diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 8cc2a49b0..006bb834b 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ DOC_FILES := \
 	bundle.md \
 	runtime.md \
 	runtime-linux.md \
+	command-line-interface.md \
 	config.md \
 	config-linux.md \
 	config-solaris.md \
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ad9fa7050..75d7eeab0 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ Table of Contents
 - Runtime and Lifecycle
   - [General Runtime and Lifecycle](runtime.md)
   - [Linux-specific Runtime and Lifecycle](runtime-linux.md)
+  - [Runtime Command Line Interface](command-line-interface.md)
 - Configuration
   - [General Configuration](config.md)
   - [Linux-specific Configuration](config-linux.md)
@@ -31,9 +32,14 @@ An implementation is not compliant for a given CPU architecture if it fails to s
 An implementation is compliant for a given CPU architecture if it satisfies all the MUST, REQUIRED, and SHALL requirements for the protocols it implements.
 
 Protocols defined by this specification are:
-* Linux containers: [runtime.md](runtime.md), [config.md](config.md), [config-linux.md](config-linux.md), and [runtime-linux.md](runtime-linux.md).
-* Solaris containers: [runtime.md](runtime.md), [config.md](config.md), and [config-solaris.md](config-solaris.md).
-* Windows containers: [runtime.md](runtime.md), [config.md](config.md), and [config-windows.md](config-windows.md).
+
+* Linux containers: [runtime.md](runtime.md), [config.md](config.md), [config-linux.md](config-linux.md), [runtime-linux.md](runtime-linux.md), and at least one API.
+* Solaris containers: [runtime.md](runtime.md), [config.md](config.md), [config-solaris.md](config-solaris.md), and at least one API.
+* Windows containers: [runtime.md](runtime.md), [config.md](config.md), [config-windows.md](config-windows.md), and at least one API.
+
+APIs defined by this specification are:
+
+* The [command line API](command-line-interface.md).
 
 # Use Cases
 
diff --git a/command-line-interface.md b/command-line-interface.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..989b8d13f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/command-line-interface.md
@@ -0,0 +1,251 @@
+# Runtime Command Line Interface
+
+This section defines the runtime command line interface.
+It is one of potentially several [runtime APIs defined by this specification](README.md).
+
+The [runtime][] MUST provide an executable (called `funC` in the following examples).
+That executable MUST support commands with the following template:
+
+```
+$ funC [global-options] <COMMAND> [command-specific-options] <command-specific-arguments>
+```
+
+## Global options
+
+None are required, but the runtime MAY support options that start with at least one hyphen.
+Global options MAY take positional arguments (e.g. `--log-level debug`).
+Command names MUST NOT start with hyphens.
+The option parsing MUST be such that `funC <COMMAND>` is unambiguously an invocation of `<COMMAND>` (even for commands not specified in this document).
+If the runtime is invoked with an unrecognized command, it MUST exit with a nonzero exit code and MAY log a warning to stderr.
+Beyond the above rules, the behavior of the runtime in the presence of commands and options not specified in this document is unspecified.
+
+## Character encodings
+
+This API specification does not cover character encodings, but runtimes SHOULD conform to their native operating system.
+For example, POSIX systems define [`LANG` and related environment variables][posix-lang] for [declaring][posix-locale-encoding] [locale-specific character encodings][posix-encoding], so a runtime in an `en_US.UTF-8` locale SHOULD write its [state](#state) to stdout in [UTF-8][].
+
+## Commands
+
+### create
+
+[Create][create] a container from a [bundle directory][bundle].
+
+* *Arguments*
+    * *`<ID>`* Set the container ID to create.
+* *Options*
+    * *`--bundle <PATH>`* Override the path to the [bundle directory][bundle] (defaults to the current working directory).
+    * *`--pid-file <PATH>`* The runtime MUST write the container PID to this path.
+* *Standard streams:*
+    * If [`process.terminal`][process] is true:
+        * *stdin:* The runtime MUST NOT attempt to read from its stdin.
+        * *stdout:* The handling of stdout is unspecified.
+        * *stderr:* The runtime MAY print diagnostic messages to stderr, and the format for those lines is not specified in this document.
+    * If [`process.terminal`][process] is not true:
+        * *stdin:* The runtime MUST pass its stdin file descriptor through to the container process without manipulation or modification.
