diff --git a/internal/db/db.go b/internal/db/db.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..86fb0b93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/db/db.go
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+package db
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+
+	"github.com/canonical/chisel/internal/jsonwall"
+	"github.com/klauspost/compress/zstd"
+)
+
+const schema = "0.1"
+
+
+// New creates a new Chisel DB writer with the proper schema.
+func New() *jsonwall.DBWriter {
+	options := jsonwall.DBWriterOptions{Schema: schema}
+	return jsonwall.NewDBWriter(&options)
+}
+
+func dbPath(root string) string {
+	return filepath.Join(root, ".chisel.db")
+}
+
+// Save uses the provided writer dbw to write the Chisel DB into the standard
+// path under the provided root directory.
+func Save(dbw *jsonwall.DBWriter, root string) error {
+	f, err := os.OpenFile(dbPath(root), os.O_WRONLY|os.O_CREATE|os.O_TRUNC, 0644)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer f.Close()
+	// chmod the existing file
+	if err := f.Chmod(0644); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	zw, err := zstd.NewWriter(f)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if _, err := dbw.WriteTo(zw); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	zw.Close()
+	return nil
+}
+
+// Load reads a Chisel DB from the standard path under the provided root
+// directory. If the Chisel DB doesn't exist, the returned error satisfies
+// os.IsNotExist(err).
+func Load(root string) (*jsonwall.DB, error) {
+	f, err := os.Open(dbPath(root))
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	defer f.Close()
+	zr, err := zstd.NewReader(f)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	db, err := jsonwall.ReadDB(zr)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	if s := db.Schema(); s != schema {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid schema %#v", s)
+	}
+	return db, nil
+}
diff --git a/internal/db/db_test.go b/internal/db/db_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e1536030
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/db/db_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+package db_test
+
+import (
+	"sort"
+
+	"github.com/canonical/chisel/internal/db"
+	. "gopkg.in/check.v1"
+)
+
+type testEntry struct {
+	S string          `json:"s,omitempty"`
+	I int64           `json:"i,omitempty"`
+	L []string        `json:"l,omitempty"`
+	M map[string]bool `json:"m,omitempty"`
+}
+
+var roundTripTestCase = []testEntry{
+	{"", 0, nil, nil},
+	{"hello", -1, nil, nil},
+	{"", 0, nil, nil},
+	{"", 100, []string{"a", "b"}, nil},
+	{"", 0, nil, map[string]bool{"a": true, "b": false}},
+	{"abc", 123, []string{"foo", "bar"}, nil},
+}
+
+func (s *S) TestSaveLoadRoundTrip(c *C) {
+	// To compare expected and obtained entries we first wrap the original
+	// entries in wrappers with increasing K. When we read the wrappers back
+	// they may be in different order because jsonwall sorts them serialized
+	// as JSON. So we sort them by K to compare them in the original order.
+
+	type wrapper struct {
+		// test values
+		testEntry
+		// sort key for comparison
+		K int `json:"key"`
+	}
+
+	// wrap the entries with increasing K
+	expected := make([]wrapper, len(roundTripTestCase))
+	for i, entry := range roundTripTestCase {
+		expected[i] = wrapper{entry, i}
+	}
+
+	workDir := c.MkDir()
+	dbw := db.New()
+	for _, entry := range expected {
+		err := dbw.Add(entry)
+		c.Assert(err, IsNil)
+	}
+	err := db.Save(dbw, workDir)
+	c.Assert(err, IsNil)
+
+	dbr, err := db.Load(workDir)
+	c.Assert(err, IsNil)
+	c.Assert(dbr.Schema(), Equals, db.Schema)
+
+	iter, err := dbr.Iterate(nil)
+	c.Assert(err, IsNil)
+
+	obtained := make([]wrapper, 0, len(expected))
+	for iter.Next() {
+		var wrapped wrapper
+		err := iter.Get(&wrapped)
+		c.Assert(err, IsNil)
+		obtained = append(obtained, wrapped)
+	}
+
+	// sort the entries by K to get the original order
+	sort.Slice(obtained, func(i, j int) bool {
+		return obtained[i].K < obtained[j].K
+	})
+	c.Assert(obtained, DeepEquals, expected)
+}
diff --git a/internal/db/export_test.go b/internal/db/export_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f04ccf3b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/db/export_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+package db
+
+var Schema = schema
diff --git a/internal/db/suite_test.go b/internal/db/suite_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4334c717
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/db/suite_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+package db_test
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	. "gopkg.in/check.v1"
+)
+
+func Test(t *testing.T) {
+	TestingT(t)
+}
+
+type S struct{}
+
+var _ = Suite(&S{})