diff --git a/src/platform_win.cc b/src/platform_win.cc
index cb852cf2..2feb7d0c 100644
--- a/src/platform_win.cc
+++ b/src/platform_win.cc
@@ -58,9 +58,171 @@ void FreeUnusedMemory() {}
 // TODO Wait for debugger to attach
 void TraceMe() {}
 
+class Utf8To16 {
+public:
+  Utf8To16(const char *utf8String);
+
+  operator const wchar_t      *  () const {return m_str.c_str();}
+  operator const std::wstring &  () const {return m_str;}
+
+  const std::wstring &asWstring() const {return m_str;}
+  const wchar_t      *asWchar_t() const {return m_str.c_str();}
+
+private:
+  std::wstring m_str;
+};
+
+Utf8To16::Utf8To16(const char *utf8Str) {
+  const std::size_t inSize = ::strlen(utf8Str);
+
+  // find out how many utf16 characters we need
+  const int requiredU16Chars =
+      MultiByteToWideChar(CP_UTF8, 0, utf8Str, inSize, nullptr, 0);
+  m_str.resize(requiredU16Chars);
+
+  // finally, do the conversion
+  MultiByteToWideChar(CP_UTF8, 0, utf8Str, inSize, &m_str[0], m_str.size());
+}
+
+void closeHandleIfValid(HANDLE &f_handle) {
+    if(f_handle != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) {
+        CloseHandle(f_handle);
+        f_handle = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE;
+    }
+}
+
+std::string readAllFromPipe(HANDLE pipe) {
+  std::string ret;
+  const int BUFFER_SIZE = 1024;
+  CHAR buf[BUFFER_SIZE];
+  DWORD bytesRead = 0;
+  bool moreToRead = true;
+
+  while (moreToRead) {
+    if (ReadFile(pipe, buf, BUFFER_SIZE, &bytesRead, NULL)) {
+      ret.append(buf, bytesRead);
+    } else {
+      const DWORD err = GetLastError();
+
+      if(err == ERROR_BROKEN_PIPE) {
+        // child process terminated (this is not an error)
+      } else {
+        LOG_S(ERROR) << "Error while reading from child process: " << err;
+      }
+      moreToRead = false;
+    }
+  }
+  return ret;
+}
+
 std::string GetExternalCommandOutput(const std::vector<std::string> &command,
                                      std::string_view input) {
-  return "";
+  SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES saAttr;
+  saAttr.nLength = sizeof(saAttr);
+  saAttr.bInheritHandle = TRUE;
+  saAttr.lpSecurityDescriptor = nullptr;
+
+  enum { READ_END, WRITE_END, NUM_HANDLES };
+
+  HANDLE stdIn[NUM_HANDLES];
+  HANDLE stdOut[NUM_HANDLES];
+  HANDLE stdErr[NUM_HANDLES];
+
+  // create anonymous pipes for the child process
+  if (!CreatePipe(&stdIn[READ_END], &stdIn[WRITE_END], &saAttr, 0) ||
+      !CreatePipe(&stdOut[READ_END], &stdOut[WRITE_END], &saAttr, 0) ||
+      !CreatePipe(&stdErr[READ_END], &stdErr[WRITE_END], &saAttr, 0)) {
+    LOG_S(ERROR) << "Error creating pipes for child process";
+    return "";
+  }
+
+  // the child is not supposed to gain access to the pipes' parent end
+  if(!SetHandleInformation(stdIn[WRITE_END], HANDLE_FLAG_INHERIT, 0) ||
+     !SetHandleInformation(stdOut[READ_END], HANDLE_FLAG_INHERIT, 0) ||
+     !SetHandleInformation(stdErr[READ_END], HANDLE_FLAG_INHERIT, 0))
+  {
+    LOG_S(ERROR) << "Error in SetHandleInformation: " << GetLastError();
+    return "";
+  }
+
+  // set up STARTUPINFO structure. It tells CreateProcess to use the pipes
+  // we just created as stdin and stdout for the new process.
+  STARTUPINFOW siStartInfo;
+  memset(&siStartInfo, 0, sizeof(siStartInfo));
+  siStartInfo.cb = sizeof(siStartInfo);
+  siStartInfo.hStdInput  = stdIn[READ_END];
+  siStartInfo.hStdOutput = stdOut[WRITE_END];
+  siStartInfo.hStdError = stdErr[WRITE_END];
+  siStartInfo.dwFlags   |= STARTF_USESTDHANDLES;
+
+  PROCESS_INFORMATION process;
+  memset(&process, 0, sizeof(process));
+
+  // fold the command line parts into a single string, quoting the arguments
+  std::string cmdString;
+  for (int i = 0; i < command.size(); i++) {
+    cmdString += ((i > 0) ? " \"" : "\"") + command[i] + "\"";
+  }
+
+  std::wstring cmdString_u16 = Utf8To16(cmdString.c_str());
+  if(!CreateProcessW(NULL,  // app name: we pass it through lpCommandLine
+                     &cmdString_u16[0],
+                     NULL,  // security attrs
+                     NULL,  // thread security attrs
+                     TRUE,  // handles are inherited
+                     CREATE_UNICODE_ENVIRONMENT, // creation flags
+                     NULL,  // environment
+                     NULL,  // cwd
+                     &siStartInfo,  // in: stdin, stdout, stderr pipes
+                     &process    // out: info about the new process
+       )) {
+    LOG_S(ERROR) << "Error creating process " << GetLastError();
+    return "";
+  }
+
+  // we need to close our handles to the write end of these pipe. Otherwise,
+  // ReadFile() will not return when the child process terminates.
+  closeHandleIfValid(stdOut[WRITE_END]);
+  closeHandleIfValid(stdErr[WRITE_END]);
+  closeHandleIfValid(stdIn[READ_END]);
+
+  // write input data to process' stdin
+  DWORD numBytesOut = 0;
+  WriteFile(stdIn[WRITE_END], input.data(), input.size(), &numBytesOut, NULL);
+  closeHandleIfValid(stdIn[WRITE_END]);  // close the handle to signal data end
+
+  // wait for the process to finish
+  if(process.hProcess != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) {
+    DWORD res = WaitForSingleObject(process.hProcess, INFINITE);
+    if(res != WAIT_OBJECT_0) {
+      LOG_S(ERROR) << "Error waiting for process to finish: " << res;
+      return "";
+    }
+  }
+
+  // Process return code is not used at the moment, but if it's required later,
+  // here's the necessary code for it:
+  // DWORD retCode;
+  // GetExitCodeProcess(process.hProcess, &retCode);
+
+  // read all stdout/stderr that the process has produced:
+  std::string output = readAllFromPipe(stdOut[READ_END]);
+  std::string err = readAllFromPipe(stdErr[READ_END]);
+
+  if (err.size() > 0) {
+    LOG_S(ERROR) << "Stderr from child process:\n" << err;
+  }
+
+  // close all the handles
+  for(int i=0; i<NUM_HANDLES; i++) {
+    closeHandleIfValid(stdIn[i]);
+    closeHandleIfValid(stdOut[i]);
+    closeHandleIfValid(stdErr[i]);
+  }
+  closeHandleIfValid(process.hThread);
+  closeHandleIfValid(process.hProcess);
+
+  return output;
 }
 
 void SpawnThread(void *(*fn)(void *), void *arg) {