diff --git a/opentelemetry_api/opentelemetry/context/TBD b/opentelemetry_api/opentelemetry/context/TBD
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2..0000000000
diff --git a/opentelemetry_api/opentelemetry/context/hello.c b/opentelemetry_api/opentelemetry/context/hello.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..95cb93b30e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/opentelemetry_api/opentelemetry/context/hello.c
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+/* this file will be removed once we have unit test and CI */
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+
+#include "traceparent.h"
+#include "tracestate.h"
+
+int main(int argc, char* argv[])
+{
+  TraceParent trace_parent;
+  status_t retval = trace_parent_from_string(&trace_parent, "00-12345678901234567890123456789012-1234567890123456-01");
+  printf("Hello, World! %d\n", retval);
+  return 0;
+}
diff --git a/opentelemetry_api/opentelemetry/context/traceparent.c b/opentelemetry_api/opentelemetry/context/traceparent.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1bf87a5dfa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/opentelemetry_api/opentelemetry/context/traceparent.c
@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+/* Copyright 2019, OpenTelemetry Authors
+
+   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+   You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+   limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+#include "traceparent.h"
+
+status_t _uint_from_hex_string(unsigned int* value, const char* s) {
+  char c = s[0];
+  unsigned int result;
+
+  if (c >= '0' && c <= '9')
+  {
+    result = c - '0';
+  }
+  else if (c >= 'a' && c <= 'f')
+  {
+    result = c - 'a' + 10;
+  }
+  else
+  {
+    return STATUS_ERROR_INPUT_ILLEGAL;
+  }
+  result <<= 4;
+  c = s[1];
+  if (c >= '0' && c <= '9')
+  {
+    result += c - '0';
+  }
+  else if (c >= 'a' && c <= 'f')
+  {
+    result += c - 'a' + 10;
+  }
+  else
+  {
+    return STATUS_ERROR_INPUT_ILLEGAL;
+  }
+  *value = result;
+
+  return STATUS_OK;
+}
+
+status_t _trace_parent_from_string(TraceParent* trace_parent, const char* s)
+{
+  unsigned int value;
+  /* if this function failed, trace_parent could be polluted,
+     do we want to take a copy (perf sucks)?
+   */
+  IF_ERROR_RETURN(_uint_from_hex_string(&value, s));
+  trace_parent->version = value;
+  s += 2;
+  IF_FALSE_RETURN('-' == *s, STATUS_ERROR_INPUT_ILLEGAL)
+  s += 1;
+  for (int i = 0; i < 16; i++)
+  {
+    IF_ERROR_RETURN(_uint_from_hex_string(&value, s));
+    trace_parent->trace_id[i] = value;
+    s += 2;
+  }
+  IF_FALSE_RETURN('-' == *s, STATUS_ERROR_INPUT_ILLEGAL)
+  s += 1;
+  for (int i = 0; i < 8; i++)
+  {
+    IF_ERROR_RETURN(_uint_from_hex_string(&value, s));
+    trace_parent->parent_id[i] = value;
+    s += 2;
+  }
+  IF_FALSE_RETURN('-' == *s, STATUS_ERROR_INPUT_ILLEGAL)
+  s += 1;
+  IF_ERROR_RETURN(_uint_from_hex_string(&value, s));
+  trace_parent->trace_flags = value;
+  s += 2;
+  IF_FALSE_RETURN(('-' == *s || ('\0' == *s)), STATUS_ERROR_INPUT_ILLEGAL)
+  return STATUS_OK;
+}
+
+status_t _trace_parent_to_string(const TraceParent* trace_parent, char* s)
+{
+  return STATUS_ERROR_UNKNOWN;
+}
+
+status_t trace_parent_from_string(TraceParent* trace_parent, const char* s)
+{
+  IF_FALSE_RETURN(trace_parent, STATUS_ERROR_INPUT_NULL_PTR)
+  IF_FALSE_RETURN(s, STATUS_ERROR_INPUT_NULL_PTR)
+
+  return _trace_parent_from_string(trace_parent, s);
+}
+
+status_t trace_parent_to_string(const TraceParent* trace_parent, char* s)
+{
+  IF_FALSE_RETURN(trace_parent, STATUS_ERROR_INPUT_NULL_PTR)
+  IF_FALSE_RETURN(s, STATUS_ERROR_INPUT_NULL_PTR)
+
+  return _trace_parent_to_string(trace_parent, s);
+}
diff --git a/opentelemetry_api/opentelemetry/context/traceparent.h b/opentelemetry_api/opentelemetry/context/traceparent.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1ddc4fd7c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/opentelemetry_api/opentelemetry/context/traceparent.h
