diff --git a/jupyterhub/proxy.py b/jupyterhub/proxy.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f575c8f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jupyterhub/proxy.py
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+from traitlets.config import LoggingConfigurable
+
+
+class Proxy(LoggingConfigurable):
+    """
+    Base class for configurable proxies that JupyterHub can use
+    """
+    def add_route(self, routespec, target, data):
+        """
+        Add a route to the proxy
+
+        :param urlspec: A specification for which this route will be matched.
+         Could be either a url_prefix or a fqdn.
+        :param target: A URL that will be the target of this route.
+        :param data: A JSONable dict that will be associated with this route, and will
+         be returned when retrieving information about this route.
+
+        Will raise an appropriate exception (FIXME: find what?) if the route could
+        not be added.
+
+        The proxy implementation should also have a way to associate the fact that a
+        route came from JupyterHub.
+        """
+        pass
+
+    def fetch_all_routes(self):
+        """
+        Fetch and return all the routes associated by JupyterHub from the proxy
+
+        Should return a list of dictionaries, where each dictionary has the same
+        structure as the return value of `get_route`
+        """
+        pass
+
+    def get_route(self, routespec):
+        """
+        Return the route info for a given routespec
+
+        :param routespec: The route specification that was used to add this routespec
+
+        Returns a dict with the following info:
+        routespec: The normalized route specification passed in to add_route
+        target: The target for this route
+        data: The arbitrary data that was passed in by JupyterHub when adding this
+        route.
+
+        Returns `None` if there are no routes matching the given routespec
+        """
+        pass
+
+    def delete_route(self, routespec):
+        """
+        Delete a route with a given routespec if it exists.
+        """
+        pass