diff --git a/cli/src/main/scala/org/bdgenomics/cannoli/cli/Cannoli.scala b/cli/src/main/scala/org/bdgenomics/cannoli/cli/Cannoli.scala
index 2ed488c2..3e1e359a 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/scala/org/bdgenomics/cannoli/cli/Cannoli.scala
+++ b/cli/src/main/scala/org/bdgenomics/cannoli/cli/Cannoli.scala
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ object Cannoli {
     Freebayes,
     SamtoolsMpileup,
     SnpEff,
+    Vep,
     VtNormalize)),
     CommandGroup("CANNOLI TOOLS", List(InterleaveFastq,
       SampleReads)))
diff --git a/cli/src/main/scala/org/bdgenomics/cannoli/cli/Vep.scala b/cli/src/main/scala/org/bdgenomics/cannoli/cli/Vep.scala
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4f89980c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cli/src/main/scala/org/bdgenomics/cannoli/cli/Vep.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,173 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to Big Data Genomics (BDG) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The BDG licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.bdgenomics.cannoli.cli
+
+import htsjdk.samtools.ValidationStringency
+import org.apache.spark.SparkContext
+import org.bdgenomics.adam.models.VariantContext
+import org.bdgenomics.adam.rdd.ADAMContext._
+import org.bdgenomics.adam.rdd.ADAMSaveAnyArgs
+import org.bdgenomics.adam.rdd.variant.{
+  VariantContextRDD,
+  VCFInFormatter,
+  VCFOutFormatter
+}
+import org.bdgenomics.adam.sql.{ VariantContext => VariantContextProduct }
+import org.bdgenomics.cannoli.builder.CommandBuilders
+import org.bdgenomics.utils.cli._
+import org.bdgenomics.utils.misc.Logging
+import org.kohsuke.args4j.{ Argument, Option => Args4jOption }
+import scala.collection.JavaConversions._
+
+/**
+ * Vep function arguments.
+ */
+class VepFnArgs extends Args4jBase {
+  @Args4jOption(required = false, name = "-executable", usage = "Path to the Ensembl VEP executable. Defaults to vep.")
+  var executable: String = "vep"
+
+  @Args4jOption(required = false, name = "-image", usage = "Container image to use. Defaults to quay.io/biocontainers/ensembl-vep:91.3--htslib1.7_1.")
+  var image: String = "quay.io/biocontainers/ensembl-vep:91.3--htslib1.7_1"
+
+  @Args4jOption(required = false, name = "-sudo", usage = "Run via sudo.")
+  var sudo: Boolean = false
+
+  @Args4jOption(required = false, name = "-add_files", usage = "If true, use the SparkFiles mechanism to distribute files to executors.")
+  var addFiles: Boolean = false
+
+  @Args4jOption(required = false, name = "-use_docker", usage = "If true, uses Docker to launch Ensembl VEP.")
+  var useDocker: Boolean = false
+
+  @Args4jOption(required = false, name = "-use_singularity", usage = "If true, uses Singularity to launch Ensembl VEP.")
+  var useSingularity: Boolean = false
+
+  @Args4jOption(required = false, name = "-species", usage = "Species, this can be the latin name e.g. \"homo_sapiens\" or any Ensembl alias e.g. \"mouse\".")
+  var species: String = null
+
+  @Args4jOption(required = false, name = "-assembly", usage = "Assembly version to use if more than one are available.")
+  var assembly: String = null
+
+  @Args4jOption(required = true, name = "-cache", usage = "Ensembl VEP cache directory to use.")
+  var cachePath: String = null
+}
+
+/**
+ * Vep wrapper as a function VariantContextRDD → VariantContextRDD,
+ * for use in cannoli-shell or notebooks.
+ *
+ * @param args Vep function arguments.
+ * @param stringency Validation stringency. Defaults to ValidationStringency.LENIENT.
+ * @param sc Spark context.
