diff --git a/net/message/message.go b/net/message/message.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e97fbf921
--- /dev/null
+++ b/net/message/message.go
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+package message
+
+import (
+	peer "github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/peer"
+
+	proto "code.google.com/p/goprotobuf/proto"
+)
+
+// Message represents a packet of information sent to or received from a
+// particular Peer.
+type Message struct {
+	// To or from, depending on direction.
+	Peer *peer.Peer
+
+	// Opaque data
+	Data []byte
+}
+
+// FromObject creates a message from a protobuf-marshallable message.
+func FromObject(p *peer.Peer, data proto.Message) (*Message, error) {
+	bytes, err := proto.Marshal(data)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return &Message{
+		Peer: p,
+		Data: bytes,
+	}, nil
+}
+
+// Pipe objects represent a bi-directional message channel.
+type Pipe struct {
+	Incoming chan *Message
+	Outgoing chan *Message
+}
+
+// NewPipe constructs a pipe with channels of a given buffer size.
+func NewPipe(bufsize int) *Pipe {
+	return &Pipe{
+		Incoming: make(chan *Message, bufsize),
+		Outgoing: make(chan *Message, bufsize),
+	}
+}