diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index c01caa1..d96511f 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -3,4 +3,5 @@
 *.data
 *.old
 **.sql
-*.csv
\ No newline at end of file
+*.csv
+**.log
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/auto_compressor/src/lib.rs b/auto_compressor/src/lib.rs
index 4e28941..3be0c10 100644
--- a/auto_compressor/src/lib.rs
+++ b/auto_compressor/src/lib.rs
@@ -6,5 +6,47 @@
 //! to the database and uses these to enable it to incrementally work
 //! on space reductions
 
+use std::str::FromStr;
+
+use anyhow::Result;
+use synapse_compress_state::Level;
+
 pub mod manager;
 pub mod state_saving;
+
+/// Helper struct for parsing the `default_levels` argument.
+///
+/// The compressor keeps track of a number of Levels, each of which have a maximum length,
+/// current length, and an optional current head (None if level is empty, Some if a head
+/// exists).
+///
+/// This is needed since FromStr cannot be implemented for structs
+/// that aren't defined in this scope
+#[derive(PartialEq, Debug)]
+pub struct LevelInfo(pub Vec<Level>);
+
+// Implement FromStr so that an argument of the form "100,50,25"
+// can be used to create a vector of levels with max sizes 100, 50 and 25
+// For more info see the LevelState documentation in lib.rs
+impl FromStr for LevelInfo {
+    type Err = &'static str;
+
+    fn from_str(s: &str) -> Result<Self, Self::Err> {
+        // Stores the max sizes of each level
+        let mut level_info: Vec<Level> = Vec::new();
+
+        // Split the string up at each comma
+        for size_str in s.split(',') {
+            // try and convert each section into a number
+            // panic if that fails
+            let size: usize = size_str
+                .parse()
+                .map_err(|_| "Not a comma separated list of numbers")?;
+            // add this parsed number to the sizes struct
+            level_info.push(Level::new(size));
+        }
+
+        // Return the built up vector inside a LevelInfo struct
+        Ok(LevelInfo(level_info))
+    }
+}
diff --git a/auto_compressor/src/main.rs b/auto_compressor/src/main.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ece373
--- /dev/null
+++ b/auto_compressor/src/main.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,153 @@
+//! This is a tool that uses the synapse_compress_state library to
+//! reduce the size of the synapse state_groups_state table in a postgres
+//! database.
+//!
+//! It adds the tables state_compressor_state and state_compressor_progress
+//! to the database and uses these to enable it to incrementally work
+//! on space reductions.
+//!
+//! This binary calls manager::compress_largest_rooms() with the arguments
+//! provided. That is, it compresses (in batches) the top N rooms ranked by
+//! amount of "uncompressed" state. This is measured by the number of rows in
+//! the state_groups_state table.
+//!
+//! After each batch, the rows processed are marked as "compressed" (using
+//! the state_compressor_progress table), and the program state is saved into
+//! the state_compressor_state table so that the compressor can seemlesly
+//! continue from where it left off.
+
+#[global_allocator]
+static GLOBAL: jemallocator::Jemalloc = jemallocator::Jemalloc;
+
+use auto_compressor::{manager, state_saving, LevelInfo};
+use clap::{crate_authors, crate_description, crate_name, crate_version, value_t, App, Arg};
+use log::LevelFilter;
+use std::{env, fs::OpenOptions};
+
+/// Execution starts here
+fn main() {
+    // setup the logger for the auto_compressor
+    // The default can be overwritten with RUST_LOG
+    // see the README for more information
+    let log_file = OpenOptions::new()
+        .append(true)
+        .create(true)
+        .open("auto_compressor.log")
+        .unwrap_or_else(|e| panic!("Error occured while opening the log file: {}", e));
+
+    if env::var("RUST_LOG").is_err() {
+        let mut log_builder = env_logger::builder();
+        log_builder.target(env_logger::Target::Pipe(Box::new(log_file)));
+        // Ensure panics still come through
+        log_builder.filter_module("panic", LevelFilter::Error);
+        // Only output errors from the synapse_compress state library
+        log_builder.filter_module("synapse_compress_state", LevelFilter::Error);
+        // Output log levels info and above from auto_compressor
+        log_builder.filter_module("auto_compressor", LevelFilter::Info);
+        log_builder.init();
+    } else {
+        // If RUST_LOG was set then use that
+        let mut log_builder = env_logger::Builder::from_env("RUST_LOG");
+        log_builder.target(env_logger::Target::Pipe(Box::new(log_file)));
+        // Ensure panics still come through
+        log_builder.filter_module("panic", LevelFilter::Error);
+        log_builder.init();
+    }
+    log_panics::init();
+    // Announce the start of the program to the logs
+    log::info!("auto_compressor started");
+
+    // parse the command line arguments using the clap crate
+    let arguments = App::new(crate_name!())
+        .version(crate_version!())
+        .author(crate_authors!("\n"))
+        .about(crate_description!())
+        .arg(
+            Arg::with_name("postgres-url")
+                .short("p")
+                .value_name("URL")
+                .help("The url for connecting to the postgres database.")
