diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e2a644a..b0b7373 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -9,3 +9,32 @@ Install via npm:
 ```sh
 npm i @sebalon/scripting
 ```
+
+Then import the functions you need into your scripts.
+
+```ts
+import { /* ... */ } from '@sebalon/scripting';
+```
+
+### Shell
+
+Run shell commands using `sh`. It returns a `Promise` for the command's output.
+
+```ts
+const output = await sh('echo hello');
+// => 'hello'
+```
+
+By default, leading and trailing whitespace is trimmed from the output. You can disable this by passing `trim: false` in the options.
+
+```ts
+const output = await sh('echo hello', { trim: false });
+// => 'hello\n'
+```
+
+If you also need to inspect `stderr`, use `exec` which is the promisified version of [Node's `child_process.exec`](https://nodejs.org/api/child_process.html#child_processexeccommand-options-callback).
+
+```ts
+const output = await exec('echo hello');
+// => { stdout: 'hello\n', stderr: '' }
+```
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 9a7e464..ee21021 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -12,11 +12,13 @@
         "@comicrelief/eslint-config": "^2.0.3",
         "@istanbuljs/nyc-config-typescript": "^1.0.2",
         "@types/chai": "^4.3.4",
+        "@types/chai-as-promised": "^7.1.5",
         "@types/mocha": "^10.0.1",
         "@types/node": "^18.15.13",
         "@typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin": "^5.59.0",
         "@typescript-eslint/parser": "^5.59.0",
         "chai": "^4.3.7",
+        "chai-as-promised": "^7.1.1",
         "eslint": "^8.38.0",
         "eslint-plugin-import": "^2.27.5",
         "eslint-plugin-jsdoc": "^39.9.1",
@@ -1343,6 +1345,15 @@
       "integrity": "sha512-KnRanxnpfpjUTqTCXslZSEdLfXExwgNxYPdiO2WGUj8+HDjFi8R3k5RVKPeSCzLjCcshCAtVO2QBbVuAV4kTnw==",
       "dev": true
     },
+    "node_modules/@types/chai-as-promised": {
+      "version": "7.1.5",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/@types/chai-as-promised/-/chai-as-promised-7.1.5.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-jStwss93SITGBwt/niYrkf2C+/1KTeZCZl1LaeezTlqppAKeoQC7jxyqYuP72sxBGKCIbw7oHgbYssIRzT5FCQ==",
+      "dev": true,
+      "dependencies": {
+        "@types/chai": "*"
+      }
+    },
     "node_modules/@types/json-schema": {
       "version": "7.0.11",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/@types/json-schema/-/json-schema-7.0.11.tgz",
@@ -2121,6 +2132,18 @@
         "node": ">=4"
       }
     },
+    "node_modules/chai-as-promised": {
+      "version": "7.1.1",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/chai-as-promised/-/chai-as-promised-7.1.1.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-azL6xMoi+uxu6z4rhWQ1jbdUhOMhis2PvscD/xjLqNMkv3BPPp2JyyuTHOrf9BOosGpNQ11v6BKv/g57RXbiaA==",
+      "dev": true,
+      "dependencies": {
+        "check-error": "^1.0.2"
+      },
+      "peerDependencies": {
+        "chai": ">= 2.1.2 < 5"
+      }
+    },
     "node_modules/chalk": {
       "version": "4.1.2",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/chalk/-/chalk-4.1.2.tgz",
@@ -12750,6 +12773,15 @@
       "integrity": "sha512-KnRanxnpfpjUTqTCXslZSEdLfXExwgNxYPdiO2WGUj8+HDjFi8R3k5RVKPeSCzLjCcshCAtVO2QBbVuAV4kTnw==",
       "dev": true
     },
+    "@types/chai-as-promised": {
+      "version": "7.1.5",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/@types/chai-as-promised/-/chai-as-promised-7.1.5.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-jStwss93SITGBwt/niYrkf2C+/1KTeZCZl1LaeezTlqppAKeoQC7jxyqYuP72sxBGKCIbw7oHgbYssIRzT5FCQ==",
+      "dev": true,
+      "requires": {
+        "@types/chai": "*"
+      }
+    },
     "@types/json-schema": {
       "version": "7.0.11",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/@types/json-schema/-/json-schema-7.0.11.tgz",
@@ -13294,6 +13326,15 @@
         "type-detect": "^4.0.5"
       }
     },
+    "chai-as-promised": {
+      "version": "7.1.1",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/chai-as-promised/-/chai-as-promised-7.1.1.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-azL6xMoi+uxu6z4rhWQ1jbdUhOMhis2PvscD/xjLqNMkv3BPPp2JyyuTHOrf9BOosGpNQ11v6BKv/g57RXbiaA==",
+      "dev": true,
+      "requires": {
+        "check-error": "^1.0.2"
+      }
+    },
     "chalk": {
       "version": "4.1.2",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/chalk/-/chalk-4.1.2.tgz",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 41d3a57..704f639 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -28,11 +28,13 @@
     "@comicrelief/eslint-config": "^2.0.3",
     "@istanbuljs/nyc-config-typescript": "^1.0.2",
     "@types/chai": "^4.3.4",
+    "@types/chai-as-promised": "^7.1.5",
     "@types/mocha": "^10.0.1",
     "@types/node": "^18.15.13",
     "@typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin": "^5.59.0",
     "@typescript-eslint/parser": "^5.59.0",
     "chai": "^4.3.7",
+    "chai-as-promised": "^7.1.1",
     "eslint": "^8.38.0",
     "eslint-plugin-import": "^2.27.5",
     "eslint-plugin-jsdoc": "^39.9.1",
diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index ece7aae..033bc73 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -1,8 +1 @@
-/**
- * Returns a greeting.
