diff --git a/nipype/pipeline/engine/supernodes.py b/nipype/pipeline/engine/supernodes.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..724d49f262
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nipype/pipeline/engine/supernodes.py
@@ -0,0 +1,175 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+# emacs: -*- mode: python; py-indent-offset: 4; indent-tabs-mode: nil -*-
+# vi: set ft=python sts=4 ts=4 sw=4 et:
+"""Defines functionality for pipelined execution of interfaces
+
+The `EngineBase` class implements the more general view of a task.
+
+  .. testsetup::
+     # Change directory to provide relative paths for doctests
+     import os
+     filepath = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath( __file__ ))
+     datadir = os.path.realpath(os.path.join(filepath, '../../testing/data'))
+     os.chdir(datadir)
+
+"""
+from __future__ import print_function, division, unicode_literals, absolute_import
+from builtins import object
+
+from future import standard_library
+standard_library.install_aliases()
+
+from copy import deepcopy
+import re
+import numpy as np
+from ... import logging
+from ...interfaces.base import DynamicTraitedSpec
+from ...utils.filemanip import loadpkl, savepkl
+
+logger = logging.getLogger('workflow')
+
+
+class Node(object):
+    """Defines common attributes and functions for workflows and nodes."""
+
+    def __init__(self, interface, name, mapper=None, reducer=None, inputs=None,
+                 base_dir=None):
+        """ Initialize base parameters of a workflow or node
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        interface : Interface (mandatory)
+            node specific interface
+
+        name : string (mandatory)
+            Name of this node. Name must be alphanumeric and not contain any
+            special characters (e.g., '.', '@').
+        base_dir : string
+            base output directory (will be hashed before creations)
+            default=None, which results in the use of mkdtemp
+
+        """
+        self._interface = interface
+        self.base_dir = base_dir
+        self.config = None
+        self._verify_name(name)
+        self.name = name
+        self.mapper = mapper
+        self.reducer = reducer
+        # for compatibility with node expansion using iterables
+        self._id = self.name
+        self._hierarchy = None
+
+    @property
+    def result(self):
+        if self._result:
+            return self._result
+        else:
+            cwd = self.output_dir()
+            result, _, _ = self._load_resultfile(cwd)
+            return result
+
+    @property
+    def inputs(self):
+        """Return the inputs of the underlying interface"""
+        return self._interface.inputs
+
+    @inputs.setter
+    def inputs(self, inputs):
+        # Basic idea, though I haven't looked up the actual way to do this:
+        # self._interface.inputs.clear()
+        # self._interface.inputs.update(inputs)
+        pass
+
+    @property
+    def outputs(self):
+        """Return the output fields of the underlying interface"""
+        return self._interface._outputs()
+
+    @property
+    def interface(self):
+        """Return the underlying interface object"""
+        return self._interface
+
+    @property
+    def fullname(self):
+        fullname = self.name
+        if self._hierarchy:
+            fullname = self._hierarchy + '.' + self.name
+        return fullname
+
+    @property
+    def itername(self):
+        itername = self._id
+        if self._hierarchy:
+            itername = self._hierarchy + '.' + self._id
+        return itername
+
+    def clone(self, name):
+        """Clone an EngineBase object
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+
+        name : string (mandatory)
+            A clone of node or workflow must have a new name
+        """
+        if (name is None) or (name == self.name):
+            raise Exception('Cloning requires a new name')
+        self._verify_name(name)
+        clone = deepcopy(self)
+        clone.name = name
+        clone._id = name
+        clone._hierarchy = None
+        return clone
+
+    def _check_outputs(self, parameter):
+        return hasattr(self.outputs, parameter)
+
+    def _check_inputs(self, parameter):
+        if isinstance(self.inputs, DynamicTraitedSpec):
+            return True
+        return hasattr(self.inputs, parameter)
+
+    def _verify_name(self, name):
+        valid_name = bool(re.match('^[\w-]+$', name))
+        if not valid_name:
+            raise ValueError('[Workflow|Node] name \'%s\' contains'
+                             ' special characters' % name)
+
+    def __repr__(self):
+        if self._hierarchy:
+            return '.'.join((self._hierarchy, self._id))
+        else:
+            return '{}'.format(self._id)
+
+    def save(self, filename=None):
+        if filename is None:
+            filename = 'temp.pklz'
+        savepkl(filename, self)
+
+    def load(self, filename):
+        return loadpkl(filename)
+
+    def run(self):
+        # Map
+        # Function
+        # Reduce
+        return self._result
+
+
+class Workflow(Node):
+    allow_flattening = False
+
+    def __init__(self, interface, input_map=None, output_map=None, **kwargs)
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+    def add_nodes(self, nodes):
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+    def connect(self, from_node, from_socket, to_node, to_socket):
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+    def run(monitor_consumption=True):
+        raise NotImplementedError