diff --git a/virtcontainers/persist/api/config.go b/virtcontainers/persist/api/config.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..26f29bc4ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/virtcontainers/persist/api/config.go
@@ -0,0 +1,195 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2016 Intel Corporation
+// Copyright (c) 2018 Huawei Corporation
+//
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+//
+
+package persistapi
+
+// Param is a key/value representation for hypervisor and kernel parameters.
+type Param struct {
+	Key   string
+	Value string
+}
+
+// HypervisorConfig saves configurations of sandbox hypervisor
+type HypervisorConfig struct {
+	// NumVCPUs specifies default number of vCPUs for the VM.
+	NumVCPUs uint32
+
+	//DefaultMaxVCPUs specifies the maximum number of vCPUs for the VM.
+	DefaultMaxVCPUs uint32
+
+	// DefaultMem specifies default memory size in MiB for the VM.
+	MemorySize uint32
+
+	// DefaultBridges specifies default number of bridges for the VM.
+	// Bridges can be used to hot plug devices
+	DefaultBridges uint32
+
+	// Msize9p is used as the msize for 9p shares
+	Msize9p uint32
+
+	// MemSlots specifies default memory slots the VM.
+	MemSlots uint32
+
+	// KernelParams are additional guest kernel parameters.
+	KernelParams []Param
+
+	// HypervisorParams are additional hypervisor parameters.
+	HypervisorParams []Param
+
+	// KernelPath is the guest kernel host path.
+	KernelPath string
+
+	// ImagePath is the guest image host path.
+	ImagePath string
+
+	// InitrdPath is the guest initrd image host path.
+	// ImagePath and InitrdPath cannot be set at the same time.
+	InitrdPath string
+
+	// FirmwarePath is the bios host path
+	FirmwarePath string
+
+	// MachineAccelerators are machine specific accelerators
+	MachineAccelerators string
+
+	// HypervisorPath is the hypervisor executable host path.
+	HypervisorPath string
+
+	// BlockDeviceDriver specifies the driver to be used for block device
+	// either VirtioSCSI or VirtioBlock with the default driver being defaultBlockDriver
+	BlockDeviceDriver string
+
+	// HypervisorMachineType specifies the type of machine being
+	// emulated.
+	HypervisorMachineType string
+
+	// MemoryPath is the memory file path of VM memory. Used when either BootToBeTemplate or
+	// BootFromTemplate is true.
+	MemoryPath string
+
+	// DevicesStatePath is the VM device state file path. Used when either BootToBeTemplate or
+	// BootFromTemplate is true.
+	DevicesStatePath string
+
+	// EntropySource is the path to a host source of
+	// entropy (/dev/random, /dev/urandom or real hardware RNG device)
+	EntropySource string
+
+	// DisableBlockDeviceUse disallows a block device from being used.
+	DisableBlockDeviceUse bool
+
+	// EnableIOThreads enables IO to be processed in a separate thread.
+	// Supported currently for virtio-scsi driver.
+	EnableIOThreads bool
+
+	// Debug changes the default hypervisor and kernel parameters to
+	// enable debug output where available.
+	Debug bool
+
+	// MemPrealloc specifies if the memory should be pre-allocated
+	MemPrealloc bool
+
+	// HugePages specifies if the memory should be pre-allocated from huge pages
+	HugePages bool
+
+	// Realtime Used to enable/disable realtime
+	Realtime bool
+
+	// Mlock is used to control memory locking when Realtime is enabled
+	// Realtime=true and Mlock=false, allows for swapping out of VM memory
+	// enabling higher density
+	Mlock bool
+
+	// DisableNestingChecks is used to override customizations performed
+	// when running on top of another VMM.
+	DisableNestingChecks bool
+
+	// UseVSock use a vsock for agent communication
+	UseVSock bool
+
+	// HotplugVFIOOnRootBus is used to indicate if devices need to be hotplugged on the
+	// root bus instead of a bridge.
+	HotplugVFIOOnRootBus bool
+
+	// BootToBeTemplate used to indicate if the VM is created to be a template VM
+	BootToBeTemplate bool
+
+	// BootFromTemplate used to indicate if the VM should be created from a template VM
+	BootFromTemplate bool
+
+	// DisableVhostNet is used to indicate if host supports vhost_net
+	DisableVhostNet bool
+}
+
+// KataAgentConfig is a structure storing information needed
+// to reach the Kata Containers agent.
