diff --git a/bindings-python/build/lib/gci/__init__.py b/bindings-python/build/lib/gci/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/bindings-python/build/lib/gci/componentmodel.py b/bindings-python/build/lib/gci/componentmodel.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b6bdc650
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bindings-python/build/lib/gci/componentmodel.py
@@ -0,0 +1,169 @@
+import dataclasses
+import enum
+import io
+import typing
+
+import dacite
+import yaml
+
+dc = dataclasses.dataclass
+
+
+class SchemaVersion(enum.Enum):
+    V1 = 'v1'
+    V2 = 'v2'
+
+
+class AccessType(enum.Enum):
+    OCI_REGISTRY = 'ociRegistry'
+    GITHUB = 'github'
+    HTTP = 'http'
+    NONE = 'None' # the resource is only declared informally (e.g. generic)
+
+
+class SourceType(enum.Enum):
+    GIT = 'git'
+
+
+class ResourceType(enum.Enum):
+    OCI_IMAGE = 'ociImage'
+    GENERIC = 'generic'
+
+
+@dc(frozen=True)
+class ResourceAccess:
+    type: AccessType
+
+
+@dc(frozen=True)
+class OciAccess(ResourceAccess):
+    imageReference: str
+
+
+@dc(frozen=True)
+class GithubAccess(ResourceAccess):
+    repoUrl: str
+    ref: str
+    type: AccessType
+
+
+@dc(frozen=True)
+class HttpAccess(ResourceAccess):
+    url: str
+
+
+@dc(frozen=True)
+class Label:
+    name: str
+    value: typing.Union[str, int, float, bool, dict]
+
+
+class Provider(enum.Enum):
+    '''
+    internal: from repositoryContext-owner
+    external: from 3rd-party (not repositoryContext-owner)
+    '''
+    INTERNAL = 'internal'
+    EXTERNAL = 'external'
+
+
+@dc(frozen=True)
+class Metadata:
+    schemaVersion: SchemaVersion = SchemaVersion.V2
+
+
+
+@dc(frozen=True)
+class ComponentReference:
+    name: str
+    version: str
+    labels: typing.List[Label] = dataclasses.field(default_factory=list)
+
+
+@dc(frozen=True)
+class Resource:
+    name: str
+    version: str
+    type: ResourceType
+    access: typing.Union[
+        ResourceAccess,
+        OciAccess,
+        GithubAccess,
+        HttpAccess,
+        None
+    ]
+    labels: typing.List[Label] = dataclasses.field(default_factory=list)
+
+
+@dc
+class RepositoryContext:
+    baseUrl: str
+    type: AccessType = AccessType.OCI_REGISTRY
+
+
+@dc
+class ComponentSource:
+    name: str
+    access: typing.Union[
+        GithubAccess,
+    ]
+    type: SourceType = SourceType.GIT
+    labels: typing.List[Label] = dataclasses.field(default_factory=list)
+
+
+@dc
+class Component:
+    name: str    # must be valid URL w/o schema
+    version: str # relaxed semver
+
+    repositoryContexts: typing.List[RepositoryContext]
+    provider: Provider
+
+    sources: typing.List[ComponentSource]
+    componentReferences: typing.List[ComponentReference]
+    localResources: typing.List[Resource]
+    externalResources: typing.List[Resource]
+
+    labels: typing.List[Label] = dataclasses.field(default_factory=list)
+
+
+@dc
+class ComponentDescriptor:
+    meta: Metadata
+    component: Component
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def from_dict(component_descriptor_dict: dict):
+        component_descriptor = dacite.from_dict(
+            data_class=ComponentDescriptor,
+            data=component_descriptor_dict,
+            config=dacite.Config(
+                cast=[
+                    AccessType,
+                    Provider,
+                    ResourceType,
+                    SchemaVersion,
+                    SourceType,
+                ]
+            )
+        )
+
+        return component_descriptor
+
+    def to_fobj(self, fileobj: io.BytesIO):
+        raw_dict = dataclasses.asdict(self)
+        yaml.dump(
+            data=raw_dict,
+            stream=fileobj,
+            Dumper=EnumValueYamlDumper,
+        )
+
+
+class EnumValueYamlDumper(yaml.SafeDumper):
+    '''
+    a yaml.SafeDumper that will dump enum objects using their values
+    '''
+    def represent_data(self, data):
+        if isinstance(data, enum.Enum):
+            return self.represent_data(data.value)
+        return super().represent_data(data)
diff --git a/bindings-python/build/lib/gci/oci.py b/bindings-python/build/lib/gci/oci.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e607f845
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bindings-python/build/lib/gci/oci.py
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+import dataclasses
+import io
+import logging
+import os
+import tarfile
+import typing
+import yaml
+
+import gci.componentmodel
