diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 7083cd9..ed29050 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -13,3 +13,4 @@ itertools = "0.11"
 log = "0.4"
 reqwest = { version = "0.11", features = ["blocking", "json"] }
 serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }
+serde_json = "1.0"
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 358fd22..994eb11 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 use clap::{Parser, Subcommand};
 use itertools::Itertools;
 use log::{debug, error, info};
+use serde::{Serialize, Deserialize};
 use std::env;
+use std::fs;
+use std::io::Read;
 use std::io::Write;
 use std::process::Stdio;
 use std::{process, collections::HashMap};
@@ -29,12 +32,17 @@ struct Cli {
 
 #[derive(Subcommand)]
 enum CliCommands {
+    // Show the details of the item
     Select {
-        // Show the details of the item
         title: Option<String>,
     },
 }
 
+#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize)]
+struct History {
+    history: Vec<String>,
+}
+
 
 fn main() {
     env_logger::init();
@@ -50,6 +58,64 @@ fn main() {
 }
 
 
+fn get_history() -> Vec<String> {
+    let file_path = "/tmp/bw-menu-history.json"; // TODO: use XDG paths
+
+    let read_file = fs::OpenOptions::new()
+        .read(true)
+        .open(file_path);
+
+    let json_str = match read_file {
+        Ok(mut file) => {
+            let mut content = String::new();
+            file.read_to_string(&mut content).expect("Failed to read file");
+            content
+        }
+        Err(_) => String::new(), // Return an empty string if the file cannot be opened
+    };
+
+    // Deserialize JSON string back into a Rust struct
+    let history: History = serde_json::from_str(&json_str).unwrap_or_else(|_| {
+        // Return a default Person with an empty history if deserialization fails
+        History {
+            history: Vec::new(),
+        }
+    });
+
+    history.history
+}
+
+
+fn save_history(entries: Vec<String>) {
+    let history = History {
+        history: entries,
+    };
+    let json_str = serde_json::to_string(&history).expect("Failed to serialize to JSON!");
+
+    let file_path = "/tmp/bw-menu-history.json"; // TODO: use XDG paths
+
+    // Write the JSON string to a file, overwriting it if it already exists
+    let mut file = fs::OpenOptions::new()
+        .write(true)
+        .truncate(true) // Ensure the file is truncated before writing
+        .create(true)
+        .open(file_path)
+        .expect("Failed to open file for writing!");
+
+    file.write_all(json_str.as_bytes()).expect("Failed to write to file!");
+}
+
+const MAX_HISTORY_LEN: usize = 5; // TODO: make configurable
+fn add_history(entry: &String) {
+    let mut history = get_history();
+    history.insert(0, entry.to_string());
+    if history.len() > MAX_HISTORY_LEN {
+        history = history[0..MAX_HISTORY_LEN].to_vec();
+    }
+    save_history(history);
+}
+
+
 // the flow is:
 // 1. bw-menu starts rofi in the script mode
 // 2. rofi calls bw-menu calls bw-menu to get a list of items to display
@@ -104,6 +170,7 @@ fn rofi() {
                         process::exit(1);
                     }
                 };
+                add_history(&rofi_info);
                 // 1: Selected an entry
                 if rofi_retv == 1 {
                     info!("copy password");