diff --git a/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-proxy-api/pom.xml b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-proxy-api/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f729a3946
--- /dev/null
+++ b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-proxy-api/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<!--
+  ~ 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.
+  -->
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
+  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+  <parent>
+    <artifactId>archiva-base</artifactId>
+    <groupId>org.apache.archiva</groupId>
+    <version>1.4-M4-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  </parent>
+  <artifactId>archiva-proxy-api</artifactId>
+  <packaging>bundle</packaging>
+  <name>Archiva Base :: Proxy Api</name>
+
+  <dependencies>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.apache.archiva</groupId>
+      <artifactId>archiva-repository-layer</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
+  </dependencies>
+
+  <build>
+    <plugins>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.apache.felix</groupId>
+        <artifactId>maven-bundle-plugin</artifactId>
+        <configuration>
+          <instructions>
+            <Bundle-SymbolicName>org.apache.archiva.proxy.model</Bundle-SymbolicName>
+            <Bundle-Version>${project.version}</Bundle-Version>
+            <Export-Package>
+              org.apache.archiva.proxy;version=${project.version}
+            </Export-Package>
+          </instructions>
+        </configuration>
+      </plugin>
+    </plugins>
+  </build>
+</project>
diff --git a/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-proxy-api/src/main/java/org/apache/archiva/proxy/model/RepositoryProxyConnectors.java b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-proxy-api/src/main/java/org/apache/archiva/proxy/model/RepositoryProxyConnectors.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..58a3aaf3a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-proxy-api/src/main/java/org/apache/archiva/proxy/model/RepositoryProxyConnectors.java
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+package org.apache.archiva.proxy.model;
+
+/*
+ * 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.
+ */
+
+import org.apache.archiva.model.ArtifactReference;
+import org.apache.archiva.policies.ProxyDownloadException;
+import org.apache.archiva.repository.ManagedRepositoryContent;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.util.List;
+
+/**
+ * Handler for potential repository proxy connectors.
+ *
+ *
+ */
+public interface RepositoryProxyConnectors
+{
+    /**
+     * Performs the artifact fetch operation against the target repositories
+     * of the provided source repository.
+     * 
+     * If the artifact is found, it is downloaded and placed into the source repository
+     * filesystem.
+     * 
+     * @param repository the source repository to use. (must be a managed repository)
+     * @param artifact the artifact to fetch.
+     * @return the file that was obtained, or null if no content was obtained
+     * @throws ProxyDownloadException if there was a problem fetching the content from the target repositories.
+     */
+    public File fetchFromProxies( ManagedRepositoryContent repository, ArtifactReference artifact )
+        throws ProxyDownloadException;
+    
+    /**
+     * Performs the metadata fetch operation against the target repositories
+     * of the provided source repository.
+     * 
+     * If the metadata is found, it is downloaded and placed into the source repository
+     * filesystem.
+     * 
+     * @param repository the source repository to use. (must be a managed repository)
+     * @param logicalPath the metadata to fetch.
+     * @return the file that was obtained, or null if no content was obtained
+     */
+    public File fetchMetatadaFromProxies( ManagedRepositoryContent repository, String logicalPath );
+
+    /**
+     * Performs the fetch operation against the target repositories
+     * of the provided source repository.
+     * 
+     * @param managedRepository the source repository to use. (must be a managed repository)
+     * @param path the path of the resource to fetch
+     * @return the file that was obtained, or null if no content was obtained
+     */
+    public File fetchFromProxies( ManagedRepositoryContent managedRepository, String path );
+
+    /**
+     * Get the List of {@link ProxyConnector} objects of the source repository.
+     * 
+     * @param repository the source repository to look for.
+     * @return the List of {@link ProxyConnector} objects.
+     */
+    public List<ProxyConnector> getProxyConnectors( ManagedRepositoryContent repository );
+
+    /**
+     * Tests to see if the provided repository is a source repository for
+     * any {@link ProxyConnector} objects.
+     * 
+     * @param repository the source repository to look for.
+     * @return true if there are proxy connectors that use the provided 
+     *   repository as a source repository.
+     */
+    public boolean hasProxies( ManagedRepositoryContent repository );
+}