diff --git a/pyiron_contrib/workflow/output_parser.py b/pyiron_contrib/workflow/output_parser.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e5405c239
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pyiron_contrib/workflow/output_parser.py
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+"""
+Inspects code to automatically parse return values as strings
+"""
+
+import ast
+import inspect
+import re
+
+
+def _remove_spaces_until_character(string):
+    pattern = r'\s+(?=\s)'
+    modified_string = re.sub(pattern, '', string)
+    return modified_string
+
+
+class ParseOutput:
+    def __init__(self, function):
+        self._func = function
+        self._source = None
+
+    @property
+    def func(self):
+        return self._func
+
+    @property
+    def node_return(self):
+        tree = ast.parse(inspect.getsource(self.func))
+        for node in ast.walk(tree):
+            if isinstance(node, ast.Return):
+                return node
+
+    @property
+    def source(self):
+        if self._source is None:
+            self._source = [
+                line.rsplit("\n", 1)[0] for line in inspect.getsourcelines(self.func)[0]
+            ]
+        return self._source
+
+    def get_string(self, node):
+        string = ""
+        for ll in range(node.lineno - 1, node.end_lineno):
+            if ll == node.lineno - 1 == node.end_lineno - 1:
+                string += _remove_spaces_until_character(
+                    self.source[ll][node.col_offset:node.end_col_offset]
+                )
+            elif ll == node.lineno - 1:
+                string += _remove_spaces_until_character(
+                    self.source[ll][node.col_offset:]
+                )
+            elif ll == node.end_lineno - 1:
+                string += _remove_spaces_until_character(
+                    self.source[ll][:node.end_col_offset]
+                )
+            else:
+                string += _remove_spaces_until_character(self.source[ll])
+        return string
+
+    @property
+    def output(self):
+        if self.node_return is None:
+            return
+        if isinstance(self.node_return.value, ast.Tuple):
+            return [self.get_string(s) for s in self.node_return.value.dims]
+        return [self.get_string(self.node_return.value)]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/unit/workflow/test_output_parser.py b/tests/unit/workflow/test_output_parser.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..87c44be45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/workflow/test_output_parser.py
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+from sys import version_info
+import unittest
+
+import numpy as np
+
+from pyiron_contrib.workflow.output_parser import ParseOutput
+
+
+@unittest.skipUnless(
+    version_info[0] == 3 and version_info[1] >= 10, "Only supported for 3.10+"
+)
+class TestParseOutput(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_parsing(self):
+        with self.subTest("Single return"):
+            def identity(x):
+                return x
+            self.assertListEqual(ParseOutput(identity).output, ["x"])
+
+        with self.subTest("Expression return"):
+            def add(x, y):
+                return x + y
+            self.assertListEqual(ParseOutput(add).output, ["x + y"])
+
+        with self.subTest("Weird whitespace"):
+            def add(x, y):
+                return   x  +  y
+            self.assertListEqual(ParseOutput(add).output, ["x + y"])
+
+        with self.subTest("Multiple expressions"):
+            def add_and_subtract(x, y):
+                return x + y, x - y
+            self.assertListEqual(ParseOutput(add).output, ["x + y", "x - y"])
+
+        with self.subTest("Best-practice (well-named return vars)"):
+            def md(job):
+                temperature = job.output.temperature
+                energy = job.output.energy
+                return temperature, energy
+            self.assertListEqual(ParseOutput(md).output, ["temperature", "energy"])
+
+        with self.subTest("Function call returns"):
+            def function_return(i, j):
+                return (
+                    np.arange(
+                        i, dtype=int
+                    ),
+                    np.shape(i, j)
+                )
+            self.assertListEqual(
+                ParseOutput(function_return).output,
+                ["np.arange( i, dtype=int )", "np.shape(i, j)"]
+            )
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    unittest.main()