diff --git a/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/pi/runtime/PiPipeconfService.java b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/pi/runtime/PiPipeconfService.java
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+++ b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/pi/runtime/PiPipeconfService.java
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+/*
+ * Copyright 2017-present Open Networking Laboratory
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.onosproject.net.pi.runtime;
+
+import com.google.common.annotations.Beta;
+import org.onosproject.net.DeviceId;
+import org.onosproject.net.pi.model.PiPipeconf;
+import org.onosproject.net.pi.model.PiPipeconfId;
+
+import java.util.Optional;
+
+/**
+ * A service to manage the configurations of protocol-independent pipelines.
+ */
+@Beta
+public interface PiPipeconfService {
+
+    // TODO: we might want to extend ListenerService to support the broadcasting of PipeconfEvent.
+
+    /**
+     * Registers the given pipeconf.
+     *
+     * @param pipeconf a pipeconf
+     * @throws IllegalStateException if the same pipeconf identifier is already registered.
+     */
+    void register(PiPipeconf pipeconf) throws IllegalStateException;
+
+    /**
+     * Returns all pipeconfs registered.
+     *
+     * @return a collection of pipeconfs
+     */
+    Iterable<PiPipeconf> getPipeconfs();
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the pipeconf instance associated with the given identifier, if present.
+     * If not present, it means that no pipeconf with such identifier has been registered so far.
+     *
+     * @param id a pipeconf identifier
+     * @return an optional pipeconf
+     */
+    Optional<PiPipeconf> getPipeconf(PiPipeconfId id);
+
+    /**
+     * Binds the given pipeconf to the given infrastructure device. As a result of this method call,
+     * if the given pipeconf exposes any pipeline-specific behaviours, those will be merged to the
+     * device's driver.
+     *
+     * @param deviceId a device identifier
+     * @param pipeconf a pipeconf identifier
+     */
+    // TODO: This service doesn't make any effort in deploying the configuration to the device.
+    // Someone else should do that.
+    void bindToDevice(PiPipeconfId pipeconf, DeviceId deviceId);
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the pipeconf identifier currently associated with the given device identifier, if
+     * present. If not present, it means no pipeconf has been associated with that device so far.
+     *
+     * @param deviceId device identifier
+     * @return an optional pipeconf identifier
+     */
+    Optional<PiPipeconfId> ofDevice(DeviceId deviceId);
+}