diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
index 1412147..cda0fd5 100644
--- a/composer.json
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
     "name": "zendframework/zend-debug",
-    "description": "Zend\\Debug component",
+    "description": " ",
     "license": "BSD-3-Clause",
     "keywords": [
         "zf2",
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@
         }
     },
     "require": {
-        "php": ">=5.3.23"
+        "php": ">=5.3.3",
+        "zendframework/zend-escaper": "self.version"
     },
     "require-dev": {
         "zendframework/zend-escaper": "2.*",
diff --git a/src/Debug.php b/src/Debug.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..43c907b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Debug.php
@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * Zend Framework (http://framework.zend.com/)
+ *
+ * @link      http://github.com/zendframework/zf2 for the canonical source repository
+ * @copyright Copyright (c) 2005-2012 Zend Technologies USA Inc. (http://www.zend.com)
+ * @license   http://framework.zend.com/license/new-bsd New BSD License
+ * @package   Zend_Debug.php
+ */
+
+namespace Zend\Debug;
+
+use Zend\Escaper\Escaper;
+
+/**
+ * Concrete class for generating debug dumps related to the output source.
+ *
+ * @category   Zend
+ * @package    Zend_Debug
+ */
+class Debug
+{
+    /**
+     * @var Escaper
+     */
+    protected static $escaper = null;
+
+    /**
+     * @var string
+     */
+    protected static $sapi = null;
+
+    /**
+     * Get the current value of the debug output environment.
+     * This defaults to the value of PHP_SAPI.
+     *
+     * @return string;
+     */
+    public static function getSapi()
+    {
+        if (static::$sapi === null) {
+            static::$sapi = PHP_SAPI;
+        }
+        return static::$sapi;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Set the debug output environment.
+     * Setting a value of null causes Zend_Debug to use PHP_SAPI.
+     *
+     * @param string $sapi
+     * @return void;
+     */
+    public static function setSapi($sapi)
+    {
+        static::$sapi = $sapi;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Set Escaper instance
+     *
+     * @param  Escaper $escaper
+     */
+    public static function setEscaper(Escaper $escaper)
+    {
+        static::$escaper = $escaper;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Get Escaper instance
+     *
+     * Lazy loads an instance if none provided.
+     *
+     * @return Escaper
+     */
+    public static function getEscaper()
+    {
+        if (null === static::$escaper) {
+            static::setEscaper(new Escaper());
+        }
+        return static::$escaper;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Debug helper function.  This is a wrapper for var_dump() that adds
+     * the <pre /> tags, cleans up newlines and indents, and runs
+     * htmlentities() before output.
+     *
+     * @param  mixed  $var   The variable to dump.
+     * @param  string $label OPTIONAL Label to prepend to output.
+     * @param  bool   $echo  OPTIONAL Echo output if true.
+     * @return string
+     */
+    public static function dump($var, $label=null, $echo=true)
+    {
+        // format the label
+        $label = ($label===null) ? '' : rtrim($label) . ' ';
+
+        // var_dump the variable into a buffer and keep the output
+        ob_start();
+        var_dump($var);
+        $output = ob_get_clean();
+
+        // neaten the newlines and indents
+        $output = preg_replace("/\]\=\>\n(\s+)/m", "] => ", $output);
+        if (static::getSapi() == 'cli') {
+            $output = PHP_EOL . $label
+                    . PHP_EOL . $output
+                    . PHP_EOL;
+        } else {
+            if (!extension_loaded('xdebug')) {
+                $output = static::getEscaper()->escapeHtml($output);
+            }
+
+            $output = '<pre>'
+                    . $label
+                    . $output
+                    . '</pre>';
+        }
+
+        if ($echo) {
+            echo $output;
+        }
+        return $output;
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/test/DebugTest.php b/test/DebugTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2bb5aa7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/DebugTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * Zend Framework (http://framework.zend.com/)
+ *
+ * @link      http://github.com/zendframework/zf2 for the canonical source repository
+ * @copyright Copyright (c) 2005-2012 Zend Technologies USA Inc. (http://www.zend.com)
+ * @license   http://framework.zend.com/license/new-bsd New BSD License
+ * @package   Zend_DebugTest.php
+ */
+
+namespace ZendTest;
+
+use Zend\Debug\Debug;
+
+/**
+ * @category   Zend
+ * @package    Zend_Debug
+ * @subpackage UnitTests
+ * @group      Zend_Debug
+ */
+class DebugTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
+{
+
+    public function testDebugDefaultSapi()
+    {
+        $sapi = php_sapi_name();
+        Debug::setSapi(null);
+        $data = 'string';
+        $result = Debug::Dump($data, null, false);
+        $this->assertEquals($sapi, Debug::getSapi());
+    }
+
+    public function testDebugDump()
+    {
+        Debug::setSapi('cli');
+        $data = 'string';
+        $result = Debug::Dump($data, null, false);
+        $result = str_replace(array(PHP_EOL, "\n"), '_', $result);
+        $expected = "__string(6) \"string\"__";
+        $this->assertEquals($expected, $result);
+    }
+
+    public function testDebugCgi()
+    {
+        Debug::setSapi('cgi');
+        $data = 'string';
+        $result = Debug::Dump($data, null, false);
+
+        // Has to check for two strings, because xdebug internally handles CLI vs Web
+        $this->assertContains($result,
+            array(
+                "<pre>string(6) \"string\"\n</pre>",
+                "<pre>string(6) &quot;string&quot;\n</pre>",
+            )
+        );
+    }
+
+    public function testDebugDumpEcho()
+    {
+        Debug::setSapi('cli');
+        $data = 'string';
+
+        ob_start();
+        $result1 = Debug::Dump($data, null, true);
+        $result2 = ob_get_contents();
+        ob_end_clean();
+
+        $this->assertContains('string(6) "string"', $result1);
+        $this->assertEquals($result1, $result2);
+    }
+
+    public function testDebugDumpLabel()
+    {
+        Debug::setSapi('cli');
+        $data = 'string';
+        $label = 'LABEL';
+        $result = Debug::Dump($data, $label, false);
+        $result = str_replace(array(PHP_EOL, "\n"), '_', $result);
+        $expected = "_{$label} _string(6) \"string\"__";
+        $this->assertEquals($expected, $result);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @group ZF-4136
+     * @group ZF-1663
+     */
+    public function testXdebugEnabledAndNonCliSapiDoesNotEscapeSpecialChars()
+    {
+        if (!extension_loaded('xdebug')) {
+            $this->markTestSkipped("This test only works in combination with xdebug.");
+        }
+
+        Debug::setSapi('apache');
+        $a = array("a" => "b");
+
+        $result = Debug::dump($a, "LABEL", false);
+        $this->assertContains("<pre>", $result);
+        $this->assertContains("</pre>", $result);
+    }
+
+}