diff --git a/docs/extras/vcf_annotator.md b/docs/extras/vcf_annotator.md
index e119aa40..81d25c1c 100644
--- a/docs/extras/vcf_annotator.md
+++ b/docs/extras/vcf_annotator.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # VCF Annotator
 
-The [VCF Annotator tool](../../src/ga4gh/vrs/extras/vcf_annotation.py) provides utility for annotating VCF's with VRS Allele IDs.
+The [VCF Annotator tool](../../src/ga4gh/vrs/extras/annotator/vcf.py) provides a Python class for annotating VCFs with VRS Allele IDs. A [command-line interface](../../src/ga4gh/vrs/extras/annotator/cli.py) is available for accessing these functions from a shell or shell script.
 
 ## How to use
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index f4a62cf2..cefeb0eb 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ Source = "https://github.com/ga4gh/vrs-python"
 "Bug Tracker" = "https://github.com/ga4gh/vrs-python/issues"
 
 [project.scripts]
-vrs-annotate = "ga4gh.vrs.extras.vcf_annotation:_cli"
+vrs-annotate = "ga4gh.vrs.extras.annotator.cli:_cli"
 
 [build-system]
 requires = ["setuptools>=65.3", "setuptools_scm>=8"]
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ exclude = [
     "ANN201",
     "ANN202",
 ]
-"src/ga4gh/vrs/extras/vcf_annotation.py" = [
+"src/ga4gh/vrs/extras/annotator/vcf.py" = [
     "PTH123",  # see https://github.com/ga4gh/vrs-python/issues/482
 ]
 "src/ga4gh/vrs/extras/object_store.py" = [
diff --git a/src/ga4gh/vrs/extras/annotator/__init__.py b/src/ga4gh/vrs/extras/annotator/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7b787f94
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ga4gh/vrs/extras/annotator/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+"""Provide tools for annotating data with corresponding VRS objects and attributes."""
diff --git a/src/ga4gh/vrs/extras/annotator/cli.py b/src/ga4gh/vrs/extras/annotator/cli.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6b3de705
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ga4gh/vrs/extras/annotator/cli.py
@@ -0,0 +1,197 @@
+"""Define command-line interface for VRS annotator tool.
+
+$ vrs-annotate vcf input.vcf.gz --vcf_out output.vcf.gz --vrs_pickle_out vrs_objects.pkl
+
+"""
+
+import logging
+from collections.abc import Callable
+from enum import Enum
+from pathlib import Path
+from timeit import default_timer as timer
+
+import click
+
+from ga4gh.vrs.extras.annotator.vcf import SeqRepoProxyType, VCFAnnotator
+
+_logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+@click.group()
+def _cli() -> None:
+    """Annotate input files with VRS variation objects."""
+    logging.basicConfig(
+        filename="vrs-annotate.log",
+        level=logging.INFO,
+        format="%(asctime)s - %(name)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s",
+    )
+
+
+class _LogLevel(str, Enum):
+    """Define legal values for `--log_level` option."""
+
+    DEBUG = "debug"
+    INFO = "info"
+    WARNING = "warning"
+    ERROR = "error"
+    CRITICAL = "critical"
+
+
+def _log_level_option(func: Callable) -> Callable:
+    """Provide reusable log level CLI option decorator.
+
+    Adds a `--log_level` CLI option to any decorated command. Doesn't pass on any
+    values, just sets the logging level for this module.
+
+    :param func: incoming click command
+    :return: same command, wrapped with log level option
+    """
+
+    def _set_log_level(ctx: dict, param: str, value: _LogLevel) -> None:  # noqa: ARG001
+        level_map = {
+            _LogLevel.DEBUG: logging.DEBUG,
+            _LogLevel.INFO: logging.INFO,
+            _LogLevel.WARNING: logging.WARNING,
+            _LogLevel.ERROR: logging.ERROR,
+            _LogLevel.CRITICAL: logging.CRITICAL,
+        }
+        logging.getLogger(__name__).setLevel(level_map[value])
+
+    return click.option(
+        "--log_level",
+        type=click.Choice([v.value for v in _LogLevel.__members__.values()]),
+        default="info",
+        help="Set the logging level.",
+        callback=_set_log_level,
+        expose_value=False,
+        is_eager=True,
+    )(func)
+
+
+@_cli.command(name="vcf")
+@_log_level_option
+@click.argument(
+    "vcf_in",
+    nargs=1,
+    type=click.Path(exists=True, readable=True, dir_okay=False, path_type=Path),
+)
+@click.option(
+    "--vcf_out",
+    required=False,
+    type=click.Path(writable=True, allow_dash=False, path_type=Path),
+    help=(
+        "Declare save location for output annotated VCF. If not provided, must provide --vrs_pickle_out."
+    ),
+)
+@click.option(
+    "--vrs_pickle_out",
+    required=False,
+    type=click.Path(writable=True, allow_dash=False, path_type=Path),
+    help=(
+        "Declare save location for output VCF pickle. If not provided, must provide --vcf_out."
+    ),
+)
+@click.option(
+    "--vrs_attributes",
+    is_flag=True,
+    default=False,
+    help="Include VRS_Start, VRS_End, and VRS_State fields in the VCF output INFO field.",
+)
+@click.option(
+    "--seqrepo_dp_type",
+    required=False,
+    default=SeqRepoProxyType.LOCAL,
+    type=click.Choice(
+        [v.value for v in SeqRepoProxyType.__members__.values()], case_sensitive=True
+    ),
+    help="Specify type of SeqRepo dataproxy to use.",
+    show_default=True,
+    show_choices=True,
+)
+@click.option(
+    "--seqrepo_root_dir",
+    required=False,
+    default=Path("/usr/local/share/seqrepo/latest"),
+    type=click.Path(path_type=Path),
+    help="Define root directory for local SeqRepo instance, if --seqrepo_dp_type=local.",
+    show_default=True,
+)
+@click.option(
+    "--seqrepo_base_url",
+    required=False,
+    default="http://localhost:5000/seqrepo",
+    help="Specify base URL for SeqRepo REST API, if --seqrepo_dp_type=rest.",
+    show_default=True,
+)
+@click.option(
+    "--assembly",
+    required=False,
+    default="GRCh38",
+    show_default=True,
+    help="Specify assembly that was used to create input VCF.",
+    type=str,
+)
+@click.option(
+    "--skip_ref",
+    is_flag=True,
+    default=False,
+    help="Skip VRS computation for REF alleles.",
+)
+@click.option(
+    "--require_validation",
+    is_flag=True,
+    default=False,
+    help="Require validation checks to pass to construct a VRS object.",
+)
+@click.option(
+    "--silent",
+    "-s",
+    is_flag=True,
+    default=False,
+    help="Suppress messages printed to stdout",
+)
+def _annotate_vcf_cli(
+    vcf_in: Path,
+    vcf_out: Path | None,
+    vrs_pickle_out: Path | None,
+    vrs_attributes: bool,
+    seqrepo_dp_type: SeqRepoProxyType,
+    seqrepo_root_dir: Path,
+    seqrepo_base_url: str,
+    assembly: str,
+    skip_ref: bool,
+    require_validation: bool,
+    silent: bool,
+) -> None:
+    """Extract VRS objects from VCF located at VCF_IN.
+
+        $ vrs-annotate vcf input.vcf.gz --vcf_out output.vcf.gz --vrs_pickle_out vrs_objects.pkl
+
+    Note that at least one of --vcf_out or --vrs_pickle_out must be selected and defined.
+    """
+    annotator = VCFAnnotator(
+        seqrepo_dp_type, seqrepo_base_url, str(seqrepo_root_dir.absolute())
+    )
+    vcf_out_str = str(vcf_out.absolute()) if vcf_out is not None else vcf_out
+    vrs_pkl_out_str = (
+        str(vrs_pickle_out.absolute()) if vrs_pickle_out is not None else vrs_pickle_out
+    )
+    start = timer()
+    msg = f"Annotating {vcf_in} with the VCF Annotator..."
+    _logger.info(msg)
+    if not silent:
+        click.echo(msg)
+    annotator.annotate(
+        str(vcf_in.absolute()),
+        vcf_out=vcf_out_str,
+        vrs_pickle_out=vrs_pkl_out_str,
+        vrs_attributes=vrs_attributes,
+        assembly=assembly,
+        compute_for_ref=(not skip_ref),
+        require_validation=require_validation,
+    )
+    end = timer()
+    msg = f"VCF Annotator finished in {(end - start):.5f} seconds"
+    _logger.info(msg)
+    if not silent:
+        click.echo(msg)
diff --git a/src/ga4gh/vrs/extras/vcf_annotation.py b/src/ga4gh/vrs/extras/annotator/vcf.py
similarity index 72%
rename from src/ga4gh/vrs/extras/vcf_annotation.py
rename to src/ga4gh/vrs/extras/annotator/vcf.py
index 0d413175..fe2a6069 100644
--- a/src/ga4gh/vrs/extras/vcf_annotation.py
+++ b/src/ga4gh/vrs/extras/annotator/vcf.py
@@ -1,22 +1,17 @@
-"""Annotate VCFs with VRS
-
-$ vrs-annotate vcf input.vcf.gz --vcf_out output.vcf.gz --vrs_pickle_out vrs_objects.pkl
-
-"""
+"""Annotate VCFs with VRS identifiers and attributes."""
 
 import logging
-import pathlib
 import pickle
-from collections.abc import Callable
 from enum import Enum
-from timeit import default_timer as timer
 
-import click
 import pysam
 from biocommons.seqrepo import SeqRepo
 from pydantic import ValidationError
 
-from ga4gh.core import VrsObjectIdentifierIs, use_ga4gh_compute_identifier_when
+from ga4gh.core.identifiers import (
+    VrsObjectIdentifierIs,
+    use_ga4gh_compute_identifier_when,
+)
 from ga4gh.vrs.dataproxy import (
     DataProxyValidationError,
     SeqRepoDataProxy,
@@ -25,7 +20,6 @@
 from ga4gh.vrs.extras.translator import AlleleTranslator
 
 _logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
-_logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
 
 
 class VCFAnnotatorError(Exception):
@@ -39,186 +33,6 @@ class SeqRepoProxyType(str, Enum):
     REST = "rest"
 
 
-@click.group()
-def _cli() -> None:
-    """Annotate input files with VRS variation objects."""
-    logging.basicConfig(
-        filename="vrs-annotate.log",
-        level=logging.INFO,
-        format="%(asctime)s - %(name)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s",
-    )
-
-
-class _LogLevel(str, Enum):
-    """Define legal values for `--log_level` option."""
-
-    DEBUG = "debug"
-    INFO = "info"
-    WARNING = "warning"
-    ERROR = "error"
-    CRITICAL = "critical"
-
-
-def _log_level_option(func: Callable) -> Callable:
-    """Provide reusable log level CLI option decorator.
-
-    Adds a `--log_level` CLI option to any decorated command. Doesn't pass on any
-    values, just sets the logging level for this module.
-
-    :param func: incoming click command
-    :return: same command, wrapped with log level option
-    """
-
-    def _set_log_level(ctx: dict, param: str, value: _LogLevel) -> None:  # noqa: ARG001
-        level_map = {
-            _LogLevel.DEBUG: logging.DEBUG,
-            _LogLevel.INFO: logging.INFO,
-            _LogLevel.WARNING: logging.WARNING,
-            _LogLevel.ERROR: logging.ERROR,
-            _LogLevel.CRITICAL: logging.CRITICAL,
-        }
-        logging.getLogger(__name__).setLevel(level_map[value])
-
-    return click.option(
-        "--log_level",
-        type=click.Choice([v.value for v in _LogLevel.__members__.values()]),
-        default="info",
-        help="Set the logging level.",
-        callback=_set_log_level,
-        expose_value=False,
-        is_eager=True,
-    )(func)
-
-
-@_cli.command(name="vcf")
-@_log_level_option
-@click.argument(
-    "vcf_in",
-    nargs=1,
-    type=click.Path(exists=True, readable=True, dir_okay=False, path_type=pathlib.Path),
-)
-@click.option(
-    "--vcf_out",
-    required=False,
-    type=click.Path(writable=True, allow_dash=False, path_type=pathlib.Path),
-    help=(
-        "Declare save location for output annotated VCF. If not provided, must provide --vrs_pickle_out."
-    ),
-)
-@click.option(
-    "--vrs_pickle_out",
-    required=False,
-    type=click.Path(writable=True, allow_dash=False, path_type=pathlib.Path),
-    help=(
-        "Declare save location for output VCF pickle. If not provided, must provide --vcf_out."
-    ),
-)
-@click.option(
-    "--vrs_attributes",
-    is_flag=True,
-    default=False,
-    help="Include VRS_Start, VRS_End, and VRS_State fields in the VCF output INFO field.",
-)
-@click.option(
-    "--seqrepo_dp_type",
-    required=False,
-    default=SeqRepoProxyType.LOCAL,
-    type=click.Choice(
-        [v.value for v in SeqRepoProxyType.__members__.values()], case_sensitive=True
-    ),
-    help="Specify type of SeqRepo dataproxy to use.",
-    show_default=True,
-    show_choices=True,
-)
-@click.option(
-    "--seqrepo_root_dir",
-    required=False,
-    default=pathlib.Path("/usr/local/share/seqrepo/latest"),
-    type=click.Path(path_type=pathlib.Path),
-    help="Define root directory for local SeqRepo instance, if --seqrepo_dp_type=local.",
-    show_default=True,
-)
-@click.option(
-    "--seqrepo_base_url",
-    required=False,
-    default="http://localhost:5000/seqrepo",
-    help="Specify base URL for SeqRepo REST API, if --seqrepo_dp_type=rest.",
-    show_default=True,
-)
-@click.option(
-    "--assembly",
-    required=False,
-    default="GRCh38",
-    show_default=True,
-    help="Specify assembly that was used to create input VCF.",
-    type=str,
-)
-@click.option(
-    "--skip_ref",
-    is_flag=True,
-    default=False,
-    help="Skip VRS computation for REF alleles.",
-)
-@click.option(
-    "--require_validation",
-    is_flag=True,
-    default=False,
-    help="Require validation checks to pass to construct a VRS object.",
-)
-@click.option(
-    "--silent",
-    "-s",
-    is_flag=True,
-    default=False,
-    help="Suppress messages printed to stdout",
-)
-def _annotate_vcf_cli(
-    vcf_in: pathlib.Path,
-    vcf_out: pathlib.Path | None,
-    vrs_pickle_out: pathlib.Path | None,
-    vrs_attributes: bool,
-    seqrepo_dp_type: SeqRepoProxyType,
-    seqrepo_root_dir: pathlib.Path,
-    seqrepo_base_url: str,
-    assembly: str,
-    skip_ref: bool,
-    require_validation: bool,
-    silent: bool,
-) -> None:
-    """Extract VRS objects from VCF located at VCF_IN.
-
-        $ vrs-annotate vcf input.vcf.gz --vcf_out output.vcf.gz --vrs_pickle_out vrs_objects.pkl
-
-    Note that at least one of --vcf_out or --vrs_pickle_out must be selected and defined.
-    """
-    annotator = VCFAnnotator(
-        seqrepo_dp_type, seqrepo_base_url, str(seqrepo_root_dir.absolute())
-    )
-    vcf_out_str = str(vcf_out.absolute()) if vcf_out is not None else vcf_out
-    vrs_pkl_out_str = (
-        str(vrs_pickle_out.absolute()) if vrs_pickle_out is not None else vrs_pickle_out
-    )
-    start = timer()
-    msg = f"Annotating {vcf_in} with the VCF Annotator..."
-    _logger.info(msg)
-    if not silent:
-        click.echo(msg)
-    annotator.annotate(
-        str(vcf_in.absolute()),
-        vcf_out=vcf_out_str,
-        vrs_pickle_out=vrs_pkl_out_str,
-        vrs_attributes=vrs_attributes,
-        assembly=assembly,
-        compute_for_ref=(not skip_ref),
-        require_validation=require_validation,
-    )
-    end = timer()
-    msg = f"VCF Annotator finished in {(end - start):.5f} seconds"
-    _logger.info(msg)
-    if not silent:
-        click.echo(msg)
-
-
 class VCFAnnotator:
     """Annotate VCFs with VRS allele IDs.
 
diff --git a/tests/extras/test_vcf_annotation.py b/tests/extras/test_annotate_vcf.py
similarity index 97%
rename from tests/extras/test_vcf_annotation.py
rename to tests/extras/test_annotate_vcf.py
index dc1e7ecf..e006057d 100644
--- a/tests/extras/test_vcf_annotation.py
+++ b/tests/extras/test_annotate_vcf.py
@@ -1,13 +1,14 @@
 """Ensure proper functionality of VCFAnnotator"""
 
 import gzip
+import logging
 import re
 from pathlib import Path
 
 import pytest
 
 from ga4gh.vrs.dataproxy import DataProxyValidationError
-from ga4gh.vrs.extras.vcf_annotation import VCFAnnotator, VCFAnnotatorError
+from ga4gh.vrs.extras.annotator.vcf import VCFAnnotator, VCFAnnotatorError
 
 TEST_DATA_DIR = "tests/extras/data"
 
@@ -168,6 +169,9 @@ def test_annotate_vcf_input_validation(vcf_annotator):
 @pytest.mark.vcr
 def test_get_vrs_object_invalid_input(vcf_annotator, caplog):
     """Test that _get_vrs_object method works as expected with invalid input"""
+    # some tests below are checking for debug logging statements
+    caplog.set_level(logging.DEBUG)
+
     # No CHROM
     vcf_annotator._get_vrs_object(".-140753336-A-T", {}, [], "GRCh38")
     assert "KeyError when getting refget accession: GRCh38:." in caplog.text