diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index a56b36f..56c8f91 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -20,3 +20,9 @@
 [submodule "_ThirdParty/fmt"]
 	path = _ThirdParty/fmt
 	url = https://github.com/fmtlib/fmt.git
+[submodule "_ThirdParty/json"]
+	path = _ThirdParty/json
+	url = https://github.com/nlohmann/json.git
+[submodule "_ThirdParty/nfd"]
+	path = _ThirdParty/nfd
+	url = https://github.com/btzy/nativefiledialog-extended.git
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index e571e4f..f9e716d 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -12,8 +12,23 @@ set (GLFW_BUILD_TESTS OFF)
 set (GLFW_BUILD_DOCS OFF)
 add_subdirectory(_ThirdParty/glfw)
 
+add_subdirectory(_ThirdParty/glm)
+
+include_directories(src/imgui)
+file(GLOB_RECURSE IMGUI_SOURCES src/imgui/*.cpp)
+
+file(GLOB_RECURSE SOURCES ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/*.cpp)
+file(GLOB_RECURSE HEADERS ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/*.h)
+
+add_subdirectory(_ThirdParty/entt)
+add_subdirectory(_ThirdParty/fmt)
 add_subdirectory(_ThirdParty/spdlog)
 
+set(JSON_BuildTests OFF CACHE INTERNAL "")
+add_subdirectory(_ThirdParty/json)
+
+add_subdirectory(_ThirdParty/nfd)
+
 set (ASSIMP_INSTALL OFF)
 if(UNIX)
     find_path(UNZIP_PATH unzip.h PATHS
@@ -26,26 +41,16 @@ if(UNIX)
 endif()
 add_subdirectory(_ThirdParty/assimp)
 target_compile_options(assimp PRIVATE
-    -Wno-unused-but-set-variable
+        -Wno-unused-but-set-variable
 )
 
-add_subdirectory(_ThirdParty/glm)
-
-add_subdirectory(_ThirdParty/entt)
-
-add_subdirectory(_ThirdParty/fmt)
-
-include_directories(src/imgui)
-file(GLOB_RECURSE IMGUI_SOURCES src/imgui/*.cpp)
-
-file(GLOB_RECURSE SOURCES ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/*.cpp)
-file(GLOB_RECURSE HEADERS ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/*.h)
-
 add_executable(${PROJECT_NAME}
         ${IMGUI_SOURCES}
         ${GLAD_SOURCE_DIR}/gl.c
         ${SOURCES}
-        ${HEADERS})
+        ${HEADERS}
+        src/ProjectManifestFile.cpp
+        src/ProjectManifestFile.h)
 
 add_custom_target(copy_resources
         COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy_directory
@@ -54,6 +59,7 @@ add_custom_target(copy_resources
         COMMENT "Copying resources..."
 )
 
-target_link_libraries(${PROJECT_NAME} glfw spdlog assimp glm EnTT fmt)
+target_link_libraries(${PROJECT_NAME} glfw spdlog assimp glm EnTT fmt nfd)
 target_include_directories(${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE ${ASSIMP_INCLUDE_INSTALL_DIR})
 target_include_directories(${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE src)
+target_include_directories(${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE _ThirdParty/json/single_include)
diff --git a/_ThirdParty/json b/_ThirdParty/json
new file mode 160000
index 0000000..630beae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_ThirdParty/json
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 630beaeb05473986400c2d933d67171b3fb2d15d
diff --git a/_ThirdParty/nfd b/_ThirdParty/nfd
new file mode 160000
index 0000000..c9cc7ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_ThirdParty/nfd
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit c9cc7baf287f969686561674a555af5be7ac82b1
diff --git a/src/ProjectManifest.h b/src/ProjectManifest.h
index ae33c18..8a5e4e9 100644
--- a/src/ProjectManifest.h
+++ b/src/ProjectManifest.h
@@ -5,9 +5,12 @@
 #ifndef B_ENGINE_PROJECTMANIFEST_H
 #define B_ENGINE_PROJECTMANIFEST_H
 