+type KataAgentConfig struct {
+	LongLiveConn bool
+	UseVSock     bool
+}
+
+// HyperstartConfig is a structure storing information needed for
+// hyperstart agent initialization.
+type HyperstartConfig struct {
+	SockCtlName string
+	SockTtyName string
+}
+
+// ProxyConfig is a structure storing information needed from any
+// proxy in order to be properly initialized.
+type ProxyConfig struct {
+	Path  string
+	Debug bool
+}
+
+// ShimConfig is the structure providing specific configuration
+// for shim implementation.
+type ShimConfig struct {
+	Path  string
+	Debug bool
+}
+
+// NetworkConfig is the network configuration related to a network.
+type NetworkConfig struct {
+}
+
+// SandboxConfig is a sandbox configuration.
+// Refs: virtcontainers/sandbox.go:SandboxConfig
+type SandboxConfig struct {
+	HypervisorType   string
+	HypervisorConfig HypervisorConfig
+
+	// only one agent config can be non-nil according to agent type
+	AgentType        string
+	KataAgentConfig  *KataAgentConfig  `json:",omitempty"`
+	HyperstartConfig *HyperstartConfig `json:",omitempty"`
+
+	ProxyType   string
+	ProxyConfig ProxyConfig
+
+	ShimType       string
+	KataShimConfig ShimConfig
+
+	NetworkModel  string
+	NetworkConfig NetworkConfig
+
+	ShmSize uint64
+
+	// SharePidNs sets all containers to share the same sandbox level pid namespace.
+	SharePidNs bool
+
+	// Stateful keeps sandbox resources in memory across APIs. Users will be responsible
+	// for calling Release() to release the memory resources.
+	Stateful bool
+
+	// SystemdCgroup enables systemd cgroup support
+	SystemdCgroup bool
+
+	// Information for fields not saved:
+	// * Annotation: this is kind of casual data, we don't need casual data in persist file,
+	// 				if you know this data needs to persist, please gives it
+	//				a specific field
+}
diff --git a/virtcontainers/persist/api/container.go b/virtcontainers/persist/api/container.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..73c41338cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/virtcontainers/persist/api/container.go
@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2016 Intel Corporation
+// Copyright (c) 2018 Huawei Corporation
+//
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+//
+
+package persistapi
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"time"
+)
+
+// ============= container level resources =============
+
+// DeviceMap saves how host device maps to container device
+// one hypervisor device can be
+// Refs: virtcontainers/container.go:ContainerDevice
+type DeviceMap struct {
+	// ID reference to VM device
+	ID string
+
+	// ContainerPath is device path displayed in container
+	ContainerPath string
+
+	// FileMode permission bits for the device.
+	FileMode os.FileMode
+
+	// UID is user ID in the container namespace
+	UID uint32
+
+	// GID is group ID in the container namespace
+	GID uint32
+}
+
+// Mount describes a container mount.
+type Mount struct {
+	Source      string
+	Destination string
+
+	// Type specifies the type of filesystem to mount.
+	Type string
+
+	// Options list all the mount options of the filesystem.
+	Options []string
+
+	// HostPath used to store host side bind mount path
+	HostPath string
+
+	// ReadOnly specifies if the mount should be read only or not
+	ReadOnly bool
+
+	// BlockDeviceID represents block device that is attached to the
+	// VM in case this mount is a block device file or a directory
+	// backed by a block device.
+	BlockDeviceID string
+}
+
+// RootfsState saves state of container rootfs
+type RootfsState struct {
+	// BlockDeviceID represents container rootfs block device ID
+	// when backed by devicemapper
+	BlockDeviceID string
+
+	// RootFStype is file system of the rootfs incase it is block device
+	FsType string
+}
+
+// Process gathers data related to a container process.
+// Refs: virtcontainers/container.go:Process
+type Process struct {
+	// Token is the process execution context ID. It must be
+	// unique per sandbox.
+	// Token is used to manipulate processes for containers
+	// that have not started yet, and later identify them
+	// uniquely within a sandbox.
