diff --git a/doc/conf.py b/doc/conf.py
index 866653625acb09a79319be6bec7c07872081f38f..8ff4e0bb27f8135e1dc077983c3de932a876cb5c 100644
--- a/doc/conf.py
+++ b/doc/conf.py
@@ -280,5 +280,6 @@ intersphinx_mapping = {
     'https://documen.tician.de/pyopencl': None,
     'https://documen.tician.de/meshpy': None,
     'https://documen.tician.de/modepy': None,
-    'https://documen.tician.de/loopy': None
+    'https://documen.tician.de/loopy': None,
+    'https://firedrakeproject.org/' : None
 }
diff --git a/meshmode/interop/__init__.py b/meshmode/interop/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..e3ca48fcdd993039aceb1818febd4b011257ecc0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meshmode/interop/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+__copyright__ = "Copyright (C) 2014 Andreas Kloeckner"
+
+__license__ = """
+Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
+all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
+THE SOFTWARE.
+"""
+
+from abc import ABC
+
+__doc__ = """
+Development Interface
+---------------------
+.. autoclass:: Interoperator
+"""
+
+
+class Interoperator(ABC):
+    """
+    An object which handles the interoperation of an external
+    object with its closest meshmode representation
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        pass
+
+    def as_meshmode(self):
+        pass
+
+    def as_external(self):
+        pass
+
+    def __hash__(self):
+        pass
+
+    def __eq__(self, other):
+        pass
+
+    def __neq__(self, other):
+        return not self.__eq__(other)
+
+
+# vim: fdm=marker