-struct ProjectManifest
-{
+#include <string>
 
-};
+typedef struct
+{
+    std::string name;
+    std::string assetFolder;
+} ProjectManifest;
 
 #endif //B_ENGINE_PROJECTMANIFEST_H
diff --git a/src/ProjectManifestFile.cpp b/src/ProjectManifestFile.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f1b36b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ProjectManifestFile.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+//
+// Created by slinky on 5/14/26.
+//
+
+#include "ProjectManifestFile.h"
+
+#include <fstream>
+
+#include "spdlog/spdlog.h"
+#include "nlohmann/json.hpp"
+
+using json = nlohmann::json;
+
+std::unique_ptr<ProjectManifest> ProjectManifestFile::load(std::string_view _path) {
+    std::ifstream file;
+    file.open(_path.data(), std::ios::in);
+    if (!file.is_open()) {
+        spdlog::error("failed to open project file {}", _path);
+        return nullptr;
+    }
+
+    std::stringstream ss;
+    ss << file.rdbuf();
+
+    std::string fileData = ss.str();
+
+    auto data = json::parse(fileData);
+
+    ProjectManifest manifest;
+    manifest.name = data.at("name").get<std::string>();
+    manifest.assetFolder = data.at("assetFolder").get<std::string>();
+
+    return std::make_unique<ProjectManifest>(manifest);
+}
+
+bool ProjectManifestFile::save(std::string_view _path, ProjectManifest *_project) {
+    return true;
+}
diff --git a/src/ProjectManifestFile.h b/src/ProjectManifestFile.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..02538ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ProjectManifestFile.h
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+//
+// Created by slinky on 5/14/26.
+//
+
+#ifndef B_ENGINE_PROJECTMANIFESTFILE_H
+#define B_ENGINE_PROJECTMANIFESTFILE_H
+
+#include <string_view>
+#include <memory>
+
+#include "ProjectManifest.h"
+
+class ProjectManifestFile {
+public:
+    static std::unique_ptr<ProjectManifest> load(std::string_view _path);
+    static bool save(std::string_view _path, ProjectManifest* _project);
+};
+
+#endif //B_ENGINE_PROJECTMANIFESTFILE_H
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
index 910fca3..a9caeb1 100644
--- a/src/main.cpp
+++ b/src/main.cpp
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
 #include "FreeCameraController.h"
 #include "InputManager.h"
 #include "ModelManager.h"
+#include "ProjectManifest.h"
+#include "ProjectManifestFile.h"
 #include "Scene.h"
 #include "ShaderManager.h"
 #include "ShaderProgram.h"
@@ -26,6 +28,8 @@
 #include "ui/UISceneGraph.h"
 #include "ui/UISceneViewer.h"
 
+const char* B_ENGINE_VERSION = "v0.0.3";
+
 GLFWwindow* gWindow = nullptr;
 int gWindowWidth = 1920;
 int gWindowHeight = 1080;
@@ -37,6 +41,8 @@ float gAspectRatio = 0.f;
 
 float gMouseSensitivity = 0.1f;
 
+std::unique_ptr<ProjectManifest> gCurrentProject {nullptr};
+
 Camera gCamera {};
 Scene gScene{};
 EditorContext gEditorCtx{};
@@ -58,13 +64,14 @@ void load_default_models();
 void loop();
 
 void create_entity(entt::entity parent);
+void open_project(std::string_view _path);
 
 auto xAxis = glm::vec3{1.f, 0.f, 0.f};
 auto yAxis = glm::vec3{0.f, 1.f, 0.f};
 auto zAxis = glm::vec3{0.f, 0.f, 1.f};
 
 int main() {
-    spdlog::info("b_engine v0.0.3 start");
+    spdlog::info("b_engine {} start", B_ENGINE_VERSION);
 
     init_glfw();
 
@@ -83,8 +90,9 @@ int main() {
     load_default_models();
 
