- `subscribe` **Method**: Allows other parts of your application to subscribe to data changes.
+- `sync` **Method**: Starts an asynchronous task that continuously polls for updates from the ElectricSQL server.
+- `request` **Method**: Constructs the API request URL and handles the HTTP request/response cycle.
+- `processMessages` **Method**: Parses and applies the incoming changes from the server to the local data dictionary.
+- `applyOperation` **Method**: Handles the different operation types ("insert", "update", "delete") received from the server.
+- `notifySubscribers` **Method**: Notifies any subscribers about changes in the data.
+- `buildUrl` **Method**: Dynamically constructs the URL for the API request based on the current state of the ElectricShape object.
+
+N.b.:
+
+- includes basic error handling, but a production-ready client should have more robust error handling, including:
+  - Retrying failed requests with exponential backoff.
+  - Handling network connectivity issues.
+  - Gracefully handling different HTTP error codes.
+- sync method runs indefinitely; implement a mechanism to stop the sync when done
diff --git a/packages/swift-client/client.swift b/packages/swift-client/client.swift
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+import Foundation
+
+class ElectricShape: ObservableObject {
+    @Published var data: [String: Any] = [:]
+    private var offset: String = "-1"
+    private var handle: String?
+    private var cursor: String?
+    private var live: Bool = false
+    private let baseUrl: String
+    private let table: String
+    private let whereClause: String?
+    private var messages: [[[String: Any]]] = []
+    private var subscribers: [(Data) -> Void] = []
+
+    init(baseUrl: String = "http://localhost:3000", table: String, whereClause: String? = nil) {
+        self.baseUrl = baseUrl
+        self.table = table
+        self.whereClause = whereClause
+    }
+
+    func subscribe(callback: @escaping (Data) -> Void) {
+        subscribers.append(callback)
+    }
+
+    func sync() {
+        Task {
+            while true {
+                await request()
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    private func request() async {
+        guard let url = buildUrl() else {
+            print("Error building URL")
+            return
+        }
+
+        do {
+            var request = URLRequest(url: url)
+            request.httpMethod = "GET"
+
+            let (data, response) = try await URLSession.shared.data(for: request)
+
+            guard let httpResponse = response as? HTTPURLResponse else {
+                print("Invalid response")
+                return
+            }
+
+            if httpResponse.statusCode > 204 {
+                print("Error: \(httpResponse.statusCode)")
+                return
+            }
+
+            if httpResponse.statusCode == 200 {
+                if let json = try? JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: data, options: []) as? [[String: Any]] {
+                    messages.append(json)
+                } else {
+                    print("Failed to decode JSON")
+                    return
+                }
+
+                if httpResponse.allHeaderFields["electric-up-to-date"] != nil {
+                    live = true
+                    processMessages()
+                }
+            }
+
+            handle = httpResponse.allHeaderFields["electric-handle"] as? String
+            offset = httpResponse.allHeaderFields["electric-offset"] as? String
+            cursor = httpResponse.allHeaderFields["electric-cursor"] as? String
+
+        } catch {
+            print("Error fetching data: \(error)")
+        }
+    }
+
+    private func processMessages() {
+        var hasChanged = false
+
+        for batch in messages {
+            for message in batch {
+                if let opChanged = applyOperation(message), opChanged {
+                    hasChanged = true
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        messages = []
+
+        if hasChanged {
+            notifySubscribers()
+        }
+    }
+
+    private func applyOperation(_ message: [String: Any]) -> Bool? {
+        guard let headers = message["headers"] as? [String: String],
+              let operation = headers["operation"],
+              let key = message["key"] as? String else { return nil }
+
+        let cleanKey = key.replacingOccurrences(of: "\"", with: "").split(separator: "/").last!
+        let value = message["value"] as? [String: Any]
+
+        switch operation {
+        case "insert":
+            data[String(cleanKey)] = value
+            return true
+        case "update":
+            guard var currentValue = data[String(cleanKey)] as? [String: Any] else { return false }
+            var hasChanged = false
+
+            if let value = value {
+                for (k, v) in value {
+                    if currentValue[k] != v {
+                        hasChanged = true
+                        currentValue[k] = v
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+
+            data[String(cleanKey)] = currentValue
+            return hasChanged
+        case "delete":
+            if data.keys.contains(String(cleanKey)) {
+                data.removeValue(forKey: String(cleanKey))
+                return true
+            }
+            return false
+        default:
+            return nil
+        }
+    }
+
+    private func notifySubscribers() {
+        for callback in subscribers {
+            callback(try! JSONSerialization.data(withJSONObject: data, options: .prettyPrinted))
+        }
+    }
+
+    private func buildUrl() -> URL? {
+        var components = URLComponents(string: "\(baseUrl)/v1/shape")
+        var queryItems: [URLQueryItem] = [
+            URLQueryItem(name: "table", value: table),
+            URLQueryItem(name: "offset", value: offset)
+        ]
+
+        if let cursor = cursor {
+            queryItems.append(URLQueryItem(name: "cursor", value: cursor))
+        }
+
+        if let handle = handle {
+            queryItems.append(URLQueryItem(name: "handle", value: handle))
+        }
+
+        if live {
+            queryItems.append(URLQueryItem(name: "live", value: "true"))
+        }
+
+        if let whereClause = whereClause {
+            queryItems.append(URLQueryItem(name: "where", value: whereClause))
+        }
+
+        components?.queryItems = queryItems
+        return components?.url
+    }
+}
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