diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index bc5ed4e..d161f5c 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -7,4 +7,6 @@
 # Unignore all dirs
 !*/
 
+!Makefile
+
 *.o
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/day 1/Makefile b/day 1/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..82c1ff0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/day 1/Makefile	
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+# select all cpp files, for future use
+SRC := ${wildcard *.c}
+BIN := $(SRC:.c=)
+
+# -pedantic means using gnu extentions will throw an error
+# this allows for better code portability between compilers
+CFLAGS := -std=c17
+CFLAGS_ERRORS := -Werror -Wall -Wextra -Wconversion -Wdouble-promotion -Wunreachable-code -Wshadow -Wpedantic -pedantic-errors -pedantic
+
+# debug is enabled by default
+# debug can be disabled with `make DEBUG=0`
+DEBUG := 1
+
+ifeq ($(DEBUG),1)
+# -Og compiles with debug specific optimizations
+# -g3 compiles with max debug information
+	CFLAGS += -Og -g3
+else
+# -O3 compiles with extreme optimizations for performance
+# -flto compiles with link time optimizations (LTO), supposed to improve performance by ~5%
+	CFLAGS += -O3 -flto
+# -s when run on the linker will strip out debug symbols for a smaller file size
+	LDFLAGS += -s -flto
+endif
+
+# I believe using c++ is better since not every installation has gcc
+# this can always be overridden with `make CC=gcc` if needed
+CC := cc
+
+all: $(BIN)
+
+.c:
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(CFLAGS_ERRORS) $(LDFLAGS) -o $@ $^
+
+clean:
+	$(DEL) $(TARGET) $(OBJ)
+
+.PHONY: clean