diff --git a/layers.go b/layers.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..940bf5be0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/layers.go
@@ -0,0 +1,172 @@
+package containerkit
+
+import "errors"
+
+var (
+	errNotImplemented = errors.New("not implemented")
+)
+
+// LayerManipulator provides an API for allocating, snapshotting and mounting
+// abstract, layer-based filesytems. The model works by building up sets of
+// directories with parent-child relationships.
+//
+// These differ from the concept of the graphdriver in that the
+// LayerManipulator has no knowledge of images or containers. Users simply
+// prepare and commit directories. We also avoid the integration between graph
+// driver's and the tar format used to represent the changesets.
+//
+// Importing a Layer
+//
+// To import a layer, we simply have the LayerManipulator provide a list of
+// mounts to be applied such that our dst will capture a changeset. We start
+// out by getting a path to the layer tar file and creating a temp location to
+// unpack it to:
+//
+//	layerPath, tmpLocation := getLayerPath(), mkTmpDir() // just a path to layer tar file.
+//
+// We then use a LayerManipulator to prepare the temporary location as a
+// snapshot point:
+//
+// 	lm := NewLayerManipulator()
+//	mounts, err := lm.Prepare(tmpLocation, "")
+// 	if err != nil { ... }
+//
+// Note that we provide "" as the parent, since we are applying the diff to an
+// empty directory. We get back a list of mounts from LayerManipulator.Prepare.
+// Before proceeding, we perform all these mounts:
+//
+//	if err := MountAll(mounts); err != nil { ... }
+//
+// Once the mounts are performed, our temporary location is ready to capture
+// a diff. In practice, this works similar to a filesystem transaction. The
+// next step is to unpack the layer. We have a special function unpackLayer
+// that applies the contents of the layer to target location and calculates the
+// DiffID of the unpacked layer (this is a requirement for docker
+// implementation):
+//
+// 	digest, err := unpackLayer(tmpLocation, layer) // unpack into layer location
+// 	if err != nil { ... }
+//
+// When the above completes, we should have a filesystem the represents the
+// contents of the layer. Careful implementations should verify that digest
+// matches the expected DiffID. When completed, we unmount the mounts:
+//
+//	unmount(mounts) // optional, for now
+//
+// Now that we've verified and unpacked our layer, we create a location to
+// commit the actual diff. For this example, we are just going to use the layer
+// digest, but in practice, this will probably be the ChainID:
+//
+// 	diffPath := filepath.Join("/layers", digest) // name location for the uncompressed layer digest
+//	if err := lm.Commit(diffPath, tmpLocation); err != nil { ... }
+//
+// Now, we have a layer in the LayerManipulator that can be accessed with the
+// opaque diffPath provided during commit.
+//
+// Importing the Next Layer
+//
+// Making a layer depend on the above is identical to the process described
+// above except that the parent is provided as diffPath when calling
+// LayerManipulator.Prepare:
+//
+// 	mounts, err := lm.Prepare(tmpLocation, parentDiffPath)
+//
+// The diff will be captured at tmpLocation, as the layer is applied.
+//
+// Running a Container
+//
+// To run a container, we simply provide LayerManipulator.Prepare the diffPath
+// of the image we want to start the container from. After mounting, the
+// prepared path can be used directly as the container's filesystem:
+//
+// 	mounts, err := lm.Prepare(containerRootFS, imageDiffPath)
+//
+// The returned mounts can then be passed directly to the container runtime. If
+// one would like to create a new image from the filesystem,
+// LayerManipulator.Commit is called:
+//
+// 	if err := lm.Commit(newImageDiff, containerRootFS); err != nil { ... }
+//
+// Alternatively, for most container runs, LayerManipulator.Rollback will be
+// called to signal LayerManipulator to abandon the changes.
+//
+// TODO(stevvooe): Consider an alternate API that provides an active object to
+// represent the lifecycle:
+//
+// 	work, err := lm.Prepare(dst, parent)
+//  mountAll(work.Mounts())
+// 	work.Commit() || work.Rollback()
+type LayerManipulator struct{}
+
+// Prepare returns a set of mounts such that dst can be used as a location for
+// reading and writing data. If parent is provided, the dst will be setup to
+// capture changes between dst and parent. The "default" parent, "", is an
+// empty directory.
+//
+// If the caller intends to write data to dst, they should perform all mounts
+// provided before doing so. The location defined by dst should be used as the
+// working directory for any associated activity, such as running a container
+// or importing a layer.
+//
+// Once the writes have completed, LayerManipulator.Commit or
+// LayerManipulator.Rollback should be called on dst.
+func (lm *LayerManipulator) Prepare(dst, parent string) ([]Mount, error) {
+	return nil, errNotImplemented
+}
+
+// Commit captures the changes between dst and its parent into the path
+// provided by diff. The path diff can then be used with the layer
+// manipulator's other methods to access the diff content.
+//
+// The contents of diff are opaque to the caller and may be specific to the
+// implementation of the layer backend.
+func (lm *LayerManipulator) Commit(diff, dst string) error {
+	return errNotImplemented
+}
+
+// Rollback can be called after prepare if the caller would like to abandon the
+// changeset.
+func (lm *LayerManipulator) Rollback(dst string) error {
+	return errNotImplemented
+}
+
+func (lm *LayerManipulator) Parent(diff string) string {
+	return ""
+}
+
+type ChangeKind int
+
+const (
+	ChangeKindAdd = iota
+	ChangeKindModify
+	ChangeKindDelete
+)
+
+func (k ChangeKind) String() string {
+	switch k {
+	case ChangeKindAdd:
+		return "add"
+	case ChangeKindModify:
+		return "modify"
+	case ChangeKindDelete:
+		return "delete"
+	default:
+		return ""
+	}
+}
+
+// Change represents single change between a diff and its parent.
+//
+// TODO(stevvooe): There are some cool tricks we can do with this type. If we
+// provide the path to the resource from both the diff and its parent, for
+// example, we can have the differ actually decide the granularity represented
+// in the final changeset.
+type Change struct {
+	Kind ChangeKind
+	Path string
+}
+
+// Changes returns the list of changes from the diff's parent.
+func (lm *LayerManipulator) Changes(diff string) ([]Change, error) {
+	return nil, errNotImplemented
+}