diff --git a/crates/oxide_parser/src/error.rs b/crates/oxide_parser/src/error.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..52acb081
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/oxide_parser/src/error.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+use std::fmt;
+
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+pub struct OxideError {
+    pub message: String,
+    pub span: (usize, usize),
+}
+
+impl fmt::Display for OxideError {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
+        write!(f, "{} at {:?}", self.message, self.span)
+    }
+}
+
+impl std::error::Error for OxideError {}
+
+impl From<oxc_diagnostics::OxcDiagnostic> for OxideError {
+    fn from(diag: oxc_diagnostics::OxcDiagnostic) -> Self {
+        let span = diag
+            .labels
+            .clone()
+            .and_then(|labels| labels.first().map(|l| (l.offset() as usize, (l.offset() + l.len()) as usize)))
+            .unwrap_or((0, 0));
+
+        OxideError {
+            message: diag.message.to_string(),
+            span,
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/oxide_parser/src/lib.rs b/crates/oxide_parser/src/lib.rs
index 8ece1ad3..89f347c3 100644
--- a/crates/oxide_parser/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/oxide_parser/src/lib.rs
@@ -1 +1,29 @@
 #![doc = "OxideJS - JavaScript parser (oxc_parser re-export)"]
+
+mod error;
+
+pub use error::OxideError;
+pub use oxc_allocator::Allocator;
+pub use oxc_ast::ast::*;
+pub use oxc_span::Span;
+
+pub fn parse<'a>(allocator: &'a Allocator, source: &'a str) -> Result<Program<'a>, Vec<OxideError>> {
+    use oxc_parser::Parser;
+    use oxc_span::SourceType;
+
+    let source_type = SourceType::default();
+    let ret = Parser::new(allocator, source, source_type).parse();
+
+    if ret.panicked {
+        return Err(vec![OxideError {
+            message: "Parser panicked: unrecoverable syntax error".to_string(),
+            span: (0, 0),
+        }]);
+    }
+
+    if !ret.errors.is_empty() {
+        return Err(ret.errors.into_iter().map(OxideError::from).collect());
+    }
+
+    Ok(ret.program)
+}
diff --git a/crates/oxide_parser/tests/parse_smoke.rs b/crates/oxide_parser/tests/parse_smoke.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..47cc7006
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/oxide_parser/tests/parse_smoke.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+use oxide_parser::Allocator;
+
+#[test]
+fn parse_simple_expression() {
+    let allocator = Allocator::default();
+    let result = oxide_parser::parse(&allocator, "1 + 2");
+    assert!(result.is_ok(), "1+2 should parse successfully");
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn parse_empty_string() {
+    let allocator = Allocator::default();
+    let result = oxide_parser::parse(&allocator, "");
+    assert!(result.is_ok(), "empty string should parse");
+    let program = result.unwrap();
+    assert!(program.body.is_empty(), "empty program should have empty body");
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn parse_function_declaration() {
+    let allocator = Allocator::default();
+    let result = oxide_parser::parse(&allocator, "function foo() { return 42; }");
+    assert!(result.is_ok(), "function declaration should parse");
+    let program = result.unwrap();
+    assert!(!program.body.is_empty(), "program with function should not be empty");
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn parse_syntax_error() {
+    let allocator = Allocator::default();
+    let result = oxide_parser::parse(&allocator, "function(");
+    assert!(result.is_err(), "syntax error should return Err");
+    let errors = result.unwrap_err();
+    assert!(!errors.is_empty(), "syntax error should produce at least one error");
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn parse_variable_declaration() {
+    let allocator = Allocator::default();
+    let result = oxide_parser::parse(&allocator, "var x = 42;");
+    assert!(result.is_ok(), "variable declaration should parse");
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn parse_multiple_statements() {
+    let allocator = Allocator::default();
+    let result = oxide_parser::parse(
+        &allocator,
+        "var a = 1; var b = 2; var c = a + b;",
+    );
+    assert!(result.is_ok(), "multiple statements should parse");
+    let program = result.unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(program.body.len(), 3, "should have 3 statements");
+}