+          "Without manipulation or modification" means that the runtime MUST not seek on the file descriptor, or close it, or read or write to it, or [`ioctl`][ioctl.3] it, or perform any other action on it besides passing it through to the container process.
+
+          When using a container to drop privileges, note that providing a privileged terminal's file descriptor may allow the container to [execute privileged operations via `TIOCSTI`][TIOCSTI-security] or other [TTY ioctls][tty_ioctl.4].
+          On Linux, [`TIOCSTI` requires `CAP_SYS_ADMIN`][capabilities.7] unless the target terminal is the caller's [controlling terminal][contolling-terminal].
+        * *stdout:* The runtime MUST pass its stdout file descriptor through to the container process without manipulation or modification.
+        * *stderr:* When `create` exists with a zero code, the runtime MUST pass its stderr file descriptor through to the container process without manipulation or modification.
+          When `create` exits with a non-zero code, the runtime MAY print diagnostic messages to stderr, and the format for those lines is not specified in this document.
+* *Environment variables*
+    * *`LISTEN_FDS`:* The number of file descriptors passed.
+      For example, `LISTEN_FDS=2` would mean that the runtime MUST pass file descriptors 3 and 4 to the container process (in addition to the standard streams) to support [socket activation][systemd-listen-fds].
+* *Additional file descriptors*
+    * If [`process.terminal`][process] is true, the caller MUST provide an open [`AF_UNIX` socket][unix-socket] on file descriptor `$LISTEN_FDS + 3`.
+      The runtime MUST pass the [pseudoterminal master][posix_openpt.3] through the socket; the protocol is [described below](#console-socket).
+* *Exit code:* Zero if the container was successfully created and non-zero on errors.
+
+Callers MAY block on this command's successful exit to trigger post-create activity.
+
+#### Console socket
+
+The [`AF_UNIX`][unix-socket] used by [`--console-socket`](#create) handles request and response messages between a runtime and server.
+The socket type MUST be [`SOCK_SEQPACKET`][socket-types] or [`SOCK_STREAM`][socket-types].
+The server MUST send a single response for each runtime request.
+The [normal data][socket-queue] ([`msghdr.msg_iov*`][socket.h]) of all messages MUST be [UTF-8][] [JSON](glossary.md#json).
+
+There are [JSON Schemas](schema/README.md) and [Go bindings](specs-go/socket/socket.go) for the messages specified in this section.
+
+##### Requests
+
+All requests MUST contain a **`type`** property whose value MUST one of the following strings:
+
+* `terminal`, if the request is passing a [pseudoterminal master][posix_openpt.3].
+    When `type` is `terminal`, the request MUST also contain the following properties:
+
+    * **`container`** (string, REQUIRED) The container ID, as set by [create](#create).
+
+    The message's [ancillary data][socket-queue] (`msg_control*`) MUST contain at least one [`cmsghdr`][socket.h]).
+    The first `cmsghdr` MUST have:
+
+    * `cmsg_type` set to [`SOL_SOCKET`][socket.h],
+    * `cmsg_level` set to [`SCM_RIGHTS`][socket.h],
+    * `cmsg_len` greater than or equal to `CMSG_LEN(sizeof(int))`, and
+    * `((int*)CMSG_DATA(cmsg))[0]` set to the pseudoterminal master file descriptor.
+
+##### Responses
+
+All responses MUST contain a **`type`** property whose value MUST one of the following strings:
+
+* `success`, if the request was successfully processed.
+* `error`, if the request was not successfully processed.
+
+In addition, responses MAY contain any of the following properties:
+
+* **`message`** (string, OPTIONAL) A phrase describing the response.
+
+#### Example
+
+```
+# in a bundle directory with a process that echos "hello" and exits 42
+$ test -t 1 && echo 'stdout is a terminal'
+stdout is a terminal
+$ funC create hello-1 <&- >stdout 2>stderr
+$ echo $?
+0
+$ wc stdout
+0 0 0 stdout
+$ funC start hello-1
+$ echo $?
+0
+$ cat stdout
+hello
+$ block-on-exit-and-collect-exit-code hello-1
+$ echo $?
+42
+$ funC delete hello-1
+$ echo $?
+0
+```
+
+#### Container process exit
+
+The [example's](#example) `block-on-exit-and-collect-exit-code` is platform-specific and is not specified in this document.
