diff --git a/irctest/cases.py b/irctest/cases.py
index 95df7ef..03201c6 100644
--- a/irctest/cases.py
+++ b/irctest/cases.py
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 import socket
 import unittest
 
+from .irc_utils import message_parser
+
 class _IrcTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
     controllerClass = None # Will be set by __main__.py
 
@@ -22,7 +24,9 @@ class ClientTestCase(_IrcTestCase):
     def acceptClient(self):
         """Make the server accept a client connection. Blocking."""
         (self.conn, addr) = self.server.accept()
-        self.conn_file = self.conn.makefile()
+        self.conn_file = self.conn.makefile(newline='\r\n')
 
     def getLine(self):
         return self.conn_file.readline().strip()
+    def getMessage(self):
+        return message_parser.parse_message(self.conn_file.readline())
diff --git a/irctest/clienttests/test_cap.py b/irctest/clienttests/test_cap.py
index 6d009da..23c24dd 100644
--- a/irctest/clienttests/test_cap.py
+++ b/irctest/clienttests/test_cap.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 from irctest.cases import ClientTestCase
+from irctest.irc_utils.message_parser import Message
 
 class CapTestCase(ClientTestCase):
     def testSendCap(self):
@@ -9,4 +10,9 @@ class CapTestCase(ClientTestCase):
                 authentication=None,
                 )
         self.acceptClient()
-        print(self.getLine())
+        m = self.getMessage()
+        self.assertEqual(m.command, 'CAP',
+                'First message is not CAP LS.')
+        self.assertEqual(m.subcommand, 'LS',
+                'First message is not CAP LS.')
+        self.assertIn(m.params, ([], ['302'])) # IRCv3.1 or IRVv3.2
diff --git a/irctest/irc_utils/__init__.py b/irctest/irc_utils/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/irctest/irc_utils/message_parser.py b/irctest/irc_utils/message_parser.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a33e7f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/irctest/irc_utils/message_parser.py
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+import re
+import collections
+import supybot.utils
+
+# http://ircv3.net/specs/core/message-tags-3.2.html#escaping-values
+TAG_ESCAPE = [
+    ('\\', '\\\\'), # \ -> \\
+    (' ', r'\s'),
+    (';', r'\:'),
+    ('\r', r'\r'),
+    ('\n', r'\n'),
+    ]
+unescape_tag_value = supybot.utils.str.MultipleReplacer(
+        dict(map(lambda x:(x[1],x[0]), TAG_ESCAPE)))
+
+# TODO: validate host
+tag_key_validator = re.compile('(\S+/)?[a-zA-Z0-9-]+')
+
+def parse_tags(s):
+    tags = {}
+    for tag in s.split(';'):
+        if '=' not in tag:
+            tags[tag] = None
+        else:
+            (key, value) = tag.split('=', 1)
+            assert tag_key_validator.match(key), \
+                    'Invalid tag key: {}'.format(key)
+            tags[key] = unescape_tag_value(value)
+    return tags
+
+Message = collections.namedtuple('Message',
+        'tags prefix command subcommand params')
+
+def parse_message(s):
+    """Parse a message according to
+    http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1459#section-2.3.1
+    and
+    http://ircv3.net/specs/core/message-tags-3.2.html"""
+    assert s.endswith('\r\n'), 'Message does not end with CR LF'
+    s = s[0:-2]
+    if ' :' in s:
+        (other_tokens, trailing_param) = s.split(' :')
+        tokens = list(filter(bool, other_tokens.split(' '))) + [trailing_param]
+    else:
+        tokens = list(filter(bool, s.split(' ')))
+    if tokens[0].startswith('@'):
+        tags = parse_tags(tokens.pop(0))
+    else:
+        tags = []
+    if tokens[0].startswith(':'):
+        prefix = tokens.pop(0)
+    else:
+        prefix = None
+    command = tokens.pop(0)
+    if command == 'CAP':
+        subcommand = tokens.pop(0)
+    else:
+        subcommand = None
+    params = tokens
+    return Message(
+            tags=tags,
+            prefix=prefix,
+            command=command,
+            subcommand=subcommand,
+            params=params,
+            )