new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libinterp/corefcn/json-util.h
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+#ifndef json_util_h
+#define json_util_h
+
+#include <json-c/json.h>
+#include <map>
+#include <list>
+
+#include "workspace-element.h"
+#include "octave-link.h"
+
+class string_vector;
+
+// All of the code interacting with the external JSON library should be in
+// the json-util.h and json-util.cc files.  This way, if we want to change
+// the external JSON library, we can do it all in one place.
+
+#define JSON_OBJECT_T json_object*
+#define JSON_MAP_T std::map<std::string, JSON_OBJECT_T>
+
+class json_util {
+public:
+	static JSON_OBJECT_T from_string(const std::string& str);
+	static JSON_OBJECT_T from_int(int i);
+	static JSON_OBJECT_T from_float(float flt);
+	static JSON_OBJECT_T from_boolean(bool b);
+	static JSON_OBJECT_T empty();
+
+	static JSON_OBJECT_T from_string_list(const std::list<std::string>& list);
+	static JSON_OBJECT_T from_string_vector(const string_vector& list);
+	static JSON_OBJECT_T from_int_list(const std::list<int>& list);
+	static JSON_OBJECT_T from_float_list(const std::list<float>& list);
+	static JSON_OBJECT_T from_workspace_list(const std::list<workspace_element>& list);
+	static JSON_OBJECT_T from_filter_list(const octave_link::filter_list& list);
+
+	static JSON_OBJECT_T from_value_string(const std::string str);
+	static JSON_OBJECT_T from_workspace_element(workspace_element element);
+	static JSON_OBJECT_T from_pair(std::pair<std::string, std::string> pair);
+
+	static JSON_OBJECT_T from_map(JSON_MAP_T m);
+
+	static std::string to_message(const std::string& name, JSON_OBJECT_T jobj);
+
+	static std::string to_string(JSON_OBJECT_T jobj);
+	static std::pair<std::list<int>, int> to_int_list_int_pair(JSON_OBJECT_T jobj);
+	static std::list<std::string> to_string_list(JSON_OBJECT_T jobj);
+	static int to_int(JSON_OBJECT_T jobj);
+	static bool to_boolean(JSON_OBJECT_T jobj);
+
+	static void read_stream(int sockfd, void (*cb)(std::string, JSON_OBJECT_T, void*), void* arg);
+
+private:
+	static void process_message(JSON_OBJECT_T jobj, void (*cb)(std::string, JSON_OBJECT_T, void*), void* arg);
+};
+
+#endif