     UIManager::init(gWindow);
-    UIMenuBar* menuBar = UIManager::add_ui_panel<UIMenuBar>("menu_bar");
+    auto* menuBar = UIManager::add_ui_panel<UIMenuBar>("menu_bar");
     menuBar->create_entity = create_entity;
+    menuBar->open_project = open_project;
     UIManager::add_ui_panel<UISceneViewer>("scene_viewer");
     UIManager::add_ui_panel<UISceneGraph>("scene_graph");
     UIManager::add_ui_panel<UIEntityInspector>("entity_inspector");
@@ -142,7 +150,8 @@ void init_glfw()
 
 void create_main_window()
 {
-    gWindow = glfwCreateWindow(gWindowWidth, gWindowHeight, "b_engine v0.0.3", nullptr, nullptr);
+    std::string title = fmt::format("b_engine {}", B_ENGINE_VERSION);
+    gWindow = glfwCreateWindow(gWindowWidth, gWindowHeight, title.c_str(), nullptr, nullptr);
     if (!gWindow) {
         spdlog::error("failed to create glfw window");
         std::exit(1);
@@ -272,10 +281,12 @@ void loop() {
 }
 
 void create_entity(entt::entity parent) {
-    auto entity = gScene.create_game_object(parent);
-    auto& drawable = gScene.attach_component<Components::Drawable>(entity);
-    drawable.model = ModelManager::models["vette"];
-    auto& transform = gScene.fetch_component<Components::Transform>(entity);
-    transform.scale = {0.1, 0.1, 0.1};
-    transform.dirty = true;
+    gScene.create_game_object(parent);
+}
+
+void open_project(std::string_view _path) {
+    gCurrentProject = ProjectManifestFile::load(_path);
+
+    const std::string title = fmt::format("project \"{}\" | b_engine {}", gCurrentProject->name, B_ENGINE_VERSION);
+    glfwSetWindowTitle(gWindow, title.c_str());
 }
diff --git a/src/ui/UIMenuBar.cpp b/src/ui/UIMenuBar.cpp
index f888d41..f48cc45 100644
--- a/src/ui/UIMenuBar.cpp
+++ b/src/ui/UIMenuBar.cpp
@@ -4,16 +4,34 @@
 
 #include "UIMenuBar.h"
 #include "UIManager.h"
+#include "UISceneGraph.h"
 
 #include "imgui.h"
-#include "UISceneGraph.h"
+
+#include "nfd.h"
 
 void UIMenuBar::update(EditorContext &context) {
     if (ImGui::BeginMainMenuBar()) {
         if (ImGui::BeginMenu("File")) {
-            if (ImGui::MenuItem("New Scene")) {
+            if (ImGui::MenuItem("New Project")) {
             }
-            if (ImGui::MenuItem("Open Scene")) {
+            if (ImGui::MenuItem("Open Project")) {
+                NFD_Init();
+
+                nfdu8char_t *outPath;
+                nfdu8filteritem_t filters[1] = { { "b_engine project files", "json" } };
+                nfdopendialogu8args_t args = {0};
+                args.filterList = filters;
+                args.filterCount = 1;
+                nfdresult_t result = NFD_OpenDialogU8_With(&outPath, &args);
+
+                if (result == NFD_OKAY && open_project)
+                {
+                    open_project(outPath);
+                    NFD_FreePathU8(outPath);
+                }
+
+                NFD_Quit();
             }
             ImGui::Separator(); // Adds a visual line between sections
             if (ImGui::MenuItem("Save", "Ctrl+S")) {
diff --git a/src/ui/UIMenuBar.h b/src/ui/UIMenuBar.h
index f449e75..dcdb030 100644
--- a/src/ui/UIMenuBar.h
+++ b/src/ui/UIMenuBar.h
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ public:
     void update(EditorContext &context) override;
 
     std::function<void(entt::entity)> create_entity;
+    std::function<void(std::string_view path)> open_project;
 };