diff --git a/build b/build
index 166df99f9..47f91d514 100755
--- a/build
+++ b/build
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ rm -rf $TARGET
 mkdir $TARGET
 
 # find all protocol buffer files in src directory
-PROTO_FILES=`find src -name *.proto`
+#PROTO_FILES=`find src -name *.proto`
+PROTO_FILES=src/client_container.proto
 
 # make variables available to sub-scripts
 export SRC TARGET PROTO_FILES
diff --git a/build_protoc b/build_protoc
index 452a2dc25..47c2a6fd2 100755
--- a/build_protoc
+++ b/build_protoc
@@ -3,9 +3,12 @@
 # this build file uses protoc to build all protocol buffers
 # http://code.google.com/p/protobuf/downloads/list
 
+
 TARGET_CPP="$TARGET/cpp"
+TARGET_JAVA="$TARGET/java"
 
 mkdir -p "$TARGET_CPP"
+mkdir -p "$TARGET_JAVA"
 
 # if you don't want to put protoc on the command line,
 # then set a PROTOC environment variable
@@ -20,3 +23,5 @@ set -e
 
 echo "building cpp protocol buffers"
 $PROTOC $PROTO_FILES --cpp_out=$TARGET_CPP --proto_path=$SRC
+echo "building java protocol buffers"
+$PROTOC $PROTO_FILES --java_out=$TARGET_JAVA --proto_path=$SRC
diff --git a/ivy.xml b/ivy.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3e6df90b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ivy.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+<ivy-module version="1.0">
+    <info organisation="pgmigrate" module="java"/>
+    <configurations>
+        <conf name="default"/>
+        <conf name="test"/>
+    </configurations>
+    <dependencies>
+        <dependency org="com.google.protobuf" name="protobuf-java" rev="2.4.1"/>
+    </dependencies>
+</ivy-module>
diff --git a/ivysettings.xml b/ivysettings.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ba74af988
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ivysettings.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+<ivysettings>
+  <settings defaultResolver="maven"/>
+  <resolvers>
+    <chain name="maven">
+      <ibiblio name="ibiblio" m2compatible="true" />
+    </chain>
+  </resolvers>
+</ivysettings>
diff --git a/package_java b/package_java
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..83bb0e8da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/package_java
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# not yet integrated into any formal build step.
+# usage: after you've run ./build, run ./package_java to generate a jar
+set -e
+
+echo "packaging java"
+# retrieve protocol buffer dependency
+java -jar $IVY -sync -retrieve "target/lib/[conf]/[artifact]-[type].[ext]"
+# compile java file generated by protocol buffrs
+javac -cp target/lib/default/protobuf-java-jar.jar target/java/jampb/ClientContainer.java
+pushd target/java/jampb
+# create jar with all classes generated by javac 
+jar cvf jampb-clientcontainer.jar `find . -name \*.class` 
+popd
+
diff --git a/src/client_container.proto b/src/client_container.proto
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7a721325d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/client_container.proto
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+
+package jampb;
+
+message ClientMessage {
+    enum Type { LOGIN = 1; JOIN_JAM_SESSION = 2;}
+
+    // Identifies which inner message is filled in
+    required Type type = 1;
+    required string target = 2;
+    
+    // One of the following messages can be populated
+    optional Login login = 100;
+    optional JoinJamSession join_jam_session = 101;
+}
+
+message JoinJamSession {
+  optional string user_token = 1; // token provided from previous login
+  optional string jam_session_id = 2; // id for jam_session
+}
+
+message Login {
+  optional string username = 1; // username
+  optional string token = 2; // a token provided by the server that validates this user
+}
diff --git a/src/login.proto b/src/login.proto
deleted file mode 100644
index 4f960f2ca..000000000
--- a/src/login.proto
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-message Login {
-  optional string username = 1; // username
-  optional string token = 2; // a token provided by the server that validates this user
-}