diff --git a/include/blt/nbt/nbt.h b/include/blt/nbt/nbt.h
index 9321091..f68f319 100755
--- a/include/blt/nbt/nbt.h
+++ b/include/blt/nbt/nbt.h
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
 #ifndef BLT_TESTS_NBT_H
 #define BLT_TESTS_NBT_H
 
+#include <utility>
+
 #include "blt/std/format.h"
 #include "blt/std/filesystem.h"
 
@@ -31,6 +33,29 @@ namespace blt::nbt {
         LONG_ARRAY = 12
     };
     
+    class tag {
+        public:
+            virtual void writePayload(std::fstream& out) = 0;
+            virtual void readPayload(std::fstream& in) = 0;
+    };
+    
+    class named_tag : public tag {
+        private:
+            std::string name;
+        public:
+            explicit named_tag(std::string name): name(std::move(name)) {}
+            named_tag() = default;
+            void writeName(std::fstream& out);
+            void readName(std::fstream& in);
+    };
+    
+    class tag_end : public tag {
+        public:
+            void writePayload(std::fstream& out) final;
+            // nothing to read
+            void readPayload(std::fstream& in) final {}
+    };
+    
     class NBTDecoder {
         private:
             blt::fs::block_reader* m_reader;
diff --git a/src/blt/nbt/nbt.cpp b/src/blt/nbt/nbt.cpp
index 4dc259b..9653f1b 100755
--- a/src/blt/nbt/nbt.cpp
+++ b/src/blt/nbt/nbt.cpp
@@ -27,4 +27,16 @@ namespace blt::nbt {
         delete[] str.characters;
         return strOut;
     }
+    
+    void named_tag::writeName(std::fstream& out) {
+        writeUTF8String(out, name);
+    }
+    
+    void named_tag::readName(std::fstream& in) {
+        name = readUTF8String(in);
+    }
+    
+    void tag_end::writePayload(std::fstream& out) {
+        out.put('\0');
+    }
 }
\ No newline at end of file