diff --git a/.bazelrc b/.bazelrc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..501b9172
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.bazelrc
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+build:asan --strip=never 
+build:asan --copt -fsanitize=address 
+build:asan --copt -O0
+build:asan --copt -fno-omit-frame-pointer
+build:asan --copt -g
+build:asan --linkopt -fsanitize=address 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 09cfffa4..316527a5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -9,7 +9,12 @@ offer the possibility for metrics to collected by Prometheus, but
 other push/pull collections can be added as plugins.
 
 ## Project Status
-Pre-alpha
+Alpha
+
+* parts of the library are instrumented by itself (bytes scraped, number of scrapes)
+* there is a working [example](tests/sample_server.cc) that prometheus successfully scrapes
+* gauge and counter metrics are implemented, histograms and summaries aren't
+* thread safety is missing in registries and metric families (you'd have to lock access yourself for now)
 
 ## License
 MIT
diff --git a/lib/BUILD b/lib/BUILD
index d5e389b1..1c1691fa 100644
--- a/lib/BUILD
+++ b/lib/BUILD
@@ -2,16 +2,19 @@ cc_library(
     name = "prometheus-cpp",
     srcs = ["counter.cc",
             "gauge.cc",
-            "exposer.cc"],
+            "exposer.cc",
+            "registry.cc"],
     hdrs = ["counter.h",
             "gauge.h",
             "exposer.h",
             "metric.h",
             "collectable.h",
-            "family.h"],
+            "family.h",
+            "registry.h"],
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
     deps = ["@protobuf//:protobuf",
             "@prometheus_client_model//:prometheus_client_model",
             "@civetweb//:civetweb",
            ],
+           linkstatic = 1,
 )
diff --git a/lib/exposer.cc b/lib/exposer.cc
index 4300c20e..397dfcdd 100644
--- a/lib/exposer.cc
+++ b/lib/exposer.cc
@@ -1,61 +1,81 @@
 #include <chrono>
+#include <sstream>
 #include <string>
 #include <thread>
-#include <sstream>
 
-#include <google/protobuf/io/zero_copy_stream_impl.h>
 #include <google/protobuf/io/coded_stream.h>
+#include <google/protobuf/io/zero_copy_stream_impl.h>
 
 #include "exposer.h"
 
 #include "cpp/metrics.pb.h"
 
 namespace prometheus {
+MetricsHandler::MetricsHandler(
+    const std::vector<std::weak_ptr<Collectable>>& collectables,
+    Registry& registry)
+    : collectables_(collectables),
+      bytesTransferedFamily_(registry.add_counter(
+          "exposer_bytes_transfered", "bytesTransferred to metrics services",
+          {{"component", "exposer"}})),
+      bytesTransfered_(bytesTransferedFamily_->add({})),
+      numScrapesFamily_(registry.add_counter(
+          "exposer_total_scrapes", "Number of times metrics were scraped",
+          {{"component", "exposer"}})),
+      numScrapes_(numScrapesFamily_->add({})) {}
+
+bool MetricsHandler::handleGet(CivetServer* server,
+                               struct mg_connection* conn) {
+  using namespace io::prometheus::client;
+
+  std::ostringstream ss;
+  for (auto&& wcollectable : collectables_) {
+    auto collectable = wcollectable.lock();
+    if (!collectable) {
+      continue;
+    }
 
-class MetricsHandler : public CivetHandler {
- public:
-  bool handleGet(CivetServer* server, struct mg_connection* conn) {
-      using namespace io::prometheus::client;
-
-    MetricFamily message;
-    message.set_name("Foo");
-    message.set_help("Foo help");
-    message.set_type(MetricType::COUNTER);
-    auto metric1 = message.add_metric();
-    auto counter = metric1->mutable_counter();
-    counter->set_value(1337.0);
-
-    std::ostringstream ss;
-    {
+    for (auto&& metricFamily : collectable->collect()) {
+      {
         google::protobuf::io::OstreamOutputStream rawOutput{&ss};
         google::protobuf::io::CodedOutputStream output(&rawOutput);
 
-        // Write the size.
-        const int size = message.ByteSize();
+        const int size = metricFamily.ByteSize();
         output.WriteVarint32(size);
-    }
+      }
 
-    auto buf = ss.str();
-    message.AppendToString(&buf);
-    mg_printf(conn,
-              "HTTP/1.1 200 OK\r\n"
-              "Content-Type: "
-              "application/vnd.google.protobuf; "
-              "proto=io.prometheus.client.MetricFamily; "
-              "encoding=delimited\r\n"
-              "Content-Length: ");
-    mg_printf(conn, "%lu\r\n\r\n", buf.size());
-    mg_write(conn, buf.data(), buf.size());
-    return true;
+      auto buffer = std::string{};
+      metricFamily.SerializeToString(&buffer);
+      ss << buffer;
+    }
   }
-};
+
+  auto body = ss.str();
+  mg_printf(conn,
+            "HTTP/1.1 200 OK\r\n"
+            "Content-Type: "
+            "application/vnd.google.protobuf; "
+            "proto=io.prometheus.client.MetricFamily; "
+            "encoding=delimited\r\n"
+            "Content-Length: ");
+  mg_printf(conn, "%lu\r\n\r\n", body.size());
+  mg_write(conn, body.data(), body.size());
+  bytesTransfered_->inc(body.size());
+  numScrapes_->inc();
+  return true;
+}
 
 Exposer::Exposer(std::uint16_t port)
-    : server_({"listening_ports", std::to_string(port)}) {
-  MetricsHandler handler;
-  server_.addHandler("/metrics", &handler);
-  std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::seconds(60000));
+    : server_({"listening_ports", std::to_string(port)}),
+      exposerRegistry_(
+          std::make_shared<Registry>(std::map<std::string, std::string>{})),
+      metricsHandler_(collectables_, *exposerRegistry_) {
+  registerCollectable(exposerRegistry_);
+  server_.addHandler("/metrics", &metricsHandler_);
 }
 
-void Exposer::run() {}
+void Exposer::registerCollectable(
+    const std::weak_ptr<Collectable>& collectable) {
+  collectables_.push_back(collectable);
+}
 }
diff --git a/lib/exposer.h b/lib/exposer.h
index 1fb88246..534c4f8b 100644
--- a/lib/exposer.h
+++ b/lib/exposer.h
@@ -1,17 +1,37 @@
 #pragma once
 
+#include <atomic>
 #include <cstdint>
+#include <memory>
 
 #include "CivetServer.h"
+#include "registry.h"
 
 namespace prometheus {
 
-class Exposer {
+class MetricsHandler : public CivetHandler {
  public:
-    Exposer(std::uint16_t port);
-    void run();
-  private:
-    CivetServer server_;
+  MetricsHandler(const std::vector<std::weak_ptr<Collectable>>& collectables,
+                 Registry& registry);
+
+  bool handleGet(CivetServer* server, struct mg_connection* conn);
+
+  const std::vector<std::weak_ptr<Collectable>>& collectables_;
+  Family<Counter>* bytesTransferedFamily_;
+  Counter* bytesTransfered_;
+  Family<Counter>* numScrapesFamily_;
+  Counter* numScrapes_;
 };
 
+class Exposer {
+ public:
+  Exposer(std::uint16_t port);
+  void registerCollectable(const std::weak_ptr<Collectable>& collectable);
+
+ private:
+  CivetServer server_;
+  std::vector<std::weak_ptr<Collectable>> collectables_;
+  std::shared_ptr<Registry> exposerRegistry_;
+  MetricsHandler metricsHandler_;
+};
 }
diff --git a/lib/family.h b/lib/family.h
index 7f5890aa..546395ec 100644
--- a/lib/family.h
+++ b/lib/family.h
@@ -7,7 +7,9 @@
 #include <string>
 #include <unordered_map>
 
