diff --git a/cache.go b/cache.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c139306
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cache.go
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+// I put this here to look at and think about
+// from mod/sumdb/cache.go
+
+// Parallel cache.
+// This file is copied from cmd/go/internal/par.
+
+package forgepb
+
+import (
+	"sync"
+	"sync/atomic"
+)
+
+// parCache runs an action once per key and caches the result.
+type parCache struct {
+	m sync.Map
+}
+
+type cacheEntry struct {
+	done   uint32
+	mu     sync.Mutex
+	result interface{}
+}
+
+// Do calls the function f if and only if Do is being called for the first time with this key.
+// No call to Do with a given key returns until the one call to f returns.
+// Do returns the value returned by the one call to f.
+func (c *parCache) Do(key interface{}, f func() interface{}) interface{} {
+	entryIface, ok := c.m.Load(key)
+	if !ok {
+		entryIface, _ = c.m.LoadOrStore(key, new(cacheEntry))
+	}
+	e := entryIface.(*cacheEntry)
+	if atomic.LoadUint32(&e.done) == 0 {
+		e.mu.Lock()
+		if atomic.LoadUint32(&e.done) == 0 {
+			e.result = f()
+			atomic.StoreUint32(&e.done, 1)
+		}
+		e.mu.Unlock()
+	}
+	return e.result
+}
+
+// Get returns the cached result associated with key.
+// It returns nil if there is no such result.
+// If the result for key is being computed, Get does not wait for the computation to finish.
+func (c *parCache) Get(key interface{}) interface{} {
+	entryIface, ok := c.m.Load(key)
+	if !ok {
+		return nil
+	}
+	e := entryIface.(*cacheEntry)
+	if atomic.LoadUint32(&e.done) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return e.result
+}
diff --git a/init.go b/init.go
index 0f400f8..874439c 100644
--- a/init.go
+++ b/init.go
@@ -24,6 +24,10 @@ func init() {
 
 func Init() *Forge {
 	f := new(Forge)
+
+	// cache.go has Do()
+	// f.initOnce.Do(f.initWork)
+
 	f.Config = new(ForgeConfigs)
 
 	// load the ~/.config/forge/ config
diff --git a/structs.go b/structs.go
index 05ed89e..34550b5 100644
--- a/structs.go
+++ b/structs.go
@@ -1,12 +1,18 @@
 package forgepb
 
 import (
+	sync "sync"
+
 	"go.wit.com/lib/protobuf/gitpb"
 	"go.wit.com/lib/protobuf/zoopb"
 )
 
 // maybe an interface someday?
 type Forge struct {
+	// one-time initialized data
+	initOnce sync.Once
+	initErr  error // init error, if any
+
 	goSrc   string        // the path to go/src
 	Config  *ForgeConfigs // config repos for readonly, private, etc
 	Repos   *gitpb.Repos