- *
- * @param name Optional name to greet.
- */
-export function greet(name?: string): string {
-  return `Hello ${name || 'world'}!`;
-}
+export * from './shell';
diff --git a/src/shell.ts b/src/shell.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ed51ffc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/shell.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+import { ExecOptions, exec as execWithCallback } from 'child_process';
+import { promisify } from 'util';
+
+/**
+ * Promisified version of `child_process.exec`.
+ *
+ * Executes `command` within a shell and return an object containing stdout and
+ * stderr, or throws an error if `command` completes with a non-zero exit code.
+ *
+ * See the official Node documentation here for more details:
+ * https://nodejs.org/api/child_process.html#child_processexeccommand-options-callback
+ *
+ * ```ts
+ * import { exec } from '@sebalon/scripting';
+ *
+ * const output = await exec('echo hello');
+ * // => { stdout: 'hello\n', stderr: '' }
+ * ```
+ */
+export const exec = promisify(execWithCallback);
+
+/**
+ * Options for `sh`.
+ */
+export type ShOptions = ExecOptions & {
+  /**
+   * Trim leading and trailing whitespace from the output.
+   *
+   * Default: true
+   */
+  trim?: boolean;
+};
+
+/**
+ * Executes `command` within a shell and returns its output (stdout), or throws
+ * an error if `command` completes with a non-zero exit code.
+ *
+ * ```ts
+ * import { sh } from '@sebalon/scripting';
+ *
+ * const output = await sh('echo hello');
+ * // => 'hello'
+ * ```
+ *
+ * @param command Command to run.
+ * @param options Options to be passed to `exec`.
+ */
+export async function sh(command: string, options?: ShOptions): Promise<string> {
+  const result = await exec(command, options);
+  let output = result.stdout.toString();
+  if (options?.trim ?? true) {
+    output = output.trim();
+  }
+  return output;
+}
diff --git a/tests/greet.spec.ts b/tests/greet.spec.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 6e6196b..0000000
--- a/tests/greet.spec.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
-import { expect } from 'chai';
-
-import { greet } from '@/src';
-
-describe('greet', () => {
-  context('with a name specified', () => {
-    it('should greet that name', () => {
-      expect(greet('TypeScript')).to.equal('Hello TypeScript!');
-    });
-  });
-
-  context('without a name specified', () => {
-    it('should greet the world', () => {
-      expect(greet()).to.equal('Hello world!');
-    });
-  });
-});
diff --git a/tests/setup.ts b/tests/setup.ts
index 3031cd6..1d48d69 100644
--- a/tests/setup.ts
+++ b/tests/setup.ts
@@ -1 +1,4 @@
-// add test setup here, e.g. load dotenv, register chai plugins, ...
+import chai from 'chai';
+import chaiAsPromised from 'chai-as-promised';
+
+chai.use(chaiAsPromised);
diff --git a/tests/shell.spec.ts b/tests/shell.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0a9d1d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/shell.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+import { expect } from 'chai';
+
+import { exec, sh } from '@/src';
+
+describe('exec', () => {
+  it('should run a command and return stdout and stderr', async () => {
+    const output = await exec('echo "hello stdout"; echo "hello stderr" >&2');
+    expect(output.stdout).to.equal('hello stdout\n');
+    expect(output.stderr).to.equal('hello stderr\n');
+  });
+
+  it('should throw if the command fails', async () => {
+    await expect(exec('false')).to.eventually.be.rejected;
+  });
+});
+
+describe('sh', () => {
+  it('should run a command and return its stdout, trimmed by default', async () => {
+    const output = await sh('echo hello');
+    expect(output).to.equal('hello');
+  });
+
+  it('should throw if the command fails', async () => {
+    await expect(sh('false')).to.eventually.be.rejected;
+  });
+
+  describe('options.trim', () => {
+    it('if true, should remove leading and trailing spaces', async () => {
+      const output = await sh('echo " hello "', { trim: true });
+      expect(output).to.equal('hello');
+    });
+
+    it('if false, should keep leading and trailing spaces', async () => {
+      const output = await sh('echo " hello "', { trim: false });
+      expect(output).to.equal(' hello \n');
+    });
+  });
+});