diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index d45f3fcd..60057f6f 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -3,3 +3,4 @@ build/
 node_modules
 pnpm-debug.log
 tup.config
+dist/
diff --git a/data/lib/index.ts b/data/lib/index.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fd6891eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data/lib/index.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+
+import path from 'path';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'url';
+import fs from 'fs';
+
+const __dirname = path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
+
+const libdir = path.join(__dirname, "../..");
+
+export type Type = {
+    num: number,
+    formeNum: number,
+    base: string,
+    forme: string,
+    sid: number
+};
+
+const species : Record<number, Type> = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(path.join(libdir, "species.json"), 'utf8'));
+
+const result = new Map<number, Type>();
+
+for (const entry of Object.values(species)) {
+    result.set(entry.sid, entry);
+}
+
+export default result;
+
diff --git a/data/lib/package.json b/data/lib/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ed201da9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data/lib/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+{
+    "name": "@smogon/sprite-data",
+    "private": "true",
+    "type": "module",
+    "devDependencies": {
+        "typescript": "^3.9.7"
+    },
+    "dependencies": {
+        "@types/node": "^14.0.23"
+    },
+    "main": "./dist/index.js"
+}
diff --git a/data/lib/tsconfig.json b/data/lib/tsconfig.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e844c6fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data/lib/tsconfig.json
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+{
+    "extends": "../../tsconfig-base",
+    "compilerOptions": {
+        "outDir": "dist"
+    }
+}
diff --git a/newsrc/species.json b/data/species.json
similarity index 100%
rename from newsrc/species.json
rename to data/species.json
diff --git a/pnpm-lock.yaml b/pnpm-lock.yaml
index 286cafc6..0d84f473 100644
--- a/pnpm-lock.yaml
+++ b/pnpm-lock.yaml
@@ -1,4 +1,12 @@
 importers:
+  data/lib:
+    dependencies:
+      '@types/node': 14.0.23
+    devDependencies:
+      typescript: 3.9.7
+    specifiers:
+      '@types/node': ^14.0.23
+      typescript: ^3.9.7
   tools/deflopt:
     specifiers: {}
   tools/deploy:
@@ -31,6 +39,10 @@ importers:
       debug: ^4.1.1
 lockfileVersion: 5.1
 packages:
+  /@types/node/14.0.23:
+    dev: false
+    resolution:
+      integrity: sha512-Z4U8yDAl5TFkmYsZdFPdjeMa57NOvnaf1tljHzhouaPEp7LCj2JKkejpI1ODviIAQuW4CcQmxkQ77rnLsOOoKw==
   /ajv/6.12.0:
     dependencies:
       fast-deep-equal: 3.1.1
@@ -1026,6 +1038,13 @@ packages:
     dev: false
     resolution:
       integrity: sha1-hnrHTjhkGHsdPUfZlqeOxciDB3c=
+  /typescript/3.9.7:
+    dev: true
+    engines:
+      node: '>=4.2.0'
+    hasBin: true
+    resolution:
+      integrity: sha512-BLbiRkiBzAwsjut4x/dsibSTB6yWpwT5qWmC2OfuCg3GgVQCSgMs4vEctYPhsaGtd0AeuuHMkjZ2h2WG8MSzRw==
   /uniq/1.0.1:
     dev: false
     resolution:
diff --git a/pnpm-workspace.yaml b/pnpm-workspace.yaml
index ac9570f0..82b1985c 100644
--- a/pnpm-workspace.yaml
+++ b/pnpm-workspace.yaml
@@ -4,3 +4,4 @@ packages:
     - 'tools/deploy'
     - 'tools/deflopt'
     - 'tools/trim'
+    - "data/lib"
diff --git a/tsconfig-base.json b/tsconfig-base.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..43b6acb4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tsconfig-base.json
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+{
+    "compilerOptions": {
+        "incremental": true,
+        "target": "es2018",
+        "lib": ["es2018"],
+        "module": "esnext",
+        "jsx": "react",
+        "strict": true,
+        "moduleResolution": "node",
+        "esModuleInterop": true,
+        "isolatedModules": true,
+        "composite": true
+    }
+}