diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index af6e182..42e5785 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 .rspec_status
 .vscode/
 relaton/
+*.log
 
 *.gem
 
diff --git a/lib/metanorma/cli/collection_parser.rb b/lib/metanorma/cli/collection_parser.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6a39ec8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/metanorma/cli/collection_parser.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+require "yaml"
+
+module Metanorma
+  module Cli
+    class CollectionParser
+      def initialize(collection_file, options = {})
+        @options = options
+        @collection_file = collection_file.to_s
+      end
+
+      def self.parse(collection_file, options = {})
+        new(collection_file, options).parse
+      end
+
+      def parse
+        # puts merged_options(extract_options(yaml_content), options)
+        # puts options
+        # puts extract_options(yaml_content)
+
+        # extract out the options
+        # options = extract_options(yaml_content)
+        # puts options
+
+        # require "pry"
+        # binding.pry
+
+        # load the file
+        # metanorma_collection.render(options)
+
+        # pass it down to metanorma
+      end
+
+      def merged_options(base_options, prefered_options)
+        base_options.merge(prefered_options)
+      end
+
+      private
+
+      attr_reader :collection_file, :options
+
+      def yaml_content
+        @yaml_content ||= YAML.safe_load(File.read(collection_file))
+      end
+
+      def metanorma_collection
+        @metanorma_collection ||= Metanorma::Collection.parse(collection_file)
+      end
+
+      def extract_options(content_hash)
+        Hash.new.tap do |options|
+          options["coverpage"] ||= content_hash["cover"]
+          options["output_folder"] ||= content_hash["output_dir"]
+          options["format"] ||= content_hash["formats"]&.map(&:to_sym)
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/metanorma/cli/command.rb b/lib/metanorma/cli/command.rb
index 1d49870..abb2761 100644
--- a/lib/metanorma/cli/command.rb
+++ b/lib/metanorma/cli/command.rb
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 require "metanorma/cli/commands/config"
 require "metanorma/cli/commands/template_repo"
 require "metanorma/cli/commands/site"
+require "metanorma/cli/collection_parser"
 
 module Metanorma
   module Cli
@@ -66,11 +67,16 @@ def compile(file_name = nil)
 
       def collection(filename = nil)
         if filename
-          opts = options
-          opts[:format] &&= opts[:format].split(",").map &:to_sym
-          opts[:compile] = filter_compile_options(opts)
-          coll = Metanorma::Collection.parse filename
-          coll.render opts
+          # opts = options
+          # opts[:compile] = filter_compile_options(opts)
+          # coll = Metanorma::Collection.parse filename
+          # coll.render opts
+
+          col_options = options.dup
+          col_options[:compile] = filter_compile_options(col_options)
+          col_options[:format] &&= col_options[:format].split(",").map &:to_sym
+
+          Metanorma::Cli::CollectionParser.parse(filename, col_options)
         else UI.say("Need to specify a file to process")
         end
       rescue ArgumentError => e
diff --git a/spec/fixtures/collection_with_options.yml b/spec/fixtures/collection_with_options.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..41fd58e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/fixtures/collection_with_options.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+directives:
+  - documents-inline
+
+bibdata:
+  title:
+    - language: en
+      content: The International System of Units (SI)
+    - language: fr
+      content: Le Système international d’unités (SI)
+  type: collection
+  docid:
+    type: bipm
+    id: sibrochure
+  edition: 9
+  date:
+    - type: updated
+      value: "2019-05-20"
+  copyright:
+    owner:
+      name: Bureau International des Poids et Mesures
+      abbreviation: BIPM
+    from: 2019
+
+# TODO, was CLI option, not yet supported
+output_dir: bilingual-brochure
+
+# TODO, was CLI option, not yet supported
+formats:
+  - xml
+  - html
+  - presentation
+  - pdf
+
+manifest:
+  level: brochure
+  title: Brochure/Brochure
+
+  docref:
+    - fileref: site/documents/si-brochure-fr.xml
+      identifier: si-brochure-fr
+    - fileref: site/documents/si-brochure-en.xml
+      identifier: si-brochure-en
+
+
+  # TODO, not yet supported
+  # Option 1, specify built files
+  # Option 2, specify source if not built
+  # documents:  # was `docref`
+  #   - source: si-brochure-fr.adoc
+  #     identifier: si-brochure-fr
+  #
+  #     # was `fileref`
+  #     rendered: site/documents/si-brochure-fr.xml
+  #
+  #   - identifier: si-brochure-en
+  #     source: si-brochure-en.adoc
+  #     rendered: site/documents/si-brochure-en.xml
+  #
+# TODO, was CLI option, not yet supported
+cover: collection_cover.html
+
+prefatory-content:
+|
+
+
+final-content:
+|
diff --git a/spec/metanorma/cli/collection_parser_spec.rb b/spec/metanorma/cli/collection_parser_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..365e168
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/metanorma/cli/collection_parser_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+require "spec_helper"
+
+RSpec.describe Metanorma::Cli::CollectionParser do
+  describe ".parse" do
+    it "parse the options properly" do
+
+      Metanorma::Cli::CollectionParser.parse(sample_collection_file)
+    end
+  end
+
+  def sample_collection_file
+    @sample_collection_file ||= Metanorma::Cli.root_path.join(
+      "spec", "fixtures", "collection_with_options.yml"
+    )
+  end
+end
diff --git a/todo.md b/todo.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d057605
--- /dev/null
+++ b/todo.md
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+### Site generate with collection
+
+On the site generator configuration: we want to add an option/field, where
+a user can provide collection file as configuration.
+
+During site generation, we want the generator to take this into consideration
+and based on this we also want to the site generator to invoke the collection
+building happening.
+
+In the collection interface, we also want to support configuration options,
+instead of passing around we also want to be specified in form of data filed
+and use that one to pass it down to the metanorma xml
+
+### Todos
+
+- [ ] Add support for collection option parsing
+- [ ] Adopt the field changes for the collection
+- [ ] Define collection config in the generator
+- [ ] Invoke the parsing from the site generator
+- [ ] Adopt this interface in collection, maybe?