diff --git a/include/blt/parse/argparse.h b/include/blt/parse/argparse.h
index 0f85c42..aad19fc 100755
--- a/include/blt/parse/argparse.h
+++ b/include/blt/parse/argparse.h
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 #include <blt/std/hashmap.h>
 #include <variant>
 #include <algorithm>
+#include <type_traits>
 
 namespace blt
 {
@@ -329,13 +330,28 @@ namespace blt
                     return std::holds_alternative<arg_data_internal_t>(v) && std::holds_alternative<T>(std::get<arg_data_internal_t>(v));
             }
             
+            /**
+             * Attempt to cast the variant stored in the arg results to the requested type
+             * if user is requesting an int, but holds a string, we are going to make the assumption the data can be converted
+             * it is up to the user to deal with the variant if they do not want this behaviour!
+             * @tparam T type to convert to
+             * @param v
+             * @return
+             */
             template<typename T>
             static inline T& get(arg_data_t& v)
             {
                 if constexpr (std::is_same_v<T, arg_data_vec_t>)
                     return std::get<arg_data_vec_t>(v);
                 else
-                    return std::get<T>(std::get<arg_data_internal_t>(v));
+                {
+                    auto t = std::get<arg_data_internal_t>(v);
+                    // user is requesting an int, but holds a string, we are going to make the assumption the data can be converted
+                    // it is up to the user to deal with the variant if they do not want this behaviour!
+                    if constexpr (std::holds_alternative<std::string>(t) && std::is_same_v<int32_t, T>)
+                        return std::stoi(std::get<std::string>(t));
+                    return std::get<T>(t);
+                }
             }
         
         public: