diff --git a/shim/process.go b/shim/process.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1a7da1f52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/shim/process.go
@@ -0,0 +1,253 @@
+package process
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"os"
+	"os/exec"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
+	"sync"
+	"syscall"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/Sirupsen/logrus"
+	"golang.org/x/sys/unix"
+)
+
+var errInvalidPidInt = errors.New("containerd: process pid is invalid")
+
+type process struct {
+	name         string
+	root         string
+	cmd          *exec.Cmd
+	done         chan struct{}
+	success      bool
+	startTime    string
+	mu           sync.Mutex
+	containerPid int
+	timeout      time.Duration
+}
+
+// same checks if the process is the same process originally launched
+func (p *process) same() (bool, error) {
+	/// for backwards compat assume true if it is not set
+	if p.startTime == "" {
+		return true, nil
+	}
+	pid, err := p.readContainerPid()
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, nil
+	}
+	started, err := readProcessStartTime(pid)
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, err
+	}
+	return p.startTime == started, nil
+}
+
+func (p *process) checkExited() {
+	err := p.cmd.Wait()
+	if err == nil {
+		p.success = true
+	}
+	if same, _ := p.same(); same && p.hasPid() {
+		// The process changed its PR_SET_PDEATHSIG, so force kill it
+		logrus.Infof("containerd: %s:%s (pid %v) has become an orphan, killing it", p.container.id, p.namae, p.containerPid)
+		if err := unix.Kill(p.containerPid, syscall.SIGKILL); err != nil && err != syscall.ESRCH {
+			logrus.Errorf("containerd: unable to SIGKILL %s:%s (pid %v): %v", p.container.id, p.name, p.containerPid, err)
+			close(p.done)
+			return
+		}
+		// wait for the container process to exit
+		for {
+			if err := unix.Kill(p.pid, 0); err != nil {
+				break
+			}
+			time.Sleep(5 * time.Millisecond)
+		}
+	}
+	close(p.done)
+}
+
+func (p *process) hasPid() bool {
+	p.mu.Lock()
+	r := p.containerPid > 0
+	p.mu.Unlock()
+	return r
+}
+
+func (p *process) setPid(pid int) {
+	p.mu.Lock()
+	p.containerPid = pid
+	p.mu.Unlock()
+}
+
+type pidResponse struct {
+	pid int
+	err error
+}
+
+func (p *process) waitForCreate() error {
+	r := make(chan pidResponse, 1)
+	go readContainerPid(wc)
+
+	select {
+	case resp := <-r:
+		if resp.err != nil {
+			return resp.err
+		}
+		p.setPid(resp.pid)
+		started, err := readProcessStartTime(resp.pid)
+		if err != nil {
+			logrus.Warnf("containerd: unable to save %s:%s starttime: %v", p.container.id, p.id, err)
+		}
+		// TODO: save start time to disk or process state file
+		p.startTime = started
+		return nil
+	case <-time.After(c.timeout):
+		p.cmd.Process.Kill()
+		p.cmd.Wait()
+		return ErrContainerStartTimeout
+	}
+}
+
+func readContainerPid(r chan pidResponse, pidFile string) {
+	for {
+		pid, err := readContainerPid(pidFile)
+		if err != nil {
+			if os.IsNotExist(err) || err == errInvalidPidInt {
+				if serr := checkErrorLogs(); serr != nil {
+					r <- pidResponse{
+						err: err,
+					}
+					break
+				}
+				time.Sleep(15 * time.Millisecond)
+				continue
+			}
+			r <- pidResponse{
+				err: err,
+			}
+			break
+		}
+		r <- pidResponse{
+			pid: pid,
+		}
+		break
+	}
+}
+
+func checkErrorLogs(cmd *exec.Cmd, shimLogPath, runtimeLogPath string) error {
+	alive, err := isAlive(cmd)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if !alive {
+		// runc could have failed to run the container so lets get the error
+		// out of the logs or the shim could have encountered an error
+		messages, err := readLogMessages(shimLogPath)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		for _, m := range messages {
+			if m.Level == "error" {
+				return fmt.Errorf("shim error: %v", m.Msg)
+			}
+		}
+		// no errors reported back from shim, check for runc/runtime errors
+		messages, err = readLogMessages(runtimeLogPath)
+		if err != nil {
+			if os.IsNotExist(err) {
+				err = ErrContainerNotStarted
+			}
+			return err
+		}
+		for _, m := range messages {
+			if m.Level == "error" {
+				return fmt.Errorf("oci runtime error: %v", m.Msg)
+			}
+		}
+		return ErrContainerNotStarted
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func readProcessStartTime(pid int) (string, error) {
+	return readProcStatField(pid, 22)
+}
+
+func readProcStatField(pid int, field int) (string, error) {
+	data, err := ioutil.ReadFile(filepath.Join(string(filepath.Separator), "proc", strconv.Itoa(pid), "stat"))
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	if field > 2 {
+		// First, split out the name since he could contains spaces.
+		parts := strings.Split(string(data), ") ")
+		// Now split out the rest, we end up with 2 fields less
+		parts = strings.Split(parts[1], " ")
+		return parts[field-2-1], nil // field count start at 1 in manual
+	}
+	parts := strings.Split(string(data), " (")
+	if field == 1 {
+		return parts[0], nil
+	}
+	return strings.Split(parts[1], ") ")[0], nil
+}
+
+func readContainerPid(pidFile string) (int, error) {
+	data, err := ioutil.ReadFile(pidFile)
+	if err != nil {
+		return -1, nil
+	}
+	i, err := strconv.Atoi(string(data))
+	if err != nil {
+		return -1, errInvalidPidInt
+	}
+	return i, nil
+}
+
+// isAlive checks if the shim that launched the container is still alive
+func isAlive(cmd *exec.Cmd) (bool, error) {
+	if _, err := syscall.Wait4(cmd.Process.Pid, nil, syscall.WNOHANG, nil); err == nil {
+		return true, nil
+	}
+	if err := syscall.Kill(cmd.Process.Pid, 0); err != nil {
+		if err == syscall.ESRCH {
+			return false, nil
+		}
+		return false, err
+	}
+	return true, nil
+}
+
+type message struct {
+	Level string `json:"level"`
+	Msg   string `json:"msg"`
+}
+
+func readLogMessages(path string) ([]message, error) {
+	var out []message
+	f, err := os.Open(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	defer f.Close()
+	dec := json.NewDecoder(f)
+	for {
+		var m message
+		if err := dec.Decode(&m); err != nil {
+			if err == io.EOF {
+				break
+			}
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		out = append(out, m)
+	}
+	return out, nil
+}
diff --git a/shim/shim.go b/shim/shim.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6b0530207
--- /dev/null
+++ b/shim/shim.go
@@ -0,0 +1,223 @@
+package shim
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"os/exec"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"sync"
+	"syscall"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/docker/containerd/oci"
+	"github.com/docker/containerkit"
+)
+
+/*
+├── libcontainerd
+│   ├── containerd
+│   │   └── ff2e86955c2be43f0e3c300fbd3786599301bd8efcaa5a386587f132e73af242
+│   │       ├── init
+│   │       │   ├── control
+│   │       │   ├── exit
+│   │       │   ├── log.json
+│   │       │   ├── pid
+│   │       │   ├── process.json
+│   │       │   ├── shim-log.json
+│   │       │   └── starttime
+│   │       └── state.json
+│   └── ff2e86955c2be43f0e3c300fbd3786599301bd8efcaa5a386587f132e73af242
+│       ├── config.json
+│       ├── init-stderr
+│       ├── init-stdin
+│       └── init-stdout
+*/
+
+type Opts struct {
+	Name           string
+	RuntimeName    string
+	RuntimeLogFile string
+	RuntimeArgs    []string
+	Root           string
+	Timeout        time.Duration
+}
+
+type state struct {
+	Bundle      string   `json:"bundle"`
+	Stdin       string   `json:"stdin"`
+	Stdout      string   `json:"stdout"`
+	Stderr      string   `json:"stderr"`
+	Runtime     string   `json:"runtime"`
+	RuntimeArgs []string `json:"runtimeArgs"`
+	Shim        string   `json:"shim"`
+	NoPivotRoot bool     `json:"noPivotRoot"`
+}
+
+func New(opts Opts) (*Shim, error) {
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(opts.Root, 0711); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	r, err := oci.New(oci.Opts{
+		Name:    opts.RuntimeName,
+		LogFile: opts.RuntimeLogFile,
+		Args:    opts.RuntimeArgs,
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return &Shim{
+		root:    opts.Root,
+		name:    opts.Name,
+		timeout: opts.Timeout,
+		runtime: r,
+	}, nil
+}
+
+// Load will load an existing shim with all its information restored from the
+// provided path
+func Load(path string) (*Shim, error) {
+
+}
+
+// Shim is a container runtime that adds a shim process as the container's parent
