diff --git a/chord/client.go b/chord/client.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d1460fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/chord/client.go
@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+package chord
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"net/netip"
+)
+
+// Client represents the communications a Chord node performs.
+type Client interface {
+	// FindSuccessor asks s to find the first peer in the network preceding id.
+	FindSuccessor(ctx context.Context, s Peer, id ID) (Peer, error)
+	// Notify tells s we believe n to be its predecessor.
+	Notify(ctx context.Context, n *Node, s Peer) error
+	// Neighbors requests a peer's beliefs about its own neighbors.
+	Neighbors(ctx context.Context, p Peer) (pred Peer, succ []Peer, err error)
+}
+
+// TODO(branden): FindSuccessor should be plural; if we have multiple keys to
+// search, we shouldn't have to do the whole query for all of them, especially
+// considering we can sort by increasing distance from the origin and then do
+// the query in linear time.
+
+// Join creates a new node joining an existing Chord network by communicating
+// with any peer already in the network.
+func Join(ctx context.Context, cl Client, addr netip.AddrPort, np Peer) (*Node, error) {
+	if !addr.IsValid() {
+		return nil, errors.New("chord: cannot join with invalid address")
+	}
+	if !np.IsValid() {
+		return nil, errors.New("chord: invalid peer")
+	}
+	self := Address(addr)
+	p, err := cl.FindSuccessor(ctx, np, self.id)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("couldn't query own successor: %w", err)
+	}
+	// Talk to the peer to verify connection.
+	// We also get replication info this way.
+	// TODO(branden): We could just create our node with this succ and stabilize,
+	// but the paper doesn't in Figure 6, so we won't.
+	_, succ, err := cl.Neighbors(ctx, p)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("joined successor failed: %w", err)
+	}
+	// Make our successor list by shifting up theirs.
+	// TODO(branden): need to be more careful about capacity?
+	// we're always at 1 in this project anyway...
+	s := make([]Peer, len(succ))
+	s[0] = p
+	copy(s[1:], succ)
+	r := &Node{
+		self:    self,
+		succ:    s,
+		fingers: make([]Peer, 0, 8*len(ID{})),
+	}
+	return r, nil
+}
+
+// Stabilize recomputes n's successor.
+func Stabilize(ctx context.Context, cl Client, n *Node) error {
+	pred, _, err := cl.Neighbors(ctx, n.Successor())
+	if err != nil {
+		// TODO(zeph): replication
+		return err
+	}
+	if pred.IsValid() && contains(n.self.id, n.Successor().id, pred.id) && pred.id != n.Successor().id {
+		// Shift in the new successor.
+		copy(n.succ[1:], n.succ)
+		n.succ[0] = pred
+	}
+	return cl.Notify(ctx, n, n.Successor())
+}
+
+// Notify informs n that p considers n to be p's successor.
+func Notify(n *Node, np Peer) {
+	if !n.pred.IsValid() || contains(n.pred.id, n.self.id, np.id) && np.id != n.self.id {
+		n.pred = np
+		return
+	}
+}
+
+// FixFingers recomputes n's finger table.
+func FixFingers(ctx context.Context, cl Client, n *Node) error {
+	// TODO(branden): need arithmetic on IDs to do this
+	return errors.New("not implemented")
+}
+
+// CheckPredecessor checks the health of n's predecessor.
+// Any error is considered a health check failure.
+func CheckPredecessor(ctx context.Context, cl Client, n *Node) {
+	if !n.pred.IsValid() {
+		return
+	}
+	_, _, err := cl.Neighbors(ctx, n.pred)
+	if err != nil {
+		n.pred = Peer{}
+	}
+}