diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 3f512b1..b86826d 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -1,12 +1,9 @@
 package main
 
 import (
-	"fmt"
 	"log"
 	"os"
-	"strings"
 
-	"github.com/nbd-wtf/go-nostr"
 	"github.com/urfave/cli/v2"
 )
 
@@ -15,111 +12,7 @@ func main() {
 		Name:  "nak",
 		Usage: "the nostr army knife command-line tool",
 		Commands: []*cli.Command{
-			{
-				Name:  "req",
-				Usage: "generates an encoded REQ message to be sent to a relay",
-				Description: `example usage (with 'nostcat'):
-					nak req -k 1 -a 3bf0c63fcb93463407af97a5e5ee64fa883d107ef9e558472c4eb9aaaefa459d | nostcat wss://nostr-pub.wellorder.net
-                `,
-				Flags: []cli.Flag{
-					&cli.StringSliceFlag{
-						Name:    "author",
-						Aliases: []string{"a"},
-						Usage:   "only accept events from these authors (pubkey as hex)",
-					},
-					&cli.StringSliceFlag{
-						Name:    "id",
-						Aliases: []string{"i"},
-						Usage:   "only accept events with these ids (hex)",
-					},
-					&cli.IntSliceFlag{
-						Name:    "kind",
-						Aliases: []string{"k"},
-						Usage:   "only accept events with these kind numbers",
-					},
-					&cli.StringSliceFlag{
-						Name:    "tag",
-						Aliases: []string{"t"},
-						Usage:   "takes a tag like -t e=<id>, only accept events with these tags",
-					},
-					&cli.StringSliceFlag{
-						Name:    "event-tag",
-						Aliases: []string{"e"},
-						Usage:   "shortcut for --tag e=<value>",
-					},
-					&cli.StringSliceFlag{
-						Name:    "pubkey-tag",
-						Aliases: []string{"p"},
-						Usage:   "shortcut for --tag p=<value>",
-					},
-					&cli.IntFlag{
-						Name:    "since",
-						Aliases: []string{"s"},
-						Usage:   "only accept events newer than this (unix timestamp)",
-					},
-					&cli.IntFlag{
-						Name:    "until",
-						Aliases: []string{"u"},
-						Usage:   "only accept events older than this (unix timestamp)",
-					},
-					&cli.IntFlag{
-						Name:    "limit",
-						Aliases: []string{"l"},
-						Usage:   "only accept up to this number of events",
-					},
-				},
-				Action: func(c *cli.Context) error {
-					filter := nostr.Filter{}
-
-					if authors := c.StringSlice("author"); len(authors) > 0 {
-						filter.Authors = authors
-					}
-					if ids := c.StringSlice("id"); len(ids) > 0 {
-						filter.IDs = ids
-					}
-					if kinds := c.IntSlice("kind"); len(kinds) > 0 {
-						filter.Kinds = kinds
-					}
-
-					tags := make([][]string, 0, 5)
-					for _, tagFlag := range c.StringSlice("tag") {
-						spl := strings.Split(tagFlag, "=")
-						if len(spl) == 2 && len(spl[0]) == 1 {
-							tags = append(tags, spl)
-						}
-					}
-					for _, etag := range c.StringSlice("event-tag") {
-						tags = append(tags, []string{"e", etag})
-					}
-					for _, ptag := range c.StringSlice("pubkey-tag") {
-						tags = append(tags, []string{"p", ptag})
-					}
-					if len(tags) > 0 {
-						filter.Tags = make(nostr.TagMap)
-						for _, tag := range tags {
-							if _, ok := filter.Tags[tag[0]]; !ok {
-								filter.Tags[tag[0]] = make([]string, 0, 3)
-							}
-							filter.Tags[tag[0]] = append(filter.Tags[tag[0]], tag[1])
-						}
-					}
-
-					if since := c.Int("since"); since != 0 {
-						ts := nostr.Timestamp(since)
-						filter.Since = &ts
-					}
-					if until := c.Int("until"); until != 0 {
-						ts := nostr.Timestamp(until)
-						filter.Until = &ts
-					}
-					if limit := c.Int("limit"); limit != 0 {
-						filter.Limit = limit
-					}
-
-					fmt.Println(filter.String())
-					return nil
-				},
-			},
+			req,
 		},
 	}
 
