diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 36e5ea32b..14350e624 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 
 add_subdirectory(serac)
 add_subdirectory(drivers)
+add_subdirectory(tools)
 
 if (ENABLE_DOCS)
     add_subdirectory(docs)
diff --git a/src/tools/CMakeLists.txt b/src/tools/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d4d572ef6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tools/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# Copyright (c) 2019-2024, Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC and
+# other Serac Project Developers. See the top-level LICENSE file for
+# details.
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: (BSD-3-Clause)
+
+blt_add_executable(NAME       partitioner
+                   SOURCES    partitioner.cpp
+                   DEPENDS_ON serac_mesh)
diff --git a/src/tools/partitioner.cpp b/src/tools/partitioner.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..28343f998
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tools/partitioner.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2019-2024, Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC and
+// other Serac Project Developers. See the top-level LICENSE file for
+// details.
+//
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: (BSD-3-Clause)
+
+#include <thread>
+#include <fstream>
+
+#include "mfem.hpp"
+
+#include "axom/CLI11.hpp"
+#include "axom/core/utilities/Timer.hpp"
+
+#include "serac/mesh/mesh_utils.hpp"
+#include "serac/serac_config.hpp"
+
+using timer = axom::utilities::Timer;
+
+// partition the range {0, 1, 2, ... , n - 1} into
+// `num_blocks` roughly equal-sized contiguous chunks
+std::vector<uint32_t> partition_range(uint32_t n, uint32_t num_blocks)
+{
+  uint32_t quotient  = n / num_blocks;
+  uint32_t remainder = n % num_blocks;
+
+  std::vector<uint32_t> blocks(num_blocks + 1);
+  if (blocks.size() > 0) {
+    blocks[0] = 0;
+    for (uint32_t i = 1; i < num_blocks + 1; i++) {
+      if (remainder > 0) {
+        blocks[i] = blocks[i - 1] + quotient + 1;
+        remainder--;
+      } else {
+        blocks[i] = blocks[i - 1] + quotient;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  return blocks;
+}
+
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+int main(int argc, char* argv[])
+{
+  axom::CLI::App app{"a tool for partitioning large meshes into smaller parts suitable for MPI"};
+
+  std::string input_mesh;
+  app.add_option("-i, --input-mesh", input_mesh, "Input file to use")->required()->check(axom::CLI::ExistingFile);
+
+  std::string output_prefix;
+  app.add_option("-o, --output-prefix", output_prefix, "Prefix for output meshes")->required();
+
+  uint32_t num_parts = 4;
+  app.add_option("-n, --num_parts", num_parts, "number of partitions to generate");
+
+  uint32_t num_threads = 1;
+  // this is disabled temporarily, as it seems mfem's implementation is not thread safe
+  // app.add_option("-j, --num_threads", num_threads, "number of partitions to generate");
+
+  CLI11_PARSE(app, argc, argv);
+
+  timer stopwatch;
+
+  std::cout << "reading in mesh file ... ";
+  stopwatch.start();
+  std::ifstream infile(input_mesh);
+  mfem::Mesh    mesh(infile);
+  stopwatch.stop();
+  std::cout << "completed after " << stopwatch.elapsed() * 1000.0 << "ms" << std::endl;
+
+  std::cout << "partitioning mesh into " << num_parts << " pieces ... ";
+  stopwatch.start();
+  int* partitioning = mesh.GeneratePartitioning(int(num_parts));
+  stopwatch.stop();
+  std::cout << "completed after " << stopwatch.elapsed() * 1000.0 << "ms" << std::endl;
+
+  mfem::MeshPartitioner partitioner(mesh, int(num_parts), partitioning);
+
+  timer fileio;
+  fileio.start();
+  std::vector<uint32_t> chunks = partition_range(num_parts, num_threads);
+
+  std::vector<std::thread> threads;
+  for (uint32_t k = 0; k < num_threads; k++) {
+    threads.push_back(std::thread(
+        [&](uint32_t tid) {
+          mfem::MeshPart mesh_part;
+          for (uint32_t i = chunks[tid]; i < chunks[tid + 1]; i++) {
+            std::string filename = mfem::MakeParFilename(output_prefix + ".mesh.", int(i));
+            if (num_threads == 1) {
+              std::cout << "extracting part " << i << " and writing it to " << filename << " ... ";
+            }
+            stopwatch.start();
+            partitioner.ExtractPart(int(i), mesh_part);
+            std::ofstream f(filename);
+            f.precision(16);
+            mesh_part.Print(f);
+            stopwatch.stop();
+            if (num_threads == 1) {
+              std::cout << "completed after " << stopwatch.elapsed() * 1000.0 << "ms" << std::endl;
+            }
+          }
+        },
+        k));
+  }
+
+  for (auto& thread : threads) {
+    thread.join();
+  }
+
+  fileio.stop();
+  std::cout << "writing files to disk took " << fileio.elapsed() * 1000.0 << "ms total" << std::endl;
+
+  delete partitioning;
+}