diff --git a/src/common/layer-parser.js b/src/common/layer-parser.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3b96b6a8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/common/layer-parser.js
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+(function(root, factory){
+    if(typeof define === "function" && define.amd) {
+        define(['./lua'], function(luajs){
+            return (root.LayerParser = factory(luajs));
+        });
+    } else if(typeof module === "object" && module.exports) {
+        var luajs = require('./lua');
+        module.exports = (root.LayerParser = factory(luajs));
+    }
+}(this, function(luajs) {
+    var LayerParser = {};
+
+    var findInitParams = function(ast){
+        // Find '__init' function
+        var params;
+        ast.block.stats.forEach(function(block){
+            if(block.key && block.key.val == '__init' && block.func){
+                params = block.func.args;
+                if(params.length === 0 && block.func.varargs){
+                    params[0] = 'params';
+                }
+            }
+        });
+        return params;
+    };
+
+    var findTorchClass = function(ast){
+        var torchClassArgs,  // args for `torch.class(...)`
+            name = '',
+            baseType,
+            params = [];
+
+        if(ast.type == 'function'){
+            ast.block.stats.forEach(function(func){
+                if(func.type == 'stat.local' && func.right && func.right[0] &&
+                  func.right[0].func && func.right[0].func.self &&
+                  func.right[0].func.self.val == 'torch' &&
+                  func.right[0].func.key.val == 'class'){
+
+                    torchClassArgs = func.right[0].args.map(arg => arg.val);
+                    name = torchClassArgs[0];
+                    if(name !== ''){
+                        name = name.replace('nn.', '');
+                        params = findInitParams(ast);
+                        if (torchClassArgs.length > 1) {
+                            baseType = torchClassArgs[1].replace('nn.', '');
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            });
+            // If there is a name, check for methods owned by the given name
+            // which modify a 'self' value and return 'self'
+            // TODO
+        }
+        return {
+            name,
+            baseType,
+            params
+        };
+    };
+
+    LayerParser.parse = function(text) {
+        var ast = luajs.parser.parse(text);
+        return findTorchClass(ast);
+    };
+
+    return LayerParser;
+}));
diff --git a/utils/nn-parser.js b/utils/nn-parser.js
index a0297afc1..b81a9a560 100644
--- a/utils/nn-parser.js
+++ b/utils/nn-parser.js
@@ -1,60 +1,20 @@
-var fs = require('fs');
-var path = require('path');
-var parser = require('../src/common/lua').parser;
-var torchPath = process.env.HOME + '/torch/extra/nn/';
-var SKIP_LAYERS = {};
-var skipLayerList = require('./skipLayers.json');
-skipLayerList.forEach(name => SKIP_LAYERS[name] = true);
-
-var findInitParams = function(ast){
-    // Find '__init' function
-    var params;
-    ast.block.stats.forEach(function(block){
-        if(block.key && block.key.val == '__init' && block.func){
-            params = block.func.args;
-            if(params.length === 0 && block.func.varargs){
-                params[0] = 'params';
-            }
-        }
-    });
-    return params;
-};
+var fs = require('fs'),
+    path = require('path'),
+    torchPath,
 
-var findTorchClass = function(ast){
-    var torchClassArgs,  // args for `torch.class(...)`
-        name = '',
-        baseType,
-        params = [];
+    LayerParser = require(__dirname + '/../src/common/layer-parser'),
+    SKIP_LAYERS = {},
+    skipLayerList = require('./skipLayers.json'),
 
-    if(ast.type == 'function'){
-        ast.block.stats.forEach(function(func){
-            if(func.type == 'stat.local' && func.right && func.right[0] &&
-              func.right[0].func && func.right[0].func.self &&
-              func.right[0].func.self.val == 'torch' &&
-              func.right[0].func.key.val == 'class'){
+    categories = require('./categories.json'),
+    catNames = Object.keys(categories);
+    layerToCategory = {};
 
-                torchClassArgs = func.right[0].args.map(arg => arg.val);
-                name = torchClassArgs[0];
-                if(name !== ''){
-                    name = name.replace('nn.', '');
-                    params = findInitParams(ast);
-                    if (torchClassArgs.length > 1) {
-                        baseType = torchClassArgs[1].replace('nn.', '');
-                    }
-                }
-            }
-        });
-    }
-    return {
-        name,
-        baseType,
-        params
-    };
-};
+// Check the deepforge config
+// FIXME
+torchPath = process.env.HOME + '/torch/extra/nn/';
 
-var categories = require('./categories.json');
-var catNames = Object.keys(categories);
-var layerToCategory = {};
+skipLayerList.forEach(name => SKIP_LAYERS[name] = true);
 catNames.forEach(cat =>  // create layer -> category dictionary
    categories[cat].forEach(lname => layerToCategory[lname] = cat)
 );
@@ -73,14 +33,12 @@ fs.readdir(torchPath, function(err,files){
 
     layers = files.filter(filename => path.extname(filename) === '.lua')
         .map(filename => fs.readFileSync(torchPath + filename, 'utf8'))
-        .map(code => parser.parse(code))
-        .map(ast => findTorchClass(ast))  // create initial layers
+        .map(code => LayerParser.parse(code))
         .filter(layer => !!layer && layer.name);
 
     layers.forEach(layer => {
         layer.type = lookupType(layer.name);
         layerByName[layer.name] = layer;
-        layer.setters = [];
     });
 
     // handle inheritance