diff --git a/slurp b/slurp
index acb6b5f83ff..b23f1da6a49 100755
--- a/slurp
+++ b/slurp
@@ -17,60 +17,24 @@
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with Ansible.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
-import sys
-import os
-import shlex
 import base64
-import syslog
 
-try:
-   import json
-except ImportError:
-   import simplejson as json
+# this is magic, see lib/ansible/module_common.py
+#<<INCLUDE_ANSIBLE_MODULE_COMMON>>
 
-# ===========================================
-# convert arguments of form a=b c=d
-# to a dictionary
+module = AnsibleModule(
+    argument_spec = dict(
+        src=(None,True),
+    )
+)
+source = module.params['src']
 
-if len(sys.argv) == 1:
-    sys.exit(1)
-argfile = sys.argv[1]
-if not os.path.exists(argfile):
-    sys.exit(1)
-
-args = open(argfile, 'r').read()
-items = shlex.split(args)
-syslog.openlog('ansible-%s' % os.path.basename(__file__))
-syslog.syslog(syslog.LOG_NOTICE, 'Invoked with %s' % args)
-
-params = {}
-for x in items:
-    (k, v) = x.split("=")
-    params[k] = v
-source  = os.path.expanduser(params['src'])
-
-# ==========================================
- 
-# raise an error if there is no template metadata
 if not os.path.exists(source):
-    print json.dumps(dict(
-        failed = 1,
-        msg    = "file not found: %s" % source
-    ))
-    sys.exit(1)
-
+    module.fail_json(msg="file not found: %s" % source)
 if not os.access(source, os.R_OK):
-    print json.dumps(dict(
-        failed = 1,
-        msg    = "file is not readable: %s" % source
-    ))
-    sys.exit(1)
+    module.fail_json(msg="file is not readable: %s" % source)
 
-# ==========================================
+data = base64.b64encode(file(source).read())
 
-data = file(source).read()
-data = base64.b64encode(data)
-
-print json.dumps(dict(content=data, encoding='base64'))
-sys.exit(0)
+module.exit_json(content=data, encoding='base64')