diff --git a/core/api/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/codec/CodecService.java b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/codec/CodecService.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c6dbda2
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+++ b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/codec/CodecService.java
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.onlab.onos.codec;
+
+import java.util.Set;
+
+/**
+ * Service for registering and retrieving JSON codecs for various entities.
+ */
+public interface CodecService {
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the set of classes with currently registered codecs.
+     *
+     * @return set of entity classes
+     */
+    Set<Class<?>> getCodecs();
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the JSON codec for the specified entity class.
+     *
+     * @param entityClass entity class
+     * @return JSON codec; null if no codec available for the class
+     */
+    JsonCodec getCodec(Class<?> entityClass);
+
+    /**
+     * Registers the specified JSON codec for the given entity class.
+     *
+     * @param entityClass entity class
+     * @param codec       JSON codec
+     */
+    void registerCodec(Class<?> entityClass, JsonCodec codec);
+
+    /**
+     * Unregisters the JSON codec for the specified entity class.
+     *
+     * @param entityClass entity class
+     */
+    void unregisterCodec(Class<?> entityClass);
+
+}