diff --git a/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/intent/PartitionService.java b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/intent/PartitionService.java
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+++ b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/intent/PartitionService.java
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2015 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.intent;
+
+import org.onosproject.cluster.NodeId;
+
+/**
+ * Service for interacting with the partition-to-instance assignments.
+ */
+public interface PartitionService {
+
+    /**
+     * Returns whether the given intent key is in a partition owned by this
+     * instance or not.
+     *
+     * @param intentKey intent key to query
+     * @return true if the key is owned by this instance, otherwise false
+     */
+    boolean isMine(Key intentKey);
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the leader for a particular key.
+     *
+     * @param intentKey intent key to query
+     * @return the leader node
+     */
+    NodeId getLeader(Key intentKey);
+
+    // TODO add API for rebalancing partitions
+}