diff --git a/rmw_cyclonedds_cpp/src/CDR.hpp b/rmw_cyclonedds_cpp/src/CDR.hpp
index 92a5612d..485cdca9 100644
--- a/rmw_cyclonedds_cpp/src/CDR.hpp
+++ b/rmw_cyclonedds_cpp/src/CDR.hpp
@@ -4,11 +4,15 @@
 #ifndef ROS2_MASTER_CDR_HPP
 #define ROS2_MASTER_CDR_HPP
 
+#include <array>
 #include <cstddef>
 #include <cstdint>
+
+#include "bytewise.hpp"
 namespace rmw_cyclonedds_cpp
 {
-enum class EncodingVersion {
+enum class EncodingVersion
+{
   CDR_Legacy,
   CDR1,
   CDR2,
@@ -32,7 +36,8 @@ struct DelimiterHeaderData
 };
 
 /// aka LC
-enum class LengthCode {
+enum class LengthCode
+{
   Bytes1 = 0,
   Bytes2 = 1,
   Bytes4 = 2,
@@ -56,7 +61,7 @@ class CDREncodingInfo
   EncodingVersion m_version;
 
 public:
-  explicit CDREncodingInfo(EncodingVersion version) { m_version = version; }
+  explicit CDREncodingInfo(EncodingVersion version) {m_version = version;}
 
   size_t max_align() const
   {
diff --git a/rmw_cyclonedds_cpp/src/Deserialization.cpp b/rmw_cyclonedds_cpp/src/Deserialization.cpp
index 1c76a09a..2d4156e4 100644
--- a/rmw_cyclonedds_cpp/src/Deserialization.cpp
+++ b/rmw_cyclonedds_cpp/src/Deserialization.cpp
@@ -15,22 +15,26 @@
 
 #include "CDR.hpp"
 #include "CDRCursor.hpp"
+
 namespace rmw_cyclonedds_cpp
 {
 class CDRReader : public AbstractCDRReader
 {
 protected:
+  std::unique_ptr<StructValueType> m_value_type;
   CDREncodingInfo m_cdr;
 
 public:
   explicit CDRReader(std::unique_ptr<StructValueType> value_type)
-  : m_cdr{EncodingVersion::CDR_Legacy}
-  {
-    std::ignore = (value_type);  //todo
-  }
+  : m_cdr{EncodingVersion::CDR_Legacy},
+    m_value_type{std::move(value_type)}
+  {}
 
   void deserialize_top_level(
-    void * destination_object, const void * data, const StructValueType * ts);
+    void * destination_object, const void * data, const StructValueType * ts)
+  {
+
+  }
 
   uint32_t read_u32(CDRReadCursor * data_cursor)
   {
@@ -64,10 +68,12 @@ class CDRReader : public AbstractCDRReader
     vt.assign(destination_object, static_cast<const uint16_t *>(data_cursor->position), size);
   }
 
-  void deserialize(void * destination_object, const ArrayValueType & vt, CDRReadCursor * data_cursor)
+  void deserialize(
+    void * destination_object, const ArrayValueType & vt,
+    CDRReadCursor * data_cursor)
   {
-    for (size_t i=0; i<vt.array_size(); i++) {
-      void * dest = byte_offset(destination_object,i*vt.element_value_type()->sizeof_type());
+    for (size_t i = 0; i < vt.array_size(); i++) {
+      void * dest = byte_offset(destination_object, i * vt.element_value_type()->sizeof_type());
       deserialize(dest, vt.element_value_type(), data_cursor);
     }
   }
@@ -78,8 +84,8 @@ class CDRReader : public AbstractCDRReader
     size_t size = read_u32(data_cursor);
     vt.resize(destination_object, size);
     void * sequence_contents = vt.sequence_contents(destination_object);
-    for (size_t i=0; i<size; i++) {
-      void * dest = byte_offset(sequence_contents, i*vt.element_value_type()->sizeof_type());
+    for (size_t i = 0; i < size; i++) {
+      void * dest = byte_offset(sequence_contents, i * vt.element_value_type()->sizeof_type());
       deserialize(dest, vt.element_value_type(), data_cursor);
     }
   }
@@ -123,4 +129,4 @@ class CDRReader : public AbstractCDRReader
     }
   }
 };
-}  // namespace rmw_cyclonedds_cpp
\ No newline at end of file
+}  // namespace rmw_cyclonedds_cpp
diff --git a/rmw_cyclonedds_cpp/src/Deserialization.hpp b/rmw_cyclonedds_cpp/src/Deserialization.hpp
index 753a0ae3..e6b442a3 100644
--- a/rmw_cyclonedds_cpp/src/Deserialization.hpp
+++ b/rmw_cyclonedds_cpp/src/Deserialization.hpp
@@ -14,13 +14,18 @@
 #ifndef ROS2_MASTER_DESERIALIZATION_HPP
 #define ROS2_MASTER_DESERIALIZATION_HPP
 
+#include "CDR.hpp"
 #include "TypeSupport2.hpp"
 #include "serdata.hpp"
 namespace rmw_cyclonedds_cpp
 {
 
-void deserialize_top_level(
-  void * destination_object, const void * data, const StructValueType * ts);
+void deserialize_top_level(void * destination_object, const void * data, const StructValueType * ts)
+{
+  EncapsulationHeader enc_hdr; // todo
+  // todo: create deserialization stream using the encapsulation header (endian, eversion)
+  // todo: pull data out of that stream, structurally recursing on data and types
+}
 
 class AbstractCDRReader
 {