diff --git a/localconfig/localconfig.go b/localconfig/localconfig.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1a97ed9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/localconfig/localconfig.go
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+package localconfig
+
+import "strings"
+
+type LocalConfig struct {
+	Clusters []*Cluster
+	Hosts    []*Host
+}
+
+type Cluster struct {
+	Name   string
+	Addons []byte
+}
+
+type Host struct {
+	Name string
+	MACs []string
+	IPs  []string
+
+	Kernel string
+	Initrd string
+	Layers map[string]string
+
+	Config []byte
+}
+
+func (c *LocalConfig) ClusterByName(name string) *Cluster {
+	for _, cluster := range c.Clusters {
+		if cluster.Name == name {
+			return cluster
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (c *LocalConfig) HostByIP(ip string) *Host {
+	for _, host := range c.Hosts {
+		for _, hostIP := range host.IPs {
+			if hostIP == ip {
+				return host
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (c *LocalConfig) HostByMAC(mac string) *Host {
+	// a bit of normalization
+	mac = strings.Replace(strings.ToLower(mac), "-", ":", -1)
+
+	for _, host := range c.Hosts {
+		for _, hostMAC := range host.MACs {
+			if strings.ToLower(hostMAC) == mac {
+				return host
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}