diff --git a/etcd/world.go b/etcd/world.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..76efed2d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/etcd/world.go
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+// Mgmt
+// Copyright (C) 2013-2016+ James Shubin and the project contributors
+// Written by James Shubin <james@shubin.ca> and the project contributors
+//
+// This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+// it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
+// the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+// (at your option) any later version.
+//
+// This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+// GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+//
+// You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+// along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+package etcd
+
+import (
+	"github.com/purpleidea/mgmt/resources"
+)
+
+// World is an etcd backed implementation of the World interface.
+type World struct {
+	Hostname string // uuid for the consumer of these
+	EmbdEtcd *EmbdEtcd
+}
+
+// ResExport exports a list of resources under our hostname namespace.
+// Subsequent calls replace the previously set collection atomically.
+func (obj *World) ResExport(resourceList []resources.Res) error {
+	return EtcdSetResources(obj.EmbdEtcd, obj.Hostname, resourceList)
+}
+
+// ResCollect gets the collection of exported resources which match the filter.
+// It does this atomically so that a call always returns a complete collection.
+func (obj *World) ResCollect(hostnameFilter, kindFilter []string) ([]resources.Res, error) {
+	// XXX: should we be restricted to retrieving resources that were
+	// exported with a tag that allows or restricts our hostname? We could
+	// enforce that here if the underlying API supported it... Add this?
+	return EtcdGetResources(obj.EmbdEtcd, hostnameFilter, kindFilter)
+}
diff --git a/examples/lib/libmgmt1.go b/examples/lib/libmgmt1.go
index 0865720c..61c07800 100644
--- a/examples/lib/libmgmt1.go
+++ b/examples/lib/libmgmt1.go
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ func (obj *MyGAPI) Graph() (*pgraph.Graph, error) {
 		Comment: "comment!",
 	}
 
-	g, err := gc.NewGraphFromConfig(obj.data.Hostname, obj.data.EmbdEtcd, obj.data.Noop)
+	g, err := gc.NewGraphFromConfig(obj.data.Hostname, obj.data.World, obj.data.Noop)
 	return g, err
 }
 
diff --git a/examples/lib/libmgmt2.go b/examples/lib/libmgmt2.go
index 9f27cf76..33770416 100644
--- a/examples/lib/libmgmt2.go
+++ b/examples/lib/libmgmt2.go
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ func (obj *MyGAPI) Graph() (*pgraph.Graph, error) {
 		vertex = v // save
 	}
 
-	//g, err := config.NewGraphFromConfig(obj.data.Hostname, obj.data.EmbdEtcd, obj.data.Noop)
+	//g, err := config.NewGraphFromConfig(obj.data.Hostname, obj.data.World, obj.data.Noop)
 	return g, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/examples/lib/libmgmt3.go b/examples/lib/libmgmt3.go
index 0e98ca93..c59725aa 100644
--- a/examples/lib/libmgmt3.go
+++ b/examples/lib/libmgmt3.go
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ func (obj *MyGAPI) Graph() (*pgraph.Graph, error) {
 	e2.Notify = true // send a notification from v2 to v3
 	g.AddEdge(v2, v3, e2)
 
-	//g, err := config.NewGraphFromConfig(obj.data.Hostname, obj.data.EmbdEtcd, obj.data.Noop)
+	//g, err := config.NewGraphFromConfig(obj.data.Hostname, obj.data.World, obj.data.Noop)
 	return g, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/gapi/gapi.go b/gapi/gapi.go
index 67d48247..96a7e22f 100644
--- a/gapi/gapi.go
+++ b/gapi/gapi.go
@@ -19,14 +19,23 @@
 package gapi
 
 import (
-	"github.com/purpleidea/mgmt/etcd"
 	"github.com/purpleidea/mgmt/pgraph"
+	"github.com/purpleidea/mgmt/resources"
 )
 
+// World is an interface to the rest of the different graph state. It allows
+// the GAPI to store state and exchange information throughout the cluster. It
+// is the interface each machine uses to communicate with the rest of the world.
+type World interface { // TODO: is there a better name for this interface?
+	ResExport([]resources.Res) error
+	// FIXME: should this method take a "filter" data struct instead of many args?
+	ResCollect(hostnameFilter, kindFilter []string) ([]resources.Res, error)
+}
+
 // Data is the set of input values passed into the GAPI structs via Init.
 type Data struct {
 	Hostname string // uuid for the host, required for GAPI
-	EmbdEtcd *etcd.EmbdEtcd
+	World    World
 	Noop     bool
 	NoWatch  bool
 	// NOTE: we can add more fields here if needed by GAPI endpoints
diff --git a/mgmtmain/main.go b/mgmtmain/main.go
index c536196b..dccb737e 100644
--- a/mgmtmain/main.go
+++ b/mgmtmain/main.go
@@ -324,9 +324,13 @@ func (obj *Main) Run() error {
 	if obj.GAPI != nil {
 		data := gapi.Data{
 			Hostname: hostname,
-			EmbdEtcd: EmbdEtcd,
-			Noop:     obj.Noop,
-			NoWatch:  obj.NoWatch,
+			// NOTE: alternate implementations can be substituted in
+			World: &etcd.World{
+				Hostname: hostname,
+				EmbdEtcd: EmbdEtcd,
+			},
+			Noop:    obj.Noop,
+			NoWatch: obj.NoWatch,
 		}
 		if err := obj.GAPI.Init(data); err != nil {
 			obj.Exit(fmt.Errorf("Main: GAPI: Init failed: %v", err))
diff --git a/puppet/gapi.go b/puppet/gapi.go
index 4faeb0a6..339437aa 100644
--- a/puppet/gapi.go
+++ b/puppet/gapi.go
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ func (obj *GAPI) Graph() (*pgraph.Graph, error) {
 	if config == nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Puppet: ParseConfigFromPuppet returned nil!")
 	}
-	g, err := config.NewGraphFromConfig(obj.data.Hostname, obj.data.EmbdEtcd, obj.data.Noop)
+	g, err := config.NewGraphFromConfig(obj.data.Hostname, obj.data.World, obj.data.Noop)
 	return g, err
 }
 