+	Token string
+
+	// Pid is the process ID as seen by the host software
+	// stack, e.g. CRI-O, containerd. This is typically the
+	// shim PID.
+	Pid int
+
+	StartTime time.Time
+}
+
+// ContainerState represents container state
+type ContainerState struct {
+	// State is container running status
+	State string
+
+	// Rootfs contains information of container rootfs
+	Rootfs RootfsState
+
+	// ShimPid is pid of shim process for each container
+	ShimPid int
+
+	// DeviceMaps is mapping between sandbox device to dest in container
+	DeviceMaps []DeviceMap
+
+	// Mounts is mount info from OCI spec
+	Mounts []Mount
+
+	// Process on host representing container process
+	// FIXME: []Process or Process ?
+	Process []Process
+
+	// BundlePath saves container OCI config.json, which can be unmarshaled
+	// and translated to "CompatOCISpec"
+	BundlePath string
+}
diff --git a/virtcontainers/persist/api/device.go b/virtcontainers/persist/api/device.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2b30d14cf7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/virtcontainers/persist/api/device.go
@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2016 Intel Corporation
+// Copyright (c) 2018 Huawei Corporation
+//
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+//
+
+package persistapi
+
+// ============= sandbox level resources =============
+
+// BlockDrive represents a block storage drive which may be used in case the storage
+// driver has an underlying block storage device.
+type BlockDrive struct {
+	// File is the path to the disk-image/device which will be used with this drive
+	File string
+
+	// Format of the drive
+	Format string
+
+	// ID is used to identify this drive in the hypervisor options.
+	ID string
+
+	// Index assigned to the drive. In case of virtio-scsi, this is used as SCSI LUN index
+	Index int
+
+	// PCIAddr is the PCI address used to identify the slot at which the drive is attached.
+	PCIAddr string
+
+	// SCSI Address of the block device, in case the device is attached using SCSI driver
+	// SCSI address is in the format SCSI-Id:LUN
+	SCSIAddr string
+
+	// VirtPath at which the device appears inside the VM, outside of the container mount namespace
+	VirtPath string
+}
+
+// VFIODev represents a VFIO drive used for hotplugging
+type VFIODev struct {
+	// ID is used to identify this drive in the hypervisor options.
+	ID string
+
+	// Type of VFIO device
+	Type string
+
+	// BDF (Bus:Device.Function) of the PCI address
+	BDF string
+
+	// Sysfsdev of VFIO mediated device
+	SysfsDev string
+}
+
+// VhostUserDeviceAttrs represents data shared by most vhost-user devices
+type VhostUserDeviceAttrs struct {
+	DevID      string
+	SocketPath string
+	Type       string
+
+	// MacAddress is only meaningful for vhost user net device
+	MacAddress string
+}
+
+// DeviceState is sandbox level resource which represents host devices
+// plugged to hypervisor, one Device can be shared among containers in POD
+// Refs: virtcontainers/device/drivers/generic.go:GenericDevice
+type DeviceState struct {
+	ID string
+
+	// Type is used to specify driver type
+	// Refs: virtcontainers/device/config/config.go:DeviceType
+	Type string
+
+	RefCount    uint
+	AttachCount uint
+
+	// Type of device: c, b, u or p
+	// c , u - character(unbuffered)
+	// p - FIFO
+	// b - block(buffered) special file
+	// More info in mknod(1).
+	DevType string
+
+	// Major, minor numbers for device.