+// to hold open stdio and other resources so that higher level daemons can exit and
+// load running containers for handling upgrades and/or crashes
+//
+// The shim uses an OCI compliant runtime as its executor
+type Shim struct {
+	// root holds runtime state information for the containers
+	// launched by the runtime
+	root string
+	// name is the name of the runtime, i.e. runc
+	name    string
+	timeout time.Duration
+
+	runtime       *oci.OCIRuntime
+	pmu           sync.Mutex
+	initProcesses map[string]*process
+}
+
+func (s *Shim) Create(c *containerkit.Container) (containerkit.ProcessDelegate, error) {
+	if err := os.Mkdir(filepath.Join(c.root, c.id), 0711); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	f, err := os.Create(filepath.Join(c.root, c.id, StateFile))
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	err = json.NewEncoder(f).Encode(state{
+		Bundle:      c.bundle,
+		Labels:      c.labels,
+		Runtime:     c.runtime,
+		RuntimeArgs: c.runtimeArgs,
+		Shim:        c.shim,
+		NoPivotRoot: opts.NoPivotRoot,
+	})
+	f.Close()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	cmd := s.command(c.ID(), c.Path(), s.runtime.Name())
+	// exec the shim inside the state directory setup with the process
+	// information for what is being run
+	cmd.Dir = processRoot
+	// make sure the shim is in a new process group
+	cmd.SysProcAttr = &syscall.SysProcAttr{
+		Setpgid: true,
+	}
+	p, err := s.startCommand("init", cmd)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	s.pmu.Lock()
+	s.initProcesses[c.ID()] = p
+	s.pmu.Unlock()
+	// ~TODO: oom and stats stuff here
+	return p, nil
+}
+
+func (s *Shim) Start(c *containerkit.Container) error {
+	p, err := s.getContainerInit(c)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	var (
+		errC = make(chan error, 1)
+		cmd  = s.runtime.Command("start", c.ID())
+	)
+	go func() {
+		out, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
+		if err != nil {
+			errC <- fmt.Errorf("%s: %q", err, out)
+		}
+		errC <- nil
+	}()
+	select {
+	case err := <-errC:
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	case <-p.done:
+		if !p.success {
+			if cmd.Process != nil {
+				cmd.Process.Kill()
+			}
+			cmd.Wait()
+			return ErrShimExited
+		}
+		err := <-errC
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (s *Shim) getContainerInit(c *containerkit.Container) (*process, error) {
+	s.pmu.Lock()
+	p, ok := s.initProcesses[c.ID()]
+	s.pmu.Unlock()
+	if !ok {
+		return nil, errInitProcessNotExist
+	}
+	return p, nil
+}
+
+func (s *Shim) startCommand(processName string, cmd *exec.Cmd) (*process, error) {
+	p := &process{
+		name:    processName,
+		cmd:     cmd,
+		done:    make(chan struct{}),
+		timeout: s.timeout,
+	}
+	if err := cmd.Start(); err != nil {
+		close(proc.done)
+		if checkShimNotFound(err) {
+			return fmt.Errorf("%s not install on system", s.name)
+		}
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	// make sure it does not die before we get the container's pid
+	defer func() {
+		go p.checkExited()
+	}()
+	if err := p.waitForCreate(); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return p, nil
+}
+
+func (s *Shim) command(args ...string) *exec.Cmd {
+	return exec.Command(s.name, args...)
+}
+
+// checkShimNotFound checks the error returned from a exec call to see if the binary
+// that was called exists on the system and returns true if the shim binary does not exist
+func checkShimNotFound(err error) bool {
+	if exitError, ok := err.(*exec.Error); ok {
+		e := exitError.Err
+		return e == exec.ErrNotFound || e == os.ErrNotExist
+	}
+	return false
+}