diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3f2c8add4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[submodule "common"]
+	path = common
+	url = https://github.com/ray-project/common
diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index fd43573ca..45ef9a286 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -31,5 +31,11 @@ matrix:
         - .travis/check-git-clang-format-output.sh
 
 install:
+  - make
 
 script:
+  - cd common
+  - make test
+  - cd ..
+  - source setup-env.sh
+  - python test/test.py
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7c494a74e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+CC = gcc
+CFLAGS = -g -Wall --std=c99 -D_XOPEN_SOURCE=500 -D_POSIX_C_SOURCE=200809L -Icommon/thirdparty
+BUILD = build
+
+all: $(BUILD)/photon_scheduler $(BUILD)/photon_client.so
+
+$(BUILD)/photon_client.so: photon_client.h photon_client.c common
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) photon_client.c common/build/libcommon.a -fPIC -shared -o $(BUILD)/photon_client.so
+
+$(BUILD)/photon_scheduler: photon.h photon.c common
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -o $@ photon.c common/build/libcommon.a common/thirdparty/hiredis/libhiredis.a -Icommon/thirdparty -Icommon/
+
+common: FORCE
+	git submodule update --init --recursive
+	cd common; make
+
+clean:
+	cd common; make clean
+	rm -r $(BUILD)/*
+
+FORCE:
diff --git a/build/.gitkeep b/build/.gitkeep
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/common b/common
new file mode 160000
index 000000000..084220b0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 084220b0e70de6bed466e97e08f4b6909133aafb
diff --git a/lib/python/photon.py b/lib/python/photon.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b0fc263a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/python/photon.py
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+import ctypes
+import os
+
+photon_client_library_path = os.path.join(os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__)), "../../build/photon_client.so")
+photon_client_library = ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary(photon_client_library_path)
+photon_client_library.alloc_task_spec.restype = ctypes.c_void_p
+photon_client_library.photon_connect.restype = ctypes.c_void_p
+photon_client_library.photon_submit.restype = None
+
+ID = ctypes.c_ubyte * 20
+
+class UniqueID(ctypes.Structure):
+  _fields_ = [("unique_id", ID)]
+
+def make_id(string):
+  if len(string) != 20:
+    raise Exception("PlasmaIDs must be 20 characters long")
+  unique_id = map(ord, string)
+  return UniqueID(unique_id=ID(*unique_id))
+
+class Task(object):
+  def __init__(self, function_id, args):
+    function_id = make_id(function_id)
+    self.task_spec = ctypes.c_void_p(photon_client_library.alloc_task_spec(function_id, len(args), 1, 0))
+    for arg in args:
+      photon_client_library.task_args_add_ref(self.task_spec, arg)
+
+  def __del__(self):
+    photon_client_library.free_task_spec(self.task_spec)
+
+class PhotonClient(object):
+
+  def __init__(self, socket_name):
+    self.photon_conn = ctypes.c_void_p(photon_client_library.photon_connect(socket_name))
+
+  def submit(self, function_id, args):
+    task = Task(function_id, args)
+    photon_client_library.photon_submit(self.photon_conn, task.task_spec)
diff --git a/photon.c b/photon.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8c84c2b95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/photon.c
@@ -0,0 +1,109 @@
+#include <inttypes.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <sys/socket.h>
+#include <sys/un.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+
+#include "common.h"
+#include "event_loop.h"
+#include "io.h"
+#include "photon.h"
+#include "state/db.h"
+#include "state/task_queue.h"
+#include "task.h"
+#include "utarray.h"
+
+typedef struct {
+  db_handle *db;
+  UT_array *task_queue;
+} local_scheduler_state;
+
+event_loop *init_local_scheduler() { return event_loop_create(); };
+
+void process_message(event_loop *loop, int client_sock, void *context,
+                     int events) {
+  local_scheduler_state *s = context;
+
+  uint8_t *message;
+  int64_t type;
+  int64_t length;
+  read_message(client_sock, &type, &length, &message);
+
+  switch (type) {
+  case SUBMIT_TASK: {
+    task_spec *task = (task_spec *)message;
+    CHECK(task_size(task) == length);
+    unique_id id = globally_unique_id();
+    task_queue_submit_task(s->db, id, task);
+  } break;
+  case TASK_DONE: {
+  } break;
+  case DISCONNECT_CLIENT: {
+    LOG_INFO("Disconnecting client on fd %d", client_sock);
+    event_loop_remove_file(loop, client_sock);
+  } break;
+  case LOG_MESSAGE: {
+  } break;
+  default:
+    /* This code should be unreachable. */
+    CHECK(0);
+  }
+  free(message);
+}
+
+void new_client_connection(event_loop *loop, int listener_sock, void *context,
+                           int events) {
+  local_scheduler_state *s = context;
+  int new_socket = accept_client(listener_sock);
+  event_loop_add_file(loop, new_socket, EVENT_LOOP_READ, process_message, s);
+  LOG_INFO("new connection with fd %d", new_socket);
+}
+
+void start_server(const char *socket_name, const char *redis_addr,
+                  int redis_port) {
+  int fd = bind_ipc_sock(socket_name);
+  local_scheduler_state state;
+  event_loop *loop = init_local_scheduler();
+
+  state.db = db_connect(redis_addr, redis_port, "photon", "", -1);
+  db_attach(state.db, loop);
+
+  /* Run event loop. */
+  event_loop_add_file(loop, fd, EVENT_LOOP_READ, new_client_connection, &state);
+  event_loop_run(loop);
+}
+
+int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
+  /* Path of the listening socket of the local scheduler. */
+  char *scheduler_socket_name = NULL;
+  /* IP address and port of redis. */
