diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3aab6ef08..1ceae5fc6 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,2 +1,6 @@
 # tiller
 helmd
+
+# Runtime Requirements
+
+- kubectl 1.2 or later
diff --git a/_proto/helm.proto b/_proto/helm.proto
index c14fc00b1..bf6f4bbeb 100644
--- a/_proto/helm.proto
+++ b/_proto/helm.proto
@@ -20,3 +20,13 @@ message PingRequest {
 message PingResponse {
   string status = 1;
 }
+
+message Chart {
+  string name = 1;
+}
+message Values {
+  string name = 1;
+}
+message Release {
+  string name = 1;
+}
diff --git a/cmd/tiller/environment/environment.go b/cmd/tiller/environment/environment.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e92eb77cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/tiller/environment/environment.go
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+package environment
+
+import (
+	"github.com/deis/tiller/pkg/hapi"
+)
+
+// EngineYard maps engine names to engine implementations.
+type EngineYard map[string]Engine
+
+func (y EngineYard) Get(k string) (Engine, bool) {
+	e, ok := y[k]
+	return e, ok
+}
+
+// Engine represents a template engine that can render templates.
+//
+// For some engines, "rendering" includes both compiling and executing. (Other
+// engines do not distinguish between phases.)
+//
+// An Engine must be capable of executing multiple concurrent requests, but
+// without tainting one request's environment with data from another request.
+type Engine interface {
+	Render(*hapi.Chart, *hapi.Values) ([]byte, error)
+}
+
+// ReleaseStorage represents a storage engine for a Release.
+//
+// Release storage must be concurrency safe.
+type ReleaseStorage interface {
+	Get(key string) (*hapi.Release, error)
+	Set(key string, val *hapi.Release) error
+}
+
+// KubeClient represents a client capable of communicating with the Kubernetes API.
+//
+// A KubeClient must be concurrency safe.
+type KubeClient interface {
+	Install(manifest []byte) error
+}
+
+// Environment provides the context for executing a client request.
+//
+// All services in a context are concurrency safe.
+type Environment struct {
+	// EngineYard provides access to the known template engines.
+	EngineYard EngineYard
+	// Releases stores records of releases.
+	Releases ReleaseStorage
+	// KubeClient is a Kubernetes API client.
+	KubeClient KubeClient
+}
+
+// New returns an environment initialized with the defaults.
+func New() *Environment {
+	return &Environment{}
+}
diff --git a/cmd/tiller/environment/environment_test.go b/cmd/tiller/environment/environment_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d265fd26a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/tiller/environment/environment_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+package environment
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/deis/tiller/pkg/hapi"
+)
+
+type mockEngine struct {
+	out []byte
+}
+
+func (e *mockEngine) Render(chrt *hapi.Chart, v *hapi.Values) ([]byte, error) {
+	return e.out, nil
+}
+
+var _ Engine = &mockEngine{}
+
+func TestEngine(t *testing.T) {
+	eng := &mockEngine{out: []byte("test")}
+
+	env := New()
+	env.EngineYard = EngineYard(map[string]Engine{"test": eng})
+
+	if engine, ok := env.EngineYard.Get("test"); !ok {
+		t.Errorf("failed to get engine from EngineYard")
+	} else if out, err := engine.Render(&hapi.Chart{}, &hapi.Values{}); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("unexpected template error: %s", err)
+	} else if string(out) != "test" {
+		t.Errorf("expected 'test', got %q", string(out))
+	}
+}
diff --git a/docs/developers.md b/docs/developers.md
index c6975f6b8..73edcfa52 100644
--- a/docs/developers.md
+++ b/docs/developers.md
@@ -5,6 +5,11 @@ Helm and Tiller.
 
 ## Prerequisites
 
+- Go 1.6.0 or later
+- kubectl 1.2 or later
+- A Kubernetes cluster (optional)
+- The gRPC toolchain
+
 Tiller uses gRPC. To get started with gRPC, you will need to...
 
 - Install `protoc` for compiling protobuf files. Releases are
diff --git a/pkg/hapi/helm.pb.go b/pkg/hapi/helm.pb.go
index e0f45463c..f8dd39fff 100644
--- a/pkg/hapi/helm.pb.go
+++ b/pkg/hapi/helm.pb.go
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ It is generated from these files:
 It has these top-level messages:
 	PingRequest
 	PingResponse
+	Chart
+	Values
+	Release
 */
 package hapi
 
@@ -54,9 +57,39 @@ func (m *PingResponse) String() string            { return proto.CompactTextStri
 func (*PingResponse) ProtoMessage()               {}
 func (*PingResponse) Descriptor() ([]byte, []int) { return fileDescriptor0, []int{1} }
 
+type Chart struct {
+	Name string `protobuf:"bytes,1,opt,name=name" json:"name,omitempty"`
+}
+
+func (m *Chart) Reset()                    { *m = Chart{} }
+func (m *Chart) String() string            { return proto.CompactTextString(m) }
+func (*Chart) ProtoMessage()               {}
+func (*Chart) Descriptor() ([]byte, []int) { return fileDescriptor0, []int{2} }
+
+type Values struct {
+	Name string `protobuf:"bytes,1,opt,name=name" json:"name,omitempty"`
+}
+
+func (m *Values) Reset()                    { *m = Values{} }
+func (m *Values) String() string            { return proto.CompactTextString(m) }
+func (*Values) ProtoMessage()               {}
+func (*Values) Descriptor() ([]byte, []int) { return fileDescriptor0, []int{3} }
+
+type Release struct {
+	Name string `protobuf:"bytes,1,opt,name=name" json:"name,omitempty"`
+}
+
+func (m *Release) Reset()                    { *m = Release{} }
+func (m *Release) String() string            { return proto.CompactTextString(m) }
+func (*Release) ProtoMessage()               {}
+func (*Release) Descriptor() ([]byte, []int) { return fileDescriptor0, []int{4} }
+
 func init() {
 	proto.RegisterType((*PingRequest)(nil), "hapi.PingRequest")
 	proto.RegisterType((*PingResponse)(nil), "hapi.PingResponse")
+	proto.RegisterType((*Chart)(nil), "hapi.Chart")
+	proto.RegisterType((*Values)(nil), "hapi.Values")
+	proto.RegisterType((*Release)(nil), "hapi.Release")
 }
 
 // Reference imports to suppress errors if they are not otherwise used.
@@ -127,15 +160,17 @@ var _Probe_serviceDesc = grpc.ServiceDesc{
 }
 
 var fileDescriptor0 = []byte{
-	// 149 bytes of a gzipped FileDescriptorProto
+	// 182 bytes of a gzipped FileDescriptorProto
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+	0xf3, 0xed, 0x05, 0x01, 0x00, 0x00,
 }