diff --git a/patterns/protobuf.hexpat b/patterns/protobuf.hexpat
index 4e36b61..f37f0d4 100644
--- a/patterns/protobuf.hexpat
+++ b/patterns/protobuf.hexpat
@@ -1,12 +1,25 @@
-#pragma author WerWolv
+#pragma author WerWolv and Glenn Hartmann
 #pragma description Google Protobuf wire encoding (.pb)
 
+#pragma MIME application/protobuf
+#pragma MIME application/vnd.google.protobuf
+
+#pragma endian little
+
 import std.core;
 import std.io;
 import std.mem;
+import std.string;
+import std.sys;
 
 import type.leb128;
 
+// Attempting to recursively parse submessages is a guess-and-check process
+// since it's inherently impossible to tell for sure what type a
+// LengthDelimited field is. This could be imprecise and could be slow for
+// large or ambiguous files, so we give the user an option to disable it.
+bool disable_recursive_submessage_parsing in;
+
 struct ZigZag32 {
     u32 value;
 } [[sealed, format("format_zigzag32")]];
@@ -32,7 +45,6 @@ enum WireType : u8 {
     _32Bit          = 5
 };
 
-
 struct Key {
     type::uLEB128 keyDec;
     u32 field_number = u32(keyDec) >> 3;
@@ -55,23 +67,55 @@ union _32Bit {
     float flt;
 };
 
+using Field;
+
+struct Message<auto Size> {
+    Field fields[while(!std::mem::reached(addressof(this) + Size))];
+};
+
+struct Utf8String<auto Length> {
+    char data[Length];
+} [[sealed, format("std::string::impl::format_string"), transform("std::string::impl::format_string")]];
+
+union _LengthDelimitedData<auto Length> {
+    u8 bytes[Length];
+    Utf8String<Length> utf8;
+
+    if (!disable_recursive_submessage_parsing) {
+        try {
+            // Attempt to parse binary data as an embedded Message. This is
+            // expected to fail often, as the proto format uses LengthDelimited
+            // for several different data types.
+            Message<Length> msg;
+            std::assert(sizeof(msg) == Length, "Attempted parse of Message consumed wrong number of bytes.");
+        }
+    }
+};
+
 struct LengthDelimited {
     type::uLEB128 length;
-    char data[length];
+
+    std::assert($ + length <= std::mem::size(), "Attempting to parse _LengthDelimitedData would exceed file length.");
+    _LengthDelimitedData<length> data;
 };
 
+union _LEB128 {
+    type::uLEB128 uLEB128;
+    type::sLEB128 sLEB128; // NOTE: the signed version doesn't seem to be working properly
+};
 
-struct Entry {
+struct Field {
     Key key;
 
-    if (key.wire_type == WireType::Varint)
-    type::uLEB128 value;
-    else if (key.wire_type == WireType::_64Bit)
-    _64Bit value;
-    else if (key.wire_type == WireType::LengthDelimited)
-    LengthDelimited value;
-    else if (key.wire_type == WireType::_32Bit)
-    _32Bit value;
+    match (key.wire_type) {
+        (WireType::Varint): _LEB128 value;
+        (WireType::_64Bit): _64Bit value;
+        (WireType::LengthDelimited): LengthDelimited value;
+        (WireType::_32Bit): _32Bit value;
+        (WireType::StartGroup | WireType::EndGroup): std::unimplemented();
+        (_): std::error("Unknown WireType.");
+    }
 };
 
-Entry entries[while(!std::mem::eof())] @ 0x00;
\ No newline at end of file
+Message<std::mem::size()> msg @ 0x00;
+std::assert(std::mem::eof(), "Parsing did not consume whole file.");