+#include "counter.h"
 #include "collectable.h"
+#include "gauge.h"
 #include "metric.h"
 
 namespace prometheus {
diff --git a/lib/gauge.cc b/lib/gauge.cc
index 0ecbdbb7..f142f23e 100644
--- a/lib/gauge.cc
+++ b/lib/gauge.cc
@@ -27,9 +27,9 @@ void Gauge::dec(double value) {
 void Gauge::set(double value) { value_.store(value); }
 
 void Gauge::change(double value) {
-    auto current = value_.load();
-    while (!value_.compare_exchange_weak(current, current + value))
-        ;
+  auto current = value_.load();
+  while (!value_.compare_exchange_weak(current, current + value))
+    ;
 }
 
 void Gauge::set_to_current_time() {
@@ -38,4 +38,11 @@ void Gauge::set_to_current_time() {
 }
 
 double Gauge::value() const { return value_; }
+
+io::prometheus::client::Metric Gauge::collect() {
+  io::prometheus::client::Metric metric;
+  auto gauge = metric.mutable_gauge();
+  gauge->set_value(value());
+  return metric;
+}
 }
diff --git a/lib/gauge.h b/lib/gauge.h
index 664c3cd9..1fc4d7a2 100644
--- a/lib/gauge.h
+++ b/lib/gauge.h
@@ -2,10 +2,16 @@
 
 #include <atomic>
 
+#include "cpp/metrics.pb.h"
+#include "metric.h"
+
 namespace prometheus {
 
-class Gauge {
+class Gauge : public Metric {
  public:
+  static const io::prometheus::client::MetricType metric_type =
+      io::prometheus::client::GAUGE;
+
   Gauge();
   Gauge(double);
   void inc();
@@ -16,6 +22,8 @@ class Gauge {
   void set_to_current_time();
   double value() const;
 
+  io::prometheus::client::Metric collect();
+
  private:
   void change(double);
   std::atomic<double> value_;
diff --git a/lib/registry.cc b/lib/registry.cc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a4e6c4ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/registry.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+#include "registry.h"
+
+namespace prometheus {
+
+Registry::Registry(const std::map<std::string, std::string>& constLabels)
+    : constLabels_(constLabels) {}
+
+Family<Counter>* Registry::add_counter(
+    const std::string& name, const std::string& help,
+    const std::map<std::string, std::string>& labels) {
+    auto counterFamily = new Family<Counter>(name, help, labels);
+    collectables_.push_back(std::unique_ptr<Collectable>{counterFamily});
+    return counterFamily;
+}
+
+Family<Gauge>* Registry::add_gauge(
+    const std::string& name, const std::string& help,
+    const std::map<std::string, std::string>& labels) {
+    auto gaugeFamily = new Family<Gauge>(name, help, labels);
+    collectables_.push_back(std::unique_ptr<Collectable>{gaugeFamily});
+    return gaugeFamily;
+}
+
+std::vector<io::prometheus::client::MetricFamily> Registry::collect() {
+    auto results = std::vector<io::prometheus::client::MetricFamily>{};
+    for(auto&& collectable : collectables_) {
+        auto metrics = collectable->collect();
+        results.insert(results.end(), metrics.begin(), metrics.end());
+    }
+
+    for (auto&& metricFamily : results) {
+        for (auto&& metric : *metricFamily.mutable_metric()) {
+            for (auto&& constLabelPair : constLabels_) {
+                auto label = metric.add_label();
+                label->set_name(constLabelPair.first);
+                label->set_value(constLabelPair.second);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    return results;
+}
+}
diff --git a/lib/registry.h b/lib/registry.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..55a94226
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/registry.h
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+#pragma once
+
+#include <map>
+
+#include "collectable.h"
+#include "cpp/metrics.pb.h"
+#include "family.h"
+
+namespace prometheus {
+
+class Counter;
+class Gauge;
+
+class Registry : public Collectable {
+ public:
+  Registry() = default;
+  Registry(const std::map<std::string, std::string>& constLabels);
+  Family<Counter>* add_counter(
+      const std::string& name, const std::string& help,
+      const std::map<std::string, std::string>& labels);
+  Family<Gauge>* add_gauge(const std::string& name, const std::string& help,
+                           const std::map<std::string, std::string>& labels);
+
+  // collectable
+  std::vector<io::prometheus::client::MetricFamily> collect() override;
+
+ private:
+  std::vector<std::unique_ptr<Collectable>> collectables_;
+  std::map<std::string, std::string> constLabels_;
+};
+}
diff --git a/tests/BUILD b/tests/BUILD
index 71d7efc7..7cbed192 100644
--- a/tests/BUILD
+++ b/tests/BUILD
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 cc_test(
     name = "prometheus_test",
-    srcs = ["counter_test.cc", "gauge_test.cc", "mock_metric.h", "family_test.cc"],
+    srcs = ["counter_test.cc", "gauge_test.cc", "mock_metric.h", "family_test.cc", "registry_test.cc"],
     copts = ["-Iexternal/googletest/include"],
     deps = ["@googletest//:main",
             "//lib:prometheus-cpp"],
+            linkstatic = 1,
 )
 