diff --git a/yamlgraph/gapi.go b/yamlgraph/gapi.go
index 044f94b1..aab76d8e 100644
--- a/yamlgraph/gapi.go
+++ b/yamlgraph/gapi.go
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ func (obj *GAPI) Graph() (*pgraph.Graph, error) {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("yamlgraph: ParseConfigFromFile returned nil")
 	}
 
-	g, err := config.NewGraphFromConfig(obj.data.Hostname, obj.data.EmbdEtcd, obj.data.Noop)
+	g, err := config.NewGraphFromConfig(obj.data.Hostname, obj.data.World, obj.data.Noop)
 	return g, err
 }
 
diff --git a/yamlgraph/gconfig.go b/yamlgraph/gconfig.go
index 4cae5df2..b5b36476 100644
--- a/yamlgraph/gconfig.go
+++ b/yamlgraph/gconfig.go
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import (
 	"reflect"
 	"strings"
 
-	"github.com/purpleidea/mgmt/etcd"
+	"github.com/purpleidea/mgmt/gapi"
 	"github.com/purpleidea/mgmt/global"
 	"github.com/purpleidea/mgmt/pgraph"
 	"github.com/purpleidea/mgmt/resources"
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ func (c *GraphConfig) Parse(data []byte) error {
 
 // NewGraphFromConfig transforms a GraphConfig struct into a new graph.
 // FIXME: remove any possibly left over, now obsolete graph diff code from here!
-func (c *GraphConfig) NewGraphFromConfig(hostname string, embdEtcd *etcd.EmbdEtcd, noop bool) (*pgraph.Graph, error) {
+func (c *GraphConfig) NewGraphFromConfig(hostname string, world gapi.World, noop bool) (*pgraph.Graph, error) {
 	// hostname is the uuid for the host
 
 	var graph *pgraph.Graph          // new graph to return
@@ -145,19 +145,19 @@ func (c *GraphConfig) NewGraphFromConfig(hostname string, embdEtcd *etcd.EmbdEtc
 				keep = append(keep, v)          // append
 
 			} else if !noop { // do not export any resources if noop
-				// store for addition to etcd storage...
+				// store for addition to backend storage...
 				res.SetName(res.GetName()[2:]) //slice off @@
 				res.SetKind(kind)              // cheap init
 				resourceList = append(resourceList, res)
 			}
 		}
 	}
-	// store in etcd
-	if err := etcd.EtcdSetResources(embdEtcd, hostname, resourceList); err != nil {
+	// store in backend (usually etcd)
+	if err := world.ResExport(resourceList); err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Config: Could not export resources: %v", err)
 	}
 
-	// lookup from etcd
+	// lookup from backend (usually etcd)
 	var hostnameFilter []string // empty to get from everyone
 	kindFilter := []string{}
 	for _, t := range c.Collector {
@@ -165,11 +165,11 @@ func (c *GraphConfig) NewGraphFromConfig(hostname string, embdEtcd *etcd.EmbdEtc
 		kind := util.FirstToUpper(t.Kind)
 		kindFilter = append(kindFilter, kind)
 	}
-	// do all the graph look ups in one single step, so that if the etcd
+	// do all the graph look ups in one single step, so that if the backend
 	// database changes, we don't have a partial state of affairs...
 	if len(kindFilter) > 0 { // if kindFilter is empty, don't need to do lookups!
 		var err error
-		resourceList, err = etcd.EtcdGetResources(embdEtcd, hostnameFilter, kindFilter)
+		resourceList, err = world.ResCollect(hostnameFilter, kindFilter)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("Config: Could not collect resources: %v", err)
 		}
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ func (c *GraphConfig) NewGraphFromConfig(hostname string, embdEtcd *etcd.EmbdEtc
 		for _, t := range c.Collector {
 			// XXX: should we just drop these everywhere and have the kind strings be all lowercase?
 			kind := util.FirstToUpper(t.Kind)
-			// use t.Kind and optionally t.Pattern to collect from etcd storage
+			// use t.Kind and optionally t.Pattern to collect from storage
 			log.Printf("Collect: %v; Pattern: %v", kind, t.Pattern)
 
 			// XXX: expand to more complex pattern matching here...