+	Major int64
+	Minor int64
+
+	// DriverOptions is specific options for each device driver
+	// for example, for BlockDevice, we can set DriverOptions["blockDriver"]="virtio-blk"
+	DriverOptions map[string]string
+
+	// ============ device driver specific data ===========
+	// BlockDrive is specific for block device driver
+	BlockDrive *BlockDrive `json:",omitempty"`
+
+	// VFIODev is specific VFIO device driver
+	VFIODevs []*VFIODev `json:",omitempty"`
+
+	// VhostUserDeviceAttrs is specific for vhost-user device driver
+	VhostUserDev *VhostUserDeviceAttrs `json:",omitempty"`
+	// ============ end device driver specific data ===========
+}
diff --git a/virtcontainers/persist/api/network.go b/virtcontainers/persist/api/network.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d9e889a0df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/virtcontainers/persist/api/network.go
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2016 Intel Corporation
+// Copyright (c) 2018 Huawei Corporation
+//
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+//
+
+package persistapi
+
+// ============= sandbox level resources =============
+
+// NetworkEndpoint contains network interface information
+type NetworkEndpoint struct {
+	Type string
+
+	// ID used to pass the netdev option to qemu
+	ID string
+
+	// Name of the interface
+	Name string
+
+	// Index of interface
+	Index int
+}
+
+// NetworkInfo contains network information of sandbox
+type NetworkInfo struct {
+	NetNsPath         string
+	NetmonPID         int
+	NetNsCreated      bool
+	InterworkingModel string
+	Endpoints         []NetworkEndpoint
+}
diff --git a/virtcontainers/persist/api/sandbox.go b/virtcontainers/persist/api/sandbox.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..58992de1ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/virtcontainers/persist/api/sandbox.go
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2016 Intel Corporation
+// Copyright (c) 2018 Huawei Corporation
+//
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+//
+
+package persistapi
+
+// ============= sandbox level resources =============
+
+// SetFunc is function hook used for setting sandbox/container state
+// It can be registered to dynamically set state files when dump
+type SetFunc (func(*SandboxState, map[string]ContainerState) error)
+
+// Bridge is a bridge where devices can be hot plugged
+type Bridge struct {
+	// Address contains information about devices plugged and its address in the bridge
+	DeviceAddr map[uint32]string
+
+	// Type is the type of the bridge (pci, pcie, etc)
+	Type string
+
+	//ID is used to identify the bridge in the hypervisor
+	ID string
+
+	// Addr is the PCI/e slot of the bridge
+	Addr int
+}
+
+// CPUDevice represents a CPU device which was hot-added in a running VM
+type CPUDevice struct {
+	// ID is used to identify this CPU in the hypervisor options.
+	ID string
+}
+
+// HypervisorState saves state of hypervisor
+// Refs: virtcontainers/qemu.go:QemuState
+type HypervisorState struct {
+	Pid     int
+	Bridges []Bridge
+	// HotpluggedCPUs is the list of CPUs that were hot-added
+	HotpluggedVCPUs      []CPUDevice
+	HotpluggedMemory     int
+	UUID                 string
+	HotplugVFIOOnRootBus bool
+	// TODO: should this be map[index]bool to indicate available block id??
+	BlockIndex int
+}
+
+// ProxyState save proxy state data
+type ProxyState struct {
+	// Pid of proxy process
+	Pid int
+
+	// URL to connect to proxy
+	URL string
+}
+
+// SandboxState contains state information of sandbox
+type SandboxState struct {
+	// PersistVersion of persist data format, can be used for keeping compatibility later
+	PersistVersion uint
+
+	// SandboxContainer specifies which container is used to start the sandbox/vm
+	SandboxContainer string
+
+	// Devices plugged to sandbox(hypervisor)
+	Devices []DeviceState
+
+	// HypervisorState saves hypervisor specific data
+	HypervisorState HypervisorState
+
+	// ProxyState saves state data of proxy process
+	ProxyState ProxyState
+
+	// Network saves network configuration of sandbox
+	Network NetworkInfo
+
+	// GuestMemoryBlockSizeMB is the size of memory block of guestos
+	GuestMemoryBlockSizeMB uint32
+
+	// Config saves config information of sandbox
+	Config SandboxConfig
+}
diff --git a/virtcontainers/persist/api/version.go b/virtcontainers/persist/api/version.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2423ee0c6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/virtcontainers/persist/api/version.go
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2018 Huawei Corporation
+//
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+//
+
+package persistapi
+
+const (
+	// CurPersistVersion is current persist data version.
+	// This can help keep backward compatibility, if you make
+	// some changes in persistapi package which needs different
+	// handling process between different runtime versions, you
+	// should modify `CurPersistVersion` and handle persist data
+	// according to it.
+	// If you can't be sure if the change in persistapi package
+	// requires a bump of CurPersistVersion or not, do it for peace!
+	// --@WeiZhang555
+	CurPersistVersion uint = 1
+)