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+component_descriptor_fname = 'component-descriptor.yaml'
+
+
+def component_descriptor_to_tarfileobj(
+    component_descriptor: typing.Union[dict, gci.componentmodel.ComponentDescriptor],
+):
+    if not isinstance(component_descriptor, dict):
+        component_descriptor = dataclasses.asdict(component_descriptor)
+
+    component_descriptor_buf = io.BytesIO(
+        yaml.dump(
+          data=component_descriptor,
+          Dumper=gci.componentmodel.EnumValueYamlDumper,
+        ).encode('utf-8')
+    )
+    component_descriptor_buf.seek(0, os.SEEK_END)
+    component_descriptor_leng = component_descriptor_buf.tell()
+    component_descriptor_buf.seek(0)
+
+    tar_buf = io.BytesIO()
+
+    tf = tarfile.open(mode='w', fileobj=tar_buf)
+
+    tar_info = tarfile.TarInfo(name=component_descriptor_fname)
+    tar_info.size = component_descriptor_leng
+
+    tf.addfile(tarinfo=tar_info, fileobj=component_descriptor_buf)
+    tf.fileobj.seek(0)
+
+    return tf.fileobj
+
+
+def component_descriptor_from_tarfileobj(
+    fileobj: io.BytesIO,
+):
+    with tarfile.open(fileobj=fileobj, mode='r') as tf:
+        component_descriptor_info = tf.getmember(component_descriptor_fname)
+        raw_dict = yaml.safe_load(tf.extractfile(component_descriptor_info).read())
+
+        logger.debug(raw_dict)
+
+        if raw_dict is None:
+          raise ValueError('Component Descriptor appears to be empty')
+
+        return gci.componentmodel.ComponentDescriptor.from_dict(raw_dict)
diff --git a/bindings-python/dist/gardener-component-model-0.0.0.tar.gz b/bindings-python/dist/gardener-component-model-0.0.0.tar.gz
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c1a306c9
Binary files /dev/null and b/bindings-python/dist/gardener-component-model-0.0.0.tar.gz differ
diff --git a/bindings-python/dist/gardener_component_model-0.0.0-py3-none-any.whl b/bindings-python/dist/gardener_component_model-0.0.0-py3-none-any.whl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..47e76ae4
Binary files /dev/null and b/bindings-python/dist/gardener_component_model-0.0.0-py3-none-any.whl differ
diff --git a/bindings-python/gardener_component_model.egg-info/PKG-INFO b/bindings-python/gardener_component_model.egg-info/PKG-INFO
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ecd78013
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bindings-python/gardener_component_model.egg-info/PKG-INFO
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+Metadata-Version: 1.2
+Name: gardener-component-model
+Version: 0.0.0
+Summary: Gardener Component Model
+Home-page: UNKNOWN
+License: UNKNOWN
+Description: UNKNOWN
+Platform: UNKNOWN
+Requires-Python: >=3.8.*
diff --git a/bindings-python/gardener_component_model.egg-info/SOURCES.txt b/bindings-python/gardener_component_model.egg-info/SOURCES.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4b584b00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bindings-python/gardener_component_model.egg-info/SOURCES.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+setup.py
+gardener_component_model.egg-info/PKG-INFO
+gardener_component_model.egg-info/SOURCES.txt
+gardener_component_model.egg-info/dependency_links.txt
+gardener_component_model.egg-info/requires.txt
+gardener_component_model.egg-info/top_level.txt
+gci/__init__.py
+gci/componentmodel.py
+gci/oci.py
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/bindings-python/gardener_component_model.egg-info/dependency_links.txt b/bindings-python/gardener_component_model.egg-info/dependency_links.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8b137891
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bindings-python/gardener_component_model.egg-info/dependency_links.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+
diff --git a/bindings-python/gardener_component_model.egg-info/requires.txt b/bindings-python/gardener_component_model.egg-info/requires.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1f97717c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bindings-python/gardener_component_model.egg-info/requires.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+jsonschema
+PyYaml
diff --git a/bindings-python/gardener_component_model.egg-info/top_level.txt b/bindings-python/gardener_component_model.egg-info/top_level.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2e47c913
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bindings-python/gardener_component_model.egg-info/top_level.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+gci