diff --git a/lib/cpp/protocol/TProtocol.h b/lib/cpp/protocol/TProtocol.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1f2e0c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/cpp/protocol/TProtocol.h
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+#ifndef T_PROTOCOL_H
+#define T_PROTOCOL_H
+
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <string>
+#include <map>
+
+/** Forward declaration for TProtocol */
+struct TBuf;
+
+/**
+ * Abstract class for a thrift protocol driver. These are all the methods that
+ * a protocol must implement. Essentially, there must be some way of reading
+ * and writing all the base types, plus a mechanism for writing out structs
+ * with indexed fields. Also notice that all methods are strictly const. This
+ * is by design. Protcol impelementations may NOT keep state, because the
+ * same TProtocol object may be used simultaneously by multiple threads. This
+ * theoretically introduces some limititations into the possible protocol
+ * formats, but with the benefit of performance, clarity, and simplicity.
+ *
+ * @author Mark Slee <mcslee@facebook.com>
+ */
+class TProtocol {
+ public:
+  virtual ~TProtocol() {}
+
+  /**
+   * Function call serialization.
+   */
+
+  virtual std::string
+    readFunction(TBuf& buf) const = 0;
+  virtual std::string
+    writeFunction(const std::string& name, const std::string& args) const = 0;
+
+  /**
+   * Struct serialization.
+   */
+
+  virtual std::map<uint32_t, TBuf>
+    readStruct(TBuf& buf) const = 0;
+  virtual std::string
+    writeStruct(const std::map<uint32_t,std::string>& s) const = 0;
+
+  /**
+   * Basic data type deserialization. Note that these read methods do not
+   * take a const reference to the TBuf object. They SHOULD change the TBuf
+   * object so that it reflects the buffer AFTER the basic data type has
+   * been consumed such that data may continue being read serially from the
+   * buffer.
+   */
+
+  virtual std::string readString  (TBuf& buf) const = 0;
+  virtual uint8_t     readByte    (TBuf& buf) const = 0;
+  virtual uint32_t    readU32     (TBuf& buf) const = 0;
+  virtual int32_t     readI32     (TBuf& buf) const = 0;
+  virtual uint64_t    readU64     (TBuf& buf) const = 0;
+  virtual int64_t     readI64     (TBuf& buf) const = 0;
+
+  virtual std::string writeString (const std::string& str) const = 0;
+  virtual std::string writeByte   (const uint8_t  byte)    const = 0;
+  virtual std::string writeU32    (const uint32_t u32)     const = 0;
+  virtual std::string writeI32    (const int32_t  i32)     const = 0;
+  virtual std::string writeU64    (const uint64_t u64)     const = 0;
+  virtual std::string writeI64    (const int64_t  i64)     const = 0;
+
+ protected:
+  TProtocol() {}
+};
+
+/**
+ * Wrapper around raw data that allows us to track the length of a data
+ * buffer. It is the responsibility of a robust TProtocol implementation
+ * to ensure that any reads that are done from data do NOT overrun the
+ * memory address at data+len. It is also a convention that TBuf objects
+ * do NOT own the memory pointed to by data. They are merely wrappers
+ * around buffers that have been allocated elsewhere. Therefore, the user
+ * should never allocate memory before putting it into a TBuf nor should
+ * they free the data pointed to by a TBuf.
+ */
+struct TBuf {
+  TBuf(const TBuf& that) : data(that.data), len(that.len) {}
+  TBuf(const uint8_t* d, uint32_t l) : data(d), len(l) {}
+  const uint8_t* data;
+  uint32_t len;
+};
+
+#endif