 cc_binary(
diff --git a/tests/registry_test.cc b/tests/registry_test.cc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f37a330a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/registry_test.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+#include <vector>
+
+#include <gmock/gmock.h>
+
+#include "lib/registry.h"
+#include "lib/collectable.h"
+
+using namespace testing;
+using namespace prometheus;
+
+class MockCollectable : public Collectable {
+  public:
+    MOCK_METHOD0(collect, std::vector<io::prometheus::client::MetricFamily>());
+};
+
+class RegistryTest : public Test {};
+
+TEST_F(RegistryTest, collectsSingleMetricFamily) {
+    auto registry = Registry{};
+    auto counterFamily = registry.add_counter("test", "a test", {});
+    counterFamily->add({{"name", "counter1"}});
+    counterFamily->add({{"name", "counter2"}});
+    auto collected = registry.collect();
+    ASSERT_EQ(collected.size(), 1);
+    EXPECT_EQ(collected[0].name(), "test");
+    EXPECT_EQ(collected[0].help(), "a test");
+    ASSERT_EQ(collected[0].metric_size(), 2);
+    ASSERT_EQ(collected[0].metric(0).label_size(), 1);
+    EXPECT_EQ(collected[0].metric(0).label(0).name(), "name");
+    ASSERT_EQ(collected[0].metric(1).label_size(), 1);
+    EXPECT_EQ(collected[0].metric(1).label(0).name(), "name");
+}
diff --git a/tests/sample_server.cc b/tests/sample_server.cc
index 603114e8..74371166 100644
--- a/tests/sample_server.cc
+++ b/tests/sample_server.cc
@@ -1,9 +1,24 @@
-#include "lib/exposer.h"
+#include <chrono>
+#include <map>
+#include <memory>
+#include <string>
+#include <thread>
 
-using namespace prometheus;
+#include "lib/exposer.h"
+#include "lib/registry.h"
 
 int main(int argc, char** argv) {
-    auto server = Exposer{8080};
-    server.run();
-    return 0;
+  using namespace prometheus;
+
+  auto exposer = Exposer{8080};
+  auto registry = std::make_shared<Registry>(std::map<std::string, std::string>{{"component", "main"}});
+  auto counterFamily = registry->add_counter(
+      "time_running_seconds", "How many seconds is this server running?", {});
+  auto secondCounter = counterFamily->add({});
+  exposer.registerCollectable(registry);
+  for (;;) {
+    std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::seconds(1));
+    secondCounter->inc();
+  }
+  return 0;
 }