+                .long_help(concat!(
+                    "The url for connecting to the postgres database.This should be of",
+                    " the form \"postgresql://username:password@mydomain.com/database\""))
+                .takes_value(true)
+                .required(true),
+        ).arg(
+            Arg::with_name("chunk_size")
+                .short("c")
+                .value_name("COUNT")
+                .help("The maximum number of state groups to load into memroy at once")
+                .long_help(concat!(
+                    "The number of state_groups to work on at once. All of the entries",
+                    " from state_groups_state are requested from the database",
+                    " for state groups that are worked on. Therefore small",
+                    " chunk sizes may be needed on machines with low memory.",
+                    " (Note: if the compressor fails to find space savings on the",
+                    " chunk as a whole (which may well happen in rooms with lots",
+                    " of backfill in) then the entire chunk is skipped.)",
+                ))
+                .takes_value(true)
+                .required(true),
+        ).arg(
+            Arg::with_name("default_levels")
+                .short("l")
+                .value_name("LEVELS")
+                .help("Sizes of each new level in the compression algorithm, as a comma separated list.")
+                .long_help(concat!(
+                    "Sizes of each new level in the compression algorithm, as a comma separated list.",
+                    " The first entry in the list is for the lowest, most granular level,",
+                    " with each subsequent entry being for the next highest level.",
+                    " The number of entries in the list determines the number of levels",
+                    " that will be used.",
+                    "\nThe sum of the sizes of the levels effect the performance of fetching the state",
+                    " from the database, as the sum of the sizes is the upper bound on number of",
+                    " iterations needed to fetch a given set of state.",
+                ))
+                .default_value("100,50,25")
+                .takes_value(true)
+                .required(false),
+        ).arg(
+            Arg::with_name("number_of_chunks")
+                .short("n")
+                .value_name("CHUNKS_TO_COMPRESS")
+                .help("The number of chunks to compress") 
+                .long_help("This many chunks of the database will be compressed ")
+                .takes_value(true)
+                .required(true),
+        ).get_matches();
+
+    // The URL of the database
+    let db_url = arguments
+        .value_of("postgres-url")
+        .expect("A database url is required");
+
+    // The number of state groups to work on at once
+    let chunk_size = arguments
+        .value_of("chunk_size")
+        .map(|s| s.parse().expect("chunk_size must be an integer"))
+        .expect("A chunk size is required");
+
+    // The default structure to use when compressing
+    let default_levels = value_t!(arguments, "default_levels", LevelInfo)
+        .unwrap_or_else(|e| panic!("Unable to parse default levels: {}", e));
+
+    // The number of rooms to compress with this tool
+    let number_of_chunks = arguments
+        .value_of("number_of_chunks")
+        .map(|s| s.parse().expect("number_of_chunks must be an integer"))
+        .expect("number_of_chunks is required");
+
+    // Connect to the database and create the 2 tables this tool needs
+    // (Note: if they already exist then this does nothing)
+    let mut client = state_saving::connect_to_database(db_url)
+        .unwrap_or_else(|e| panic!("Error occured while connecting to {}: {}", db_url, e));
+    state_saving::create_tables_if_needed(&mut client)
+        .unwrap_or_else(|e| panic!("Error occured while creating tables in database: {}", e));
+
+    // call compress_largest_rooms with the arguments supplied
+    // panic if an error is produced
+    manager::compress_chunks_of_database(db_url, chunk_size, &default_levels.0, number_of_chunks)
+        .unwrap();
+
+    log::info!("auto_compressor finished");
+}