+  char *redis_addr_port = NULL;
+  int c;
+  while ((c = getopt(argc, argv, "s:r:")) != -1) {
+    switch (c) {
+    case 's':
+      scheduler_socket_name = optarg;
+      break;
+    case 'r':
+      redis_addr_port = optarg;
+      break;
+    default:
+      LOG_ERR("unknown option %c", c);
+      exit(-1);
+    }
+  }
+  if (!scheduler_socket_name) {
+    LOG_ERR("please specify socket for incoming connections with -s switch");
+    exit(-1);
+  }
+  char redis_addr[16] = {0};
+  char redis_port[6] = {0};
+  if (!redis_addr_port ||
+      sscanf(redis_addr_port, "%15[0-9.]:%5[0-9]", redis_addr, redis_port) !=
+          2) {
+    LOG_ERR("need to specify redis address like 127.0.0.1:6379 with -r switch");
+    exit(-1);
+  }
+  start_server(scheduler_socket_name, &redis_addr[0], atoi(redis_port));
+}
diff --git a/photon.h b/photon.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6a213c4a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/photon.h
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#ifndef PHOTON_H
+#define PHOTON_H
+
+enum photon_message_type {
+  /** Notify the local scheduler that a task has finished. */
+  TASK_DONE = 64,
+};
+
+struct photon_conn_impl {
+  /* File descriptor of the Unix domain socket that connects to photon. */
+  int conn;
+};
+
+#endif
diff --git a/photon_client.c b/photon_client.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a33b25631
--- /dev/null
+++ b/photon_client.c
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+#include "photon_client.h"
+
+#include "common/io.h"
+#include "common/task.h"
+#include <stdlib.h>
+
+photon_conn *photon_connect(const char *photon_socket) {
+  photon_conn *result = malloc(sizeof(photon_conn));
+  result->conn = connect_ipc_sock(photon_socket);
+  return result;
+}
+
+void photon_submit(photon_conn *conn, task_spec *task) {
+  write_message(conn->conn, SUBMIT_TASK, task_size(task), (uint8_t *)task);
+}
+
+void photon_task_done(photon_conn *conn) {
+  write_message(conn->conn, TASK_DONE, 0, NULL);
+}
+
+void photon_disconnect(photon_conn *conn) {
+  write_message(conn->conn, DISCONNECT_CLIENT, 0, NULL);
+}
+
+void photon_log_message(photon_conn *conn) {
+  write_message(conn->conn, LOG_MESSAGE, 0, NULL);
+}
diff --git a/photon_client.h b/photon_client.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3163d8b7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/photon_client.h
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+#ifndef PHOTON_CLIENT_H
+#define PHOTON_CLIENT_H
+
+#include "common/task.h"
+#include "photon.h"
+
+typedef struct photon_conn_impl photon_conn;
+
+/* Connect to the local scheduler. */
+photon_conn *photon_connect(const char *photon_socket);
+
+/* Submit a task to the local scheduler. */
+void photon_submit(photon_conn *conn, task_spec *task);
+
+/* Get next task for this client. */
+task_spec *photon_get_task(photon_conn *conn);
+
+/* Tell the local scheduler that the client has finished executing a task. */
+void photon_task_done(photon_conn *conn);
+
+/* Disconnect from the local scheduler. */
+void photon_disconnect(photon_conn *conn);
+
+/* Send a log message to the local scheduler. */
+void photon_log_message(photon_conn *conn);
+
+#endif
diff --git a/photon_scheduler.h b/photon_scheduler.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cce91155d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/photon_scheduler.h
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#ifndef PHOTON_SCHEDULER
+#define PHOTON_SCHEDULER
+
+/* Establish a connection to a new client. */
+void new_client_connection(local_scheduler_state *s, int listener_sock);
+
+/* schedule a task on a given worker. */
+void schedule_on_worker(local_scheduler_state *s, task_spec *task,
+                        int client_id);
+
+/* Handle new incoming task that was scheduled by the globl scheduler on
+ * this local scheduler. */
+void schedule_task(local_scheduler_state *s, task_spec *task)
+
+#endif
diff --git a/setup-env.sh b/setup-env.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..7c4350150
--- /dev/null
+++ b/setup-env.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+echo "Adding Photon to PYTHONPATH" 1>&2
+
+ROOT_DIR=$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE:-$0}")"; pwd)
+
+export PYTHONPATH="$ROOT_DIR/lib/python/:$PYTHONPATH"
diff --git a/test/test.py b/test/test.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2307f2276
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test.py
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+from __future__ import print_function
+
+import os
+import subprocess
+import sys
+import unittest
+import random
+import time
+
+import photon
+
+class TestPhotonClient(unittest.TestCase):
+
+  def setUp(self):
+    # Start Redis.
+    redis_executable = os.path.join(os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__)), "../common/thirdparty/redis-3.2.3/src/redis-server")
+    self.p1 = subprocess.Popen([redis_executable, "--loglevel", "warning"])
+    time.sleep(0.1)
+    scheduler_executable = os.path.join(os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__)), "../build/photon_scheduler")
+    scheduler_name = "/tmp/scheduler{}".format(random.randint(0, 10000))
+    self.p2 = subprocess.Popen([scheduler_executable, "-s", scheduler_name, "-r", "127.0.0.1:6379"])
+    time.sleep(0.1)
+    # Connect to the scheduler.
+    self.photon_client = photon.PhotonClient(scheduler_name)
+
+  def tearDown(self):
+    # Kill the Redis server.
+    self.p1.kill()
+    # Kill the local scheduler.
+    self.p2.kill()
+
+  def test_create(self):
+    l = [photon.make_id(20 * "a"), photon.make_id(20 * "b"), photon.make_id(20 * "c")]
+    self.photon_client.submit(20 * "a", l)
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+  unittest.main(verbosity=2)