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+/* Copyright 2019, OpenTelemetry Authors
+
+   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+   You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+   limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+#ifndef OPENTELEMETRY_CONTEXT_TRACEPARENT_H_
+#define OPENTELEMETRY_CONTEXT_TRACEPARENT_H_
+
+#include "../status.h"
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+namespace opentelemetry {
+namespace context {
+extern "C" {
+#endif
+
+#pragma pack(push, 1)
+typedef struct
+{
+  uint8_t version;
+  uint8_t trace_id[16];
+  uint8_t parent_id[8];
+  uint8_t trace_flags;
+} TraceParent;
+#pragma pack(pop)
+
+/* unchecked version */
+status_t _trace_parent_from_string(TraceParent* trace_parent, const char* s);
+status_t _trace_parent_to_string(const TraceParent* trace_parent, char* s);
+
+/* checked version */
+status_t trace_parent_from_string(TraceParent* trace_parent, const char* s);
+status_t trace_parent_to_string(const TraceParent* trace_parent, char* s);
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+}  /* extern "C" */
+}  /* namespace context */
+}  /* namespace opentelemetry */
+#endif
+
+#endif  /* OPENTELEMETRY_CONTEXT_TRACEPARENT_H_ */
diff --git a/opentelemetry_api/opentelemetry/context/tracestate.c b/opentelemetry_api/opentelemetry/context/tracestate.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ab79ee8a6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/opentelemetry_api/opentelemetry/context/tracestate.c
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+/* Copyright 2019, OpenTelemetry Authors
+
+   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+   You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+   limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+#include "tracestate.h"
diff --git a/opentelemetry_api/opentelemetry/context/tracestate.h b/opentelemetry_api/opentelemetry/context/tracestate.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a79c8a7582
--- /dev/null
+++ b/opentelemetry_api/opentelemetry/context/tracestate.h
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+/* Copyright 2019, OpenTelemetry Authors
+
+   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+   You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+   limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+#ifndef OPENTELEMETRY_CONTEXT_TRACESTATE_H_
+#define OPENTELEMETRY_CONTEXT_TRACESTATE_H_
+
+#include "../status.h"
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+namespace opentelemetry {
+namespace context {
+extern "C" {
+#endif
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+}  /* extern "C" */
+}  /* namespace context */
+}  /* namespace opentelemetry */
+#endif
+
+#endif  /* OPENTELEMETRY_CONTEXT_TRACESTATE_H_ */
diff --git a/opentelemetry_api/opentelemetry/status.h b/opentelemetry_api/opentelemetry/status.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d99e72668b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/opentelemetry_api/opentelemetry/status.h
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+/* Copyright 2019, OpenTelemetry Authors
+
+   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+   You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+   limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+#ifndef OPENTELEMETRY_STATUS_H_
+#define OPENTELEMETRY_STATUS_H_
+
+#include <stdint.h>
+
+typedef int32_t status_t;
+
+enum {
+  STATUS_OK                   = 0,
+  STATUS_ERROR_UNKNOWN        = 0x00010000,
+  STATUS_ERROR_INPUT_NULL_PTR = 0x00010001,
+  STATUS_ERROR_INPUT_ILLEGAL  = 0x00010002,
+};
+
+#define IF_ERROR_RETURN(expr) { \
+  status_t status = (expr); \
+  if (STATUS_OK != status) \
+    return status; \
+}
+
+#define IF_FALSE_RETURN(expr, retval) { \
+  if (!(expr)) \
+    return (retval); \
+}
+
+#endif  /* OPENTELEMETRY_STATUS_H_ */