diff --git a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/contexts/VariantContext.java b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/contexts/VariantContext.java
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..2fc64a4d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/contexts/VariantContext.java
@@ -0,0 +1,169 @@
+package org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.contexts;
+
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.GenomeLoc;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.genotype.Genotype;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.genotype.Variation;
+
+import java.util.*;
+import org.apache.commons.jexl.*;
+
+
+/**
+ * @author ebanks
+ *         <p/>
+ *         Interface VariantContext
+ *         <p/>
+ *         This class represents a context that unifies one or more variants
+ */
+public interface VariantContext {
+
+    /**
+     * @return the location of this context
+     */
+    public GenomeLoc getLocation();
+
+    /**
+     * @return the reference base or bases for this context, as a string
+     */
+    public String getReference();
+
+    /**
+     * @return true if the context is variant (i.e. contains a non-reference allele)
+     */
+    public boolean isVariant();
+
+    /**
+     * @return true if the context is strictly bi-allelic
+     */
+    public boolean isBiallelic();
+
+    /**
+     * @return true if the context represents point mutations only (i.e. no indels or structural variants)
+     */
+    public boolean isPointMutation();
+
+    /**
+     * @param sample  the sample name
+     *
+     * @return true if the context contains data for the given sample
+     */
+    public boolean hasSample(String sample);
+
+    /**
+     * @param sample  the sample name
+     *
+     * @return true if the context contains data for only a single instance of the given sample
+     */
+    public boolean hasSingleInstanceOfSample(String sample);
+
+    /**
+     * @return the number of samples in this context.
+     *      If a given sample has more than one instance in this context, each one is counted separately
+     */
+    public int size();
+
+    /**
+     * @return the number of unique samples in this context
+     */
+    public int numSamples();
+
+    /**
+     * @return the set of all unique sample names in this context
+     */
+    public Set<String> getSampleNames();
+
+    /**
+     * @return true if the context represents variants with associated genotypes
+     */
+    public boolean hasGenotypes();
+
+    /**
+     * @return set of all Genotypes associated with this context
+     */
+    public Set<Genotype> getGenotypes();
+
+    /**
+     * @param sample  the sample name
+     *
+     * @return set of all Genotypes associated with the given sample in this context
+     */
+    public Set<Genotype> getGenotypes(String sample);
+
+    /**
+     * @param sample  the sample name
+     *
+     * @return the Genotype associated with the given sample in this context or null if the sample is not in this context
+     *     throws an exception if multiple instances of the sample exist in the context
+     */
+    public Genotype getGenotype(String sample);    
+
+    /**
+     * @param sample  the sample name
+     *
+     * @return the Variation associated with the given sample in this context or null if the sample is not in this context
+     */
+    public Variation toVariation(String sample);
+
+    /**
+     * @return set of all subclasses within this context
+     */
+    public Set<String> getSubclasses();
+
+    /**
+     * @param subclass  the name of a subclass of variants to select
+     *
+     * @return a subset of this context which selects based on the given subclass
+     */
+    public VariantContext select(String subclass);
+
+    /**
+     * @param expr  a jexl expression describing how to filter this context
+     *
+     * @return a subset of this context which is filtered based on the given expression
+     */
+    public VariantContext filter(String expr);
+
+    /**
+     * @return a set of variant contexts where each one represents (all instances of) a single sample from this context
+     */
+    public Set<VariantContext> splitBySample();
+
+    /**
+     * get the alternate allele frequency of this variant context, if the context is variable.
+     * If this context is not variable or a frequency cannot be provided, this method should return 0.
+     *
+     * WARNING: This method is valid only for bi-allelic contexts; the contract is to check isBiallelic()
+     * before calling this method
+     *
+     * @return double the minor allele frequency
+     */
+    public double getNonRefAlleleFrequency();
+
+    /**
+     * get the -1 * (log 10 of the error value)
+     *
+     * @return the postive number space log based error estimate
+     */
+    public double getNegLog10PError();
+
+    /**
+     * gets the alleles.  This method should return all of the alleles present at the location,
+     * including the reference base.  The first allele should always be the reference allele, followed
+     * by an unordered list of alternate alleles. If the reference base is not an allele in this varation
+     * it will not be in the list (i.e. there is no guarantee that the reference base is in the list).
+     *
+     * @return an alternate allele list
+     */
+    public List<String> getAlleles();
+
+    /**
+     * gets the alternate alleles.  This method should return all the alleles present at the location,
+     * NOT including the reference base.  This is returned as a string list with no guarantee ordering
+     * of alleles (i.e. the first alternate allele is not always going to be the allele with the greatest
+     * frequency).
+     *
+     * @return an alternate allele list
+     */
+    public List<String> getAlternateAlleleList();
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file