diff --git a/tests/cli_util/Cargo.toml b/tests/cli_util/Cargo.toml
index b868f1541a..6fd2119705 100644
--- a/tests/cli_util/Cargo.toml
+++ b/tests/cli_util/Cargo.toml
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ edition = "2018"
 
 [dependencies]
 clap = "2.33"
+hex = "0.3"
 log = "0.4"
 serde = "1.0"
 serde_yaml = "0.8"
diff --git a/tests/cli_util/src/main.rs b/tests/cli_util/src/main.rs
index e03febca6d..ef2848578e 100644
--- a/tests/cli_util/src/main.rs
+++ b/tests/cli_util/src/main.rs
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 #[macro_use]
 extern crate log;
 
+mod parse_hex;
 mod transition_blocks;
 
 use clap::{App, Arg, SubCommand};
+use parse_hex::run_parse_hex;
 use std::fs::File;
 use std::path::PathBuf;
 use std::time::{SystemTime, UNIX_EPOCH};
@@ -85,6 +87,27 @@ fn main() {
                         .help("Path to output a SSZ file."),
                 ),
         )
+        .subcommand(
+            SubCommand::with_name("pretty-hex")
+                .about("Parses some SSZ as encoded as ASCII 0x-prefixed hex")
+                .version("0.1.0")
+                .author("Paul Hauner <paul@sigmaprime.io>")
+                .arg(
+                    Arg::with_name("type")
+                        .value_name("TYPE")
+                        .takes_value(true)
+                        .required(true)
+                        .possible_values(&["block"])
+                        .help("The schema of the supplied SSZ."),
+                )
+                .arg(
+                    Arg::with_name("hex_ssz")
+                        .value_name("HEX")
+                        .takes_value(true)
+                        .required(true)
+                        .help("SSZ encoded as 0x-prefixed hex"),
+                ),
+        )
         .get_matches();
 
     match matches.subcommand() {
@@ -128,6 +151,9 @@ fn main() {
         }
         ("transition-blocks", Some(matches)) => run_transition_blocks(matches)
             .unwrap_or_else(|e| error!("Failed to transition blocks: {}", e)),
+        ("pretty-hex", Some(matches)) => {
+            run_parse_hex(matches).unwrap_or_else(|e| error!("Failed to pretty print hex: {}", e))
+        }
         (other, _) => error!("Unknown subcommand supplied: {}", other),
     }
 }
diff --git a/tests/cli_util/src/parse_hex.rs b/tests/cli_util/src/parse_hex.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a74e9a645c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cli_util/src/parse_hex.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+use clap::ArgMatches;
+use serde::Serialize;
+use ssz::{Decode, Encode};
+use state_processing::{per_block_processing, per_slot_processing, BlockSignatureStrategy};
+use std::fs::File;
+use std::io::prelude::*;
+use std::path::PathBuf;
+use types::{BeaconBlock, BeaconState, EthSpec, MinimalEthSpec};
+
+pub fn run_parse_hex(matches: &ArgMatches) -> Result<(), String> {
+    let type_str = matches
+        .value_of("type")
+        .ok_or_else(|| "No type supplied".to_string())?;
+    let mut hex: String = matches
+        .value_of("hex_ssz")
+        .ok_or_else(|| "No hex ssz supplied".to_string())?
+        .to_string();
+
+    if hex.starts_with("0x") {
+        hex = hex[2..].to_string();
+    }
+
+    let hex = hex::decode(&hex).map_err(|e| format!("Failed to parse hex: {:?}", e))?;
+
+    info!("Using minimal spec");
+    info!("Type: {:?}", type_str);
+
+    match type_str.as_ref() {
+        "block" => decode_and_print::<BeaconBlock<MinimalEthSpec>>(&hex)?,
+        "state" => decode_and_print::<BeaconState<MinimalEthSpec>>(&hex)?,
+        other => return Err(format!("Unknown type: {}", other)),
+    };
+
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+fn decode_and_print<T: Decode + Serialize>(bytes: &[u8]) -> Result<(), String> {
+    let item = T::from_ssz_bytes(&bytes).map_err(|e| format!("Ssz decode failed: {:?}", e))?;
+
+    println!(
+        "{}",
+        serde_yaml::to_string(&item)
+            .map_err(|e| format!("Unable to write object to YAML: {:?}", e))?
+    );
+
+    Ok(())
+}