diff --git a/req.go b/req.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5b98b81
--- /dev/null
+++ b/req.go
@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/nbd-wtf/go-nostr"
+	"github.com/urfave/cli/v2"
+)
+
+const CATEGORY_FILTER_ATTRIBUTES = "FILTER ATTRIBUTES"
+
+var req = &cli.Command{
+	Name:  "req",
+	Usage: "generates an encoded REQ message to be sent to a relay",
+	Description: `example usage (with 'nostcat'):
+					nak req -k 1 -a 3bf0c63fcb93463407af97a5e5ee64fa883d107ef9e558472c4eb9aaaefa459d | nostcat wss://nostr-pub.wellorder.net
+                `,
+	Flags: []cli.Flag{
+		&cli.StringSliceFlag{
+			Name:     "author",
+			Aliases:  []string{"a"},
+			Usage:    "only accept events from these authors (pubkey as hex)",
+			Category: CATEGORY_FILTER_ATTRIBUTES,
+		},
+		&cli.StringSliceFlag{
+			Name:     "id",
+			Aliases:  []string{"i"},
+			Usage:    "only accept events with these ids (hex)",
+			Category: CATEGORY_FILTER_ATTRIBUTES,
+		},
+		&cli.IntSliceFlag{
+			Name:     "kind",
+			Aliases:  []string{"k"},
+			Usage:    "only accept events with these kind numbers",
+			Category: CATEGORY_FILTER_ATTRIBUTES,
+		},
+		&cli.StringSliceFlag{
+			Name:     "tag",
+			Aliases:  []string{"t"},
+			Usage:    "takes a tag like -t e=<id>, only accept events with these tags",
+			Category: CATEGORY_FILTER_ATTRIBUTES,
+		},
+		&cli.StringSliceFlag{
+			Name:     "event-tag",
+			Aliases:  []string{"e"},
+			Usage:    "shortcut for --tag e=<value>",
+			Category: CATEGORY_FILTER_ATTRIBUTES,
+		},
+		&cli.StringSliceFlag{
+			Name:     "pubkey-tag",
+			Aliases:  []string{"p"},
+			Usage:    "shortcut for --tag p=<value>",
+			Category: CATEGORY_FILTER_ATTRIBUTES,
+		},
+		&cli.IntFlag{
+			Name:     "since",
+			Aliases:  []string{"s"},
+			Usage:    "only accept events newer than this (unix timestamp)",
+			Category: CATEGORY_FILTER_ATTRIBUTES,
+		},
+		&cli.IntFlag{
+			Name:     "until",
+			Aliases:  []string{"u"},
+			Usage:    "only accept events older than this (unix timestamp)",
+			Category: CATEGORY_FILTER_ATTRIBUTES,
+		},
+		&cli.IntFlag{
+			Name:     "limit",
+			Aliases:  []string{"l"},
+			Usage:    "only accept up to this number of events",
+			Category: CATEGORY_FILTER_ATTRIBUTES,
+		},
+		&cli.BoolFlag{
+			Name:  "bare",
+			Usage: "print just the filter, not enveloped in a [\"REQ\", ...] array",
+		},
+	},
+	Action: func(c *cli.Context) error {
+		filter := nostr.Filter{}
+
+		if authors := c.StringSlice("author"); len(authors) > 0 {
+			filter.Authors = authors
+		}
+		if ids := c.StringSlice("id"); len(ids) > 0 {
+			filter.IDs = ids
+		}
+		if kinds := c.IntSlice("kind"); len(kinds) > 0 {
+			filter.Kinds = kinds
+		}
+
+		tags := make([][]string, 0, 5)
+		for _, tagFlag := range c.StringSlice("tag") {
+			spl := strings.Split(tagFlag, "=")
+			if len(spl) == 2 && len(spl[0]) == 1 {
+				tags = append(tags, spl)
+			}
+		}
+		for _, etag := range c.StringSlice("event-tag") {
+			tags = append(tags, []string{"e", etag})
+		}
+		for _, ptag := range c.StringSlice("pubkey-tag") {
+			tags = append(tags, []string{"p", ptag})
+		}
+		if len(tags) > 0 {
+			filter.Tags = make(nostr.TagMap)
+			for _, tag := range tags {
+				if _, ok := filter.Tags[tag[0]]; !ok {
+					filter.Tags[tag[0]] = make([]string, 0, 3)
+				}
+				filter.Tags[tag[0]] = append(filter.Tags[tag[0]], tag[1])
+			}
+		}
+
+		if since := c.Int("since"); since != 0 {
+			ts := nostr.Timestamp(since)
+			filter.Since = &ts
+		}
+		if until := c.Int("until"); until != 0 {
+			ts := nostr.Timestamp(until)
+			filter.Until = &ts
+		}
+		if limit := c.Int("limit"); limit != 0 {
+			filter.Limit = limit
+		}
+
+		var result string
+		if c.Bool("bare") {
+			result = filter.String()
+		} else {
+			j, _ := json.Marshal([]any{"REQ", "nak", filter})
+			result = string(j)
+		}
+
+		fmt.Println(result)
+		return nil
+	},
+}