+ */
+class VepFn(
+    val args: VepFnArgs,
+    val stringency: ValidationStringency = ValidationStringency.LENIENT,
+    sc: SparkContext) extends CannoliFn[VariantContextRDD, VariantContextRDD](sc) with Logging {
+
+  override def apply(variantContexts: VariantContextRDD): VariantContextRDD = {
+
+    var builder = CommandBuilders.create(args.useDocker, args.useSingularity)
+      .setExecutable(args.executable)
+      .add("--format")
+      .add("vcf")
+      .add("--output_file")
+      .add("STDOUT")
+      .add("--vcf_info_field")
+      .add("ANN")
+      .add("--terms")
+      .add("so")
+      .add("--no_stats")
+      .add("--offline")
+      .add("--dir_cache")
+      .add(if (args.addFiles) "$0" else absolute(args.cachePath))
+
+    Option(args.species).foreach(builder.add("--species").add(_))
+    Option(args.assembly).foreach(builder.add("--assembly").add(_))
+
+    if (args.addFiles) {
+      builder.addFile(args.cachePath)
+    }
+
+    if (args.useDocker || args.useSingularity) {
+      builder
+        .setImage(args.image)
+        .setSudo(args.sudo)
+        .addMount(if (args.addFiles) "$0" else absolute(args.cachePath))
+    }
+
+    log.info("Piping {} to vep with command: {} files: {}",
+      variantContexts, builder.build(), builder.getFiles())
+
+    implicit val tFormatter = VCFInFormatter
+    implicit val uFormatter = new VCFOutFormatter(sc.hadoopConfiguration, stringency)
+
+    variantContexts.pipe[VariantContext, VariantContextProduct, VariantContextRDD, VCFInFormatter](
+      cmd = builder.build(),
+      files = builder.getFiles()
+    )
+  }
+}
+
+object Vep extends BDGCommandCompanion {
+  val commandName = "vep"
+  val commandDescription = "ADAM Pipe API wrapper for Ensembl VEP."
+
+  def apply(cmdLine: Array[String]) = {
+    new Vep(Args4j[VepArgs](cmdLine))
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Vep command line arguments.
+ */
+class VepArgs extends VepFnArgs with ADAMSaveAnyArgs with ParquetArgs {
+  @Argument(required = true, metaVar = "INPUT", usage = "Location to pipe from, in VCF format.", index = 0)
+  var inputPath: String = null
+
+  @Argument(required = true, metaVar = "OUTPUT", usage = "Location to pipe to, in VCF format.", index = 1)
+  var outputPath: String = null
+
+  @Args4jOption(required = false, name = "-single", usage = "Saves OUTPUT as single file.")
+  var asSingleFile: Boolean = false
+
+  @Args4jOption(required = false, name = "-defer_merging", usage = "Defers merging single file output.")
+  var deferMerging: Boolean = false
+
+  @Args4jOption(required = false, name = "-disable_fast_concat", usage = "Disables the parallel file concatenation engine.")
+  var disableFastConcat: Boolean = false
+
+  @Args4jOption(required = false, name = "-stringency", usage = "Stringency level for various checks; can be SILENT, LENIENT, or STRICT. Defaults to STRICT.")
+  var stringency: String = "STRICT"
+
+  // must be defined due to ADAMSaveAnyArgs, but unused here
+  var sortFastqOutput: Boolean = false
+}
+
+/**
+ * Vep command line wrapper.
+ */
+class Vep(protected val args: VepArgs) extends BDGSparkCommand[VepArgs] with Logging {
+  val companion = Vep
+  val stringency: ValidationStringency = ValidationStringency.valueOf(args.stringency)
+
+  def run(sc: SparkContext) {
+    val variantContexts = sc.loadVcf(args.inputPath, stringency = stringency)
+    val pipedVariantContexts = new VepFn(args, stringency, sc).apply(variantContexts)
+    pipedVariantContexts.saveAsVcf(args, stringency)
+  }
+}