+On Linux, it might involve an ancestor process which had set [`PR_SET_CHILD_SUBREAPER`][prctl.2] and collected the container PID [from the state][state], or a process that was [ptracing][ptrace.2] the container process for [`exit_group`][exit_group.2], although both of those race against the container process exiting before the watcher is monitoring.
+
+### start
+
+[Start][start] the user-specified code from [`process`][process].
+
+* *Arguments*
+    * *`<ID>`* The container to start.
+* *Standard streams:*
+    * *stdin:* The runtime MUST NOT attempt to read from its stdin.
+    * *stdout:* The handling of stdout is unspecified.
+    * *stderr:* The runtime MAY print diagnostic messages to stderr, and the format for those lines is not specified in this document.
+* *Exit code:* Zero if the container was successfully started and non-zero on errors.
+
+Callers MAY block on this command's successful exit to trigger post-start activity.
+
+See [create](#example) for an example.
+
+### state
+
+[Request][state-request] the container [state][state].
+
+* *Arguments*
+    * *`<ID>`* The container whose state is being requested.
+* *Standard streams:*
+    * *stdin:* The runtime MUST NOT attempt to read from its stdin.
+    * *stdout:* The runtime MUST print the [state JSON][state] to its stdout.
+    * *stderr:* The runtime MAY print diagnostic messages to stderr, and the format for those lines is not specified in this document.
+* *Exit code:* Zero if the state was successfully written to stdout and non-zero on errors.
+
+#### Example
+
+```
+# in a bundle directory with a process that sleeps for several seconds
+$ funC start --id sleeper-1 &
+$ funC state sleeper-1
+{
+  "ociVersion": "1.0.0-rc1",
+  "id": "sleeper-1",
+  "status": "running",
+  "pid": 4422,
+  "bundlePath": "/containers/sleeper",
+  "annotations" {
+    "myKey": "myValue"
+  }
+}
+$ echo $?
+0
+```
+
+### kill
+
+[Send a signal][kill] to the container process.
+
+* *Arguments*
+    * *`<ID>`* The container being signaled.
+* *Options*
+    * *`--signal <SIGNAL>`* The signal to send (defaults to `TERM`).
+      The runtime MUST support `TERM` and `KILL` signals with [the POSIX semantics][posix-signals].
+      The runtime MAY support additional signal names.
+      On platforms that support [POSIX signals][posix-signals], the runtime MUST implement this command using POSIX signals.
+      On platforms that do not support POSIX signals, the runtime MAY implement this command with alternative technology as long as `TERM` and `KILL` retain their POSIX semantics.
+      Runtime authors on non-POSIX platforms SHOULD submit documentation for their TERM implementation to this specificiation, so runtime callers can configure the container process to gracefully handle the signals.
+* *Standard streams:*
+    * *stdin:* The runtime MUST NOT attempt to read from its stdin.
+    * *stdout:* The handling of stdout is unspecified.
+    * *stderr:* The runtime MAY print diagnostic messages to stderr, and the format for those lines is not specified in this document.
+* *Exit code:* Zero if the signal was successfully sent to the container process and non-zero on errors.
+  Successfully sent does not mean that the signal was successfully received or handled by the container process.
+
+#### Example
+
+```
+# in a bundle directory with a process ignores TERM
+$ funC start --id sleeper-1 &
+$ funC kill sleeper-1
+$ echo $?
+0
+$ funC kill --signal KILL sleeper-1
+$ echo $?
+0
+```
+
+### delete
+
+[Release](#delete) container resources after the container process has exited.
+
+* *Arguments*
+    * *`<ID>`* The container to delete.
+* *Standard streams:*
+    * *stdin:* The runtime MUST NOT attempt to read from its stdin.
+    * *stdout:* The handling of stdout is unspecified.
+    * *stderr:* The runtime MAY print diagnostic messages to stderr, and the format for those lines is not specified in this document.
+* *Exit code:* Zero if the container was successfully deleted and non-zero on errors.
+
+See [create](#example) for an example.
+
+[bundle]: bundle.md
+[controlling-terminal]: http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap11.html#tag_11_01_03
+[create]: runtime.md#create
+[delete]: runtime.md#delete
+[exit_group.2]: http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man2/exit_group.2.html
+[ioctl.3]: http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/
+[kill]: runtime.md#kill
+[kill.2]: http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man2/kill.2.html
+[process]: config.md#process-configuration
+[posix-encoding]: http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap06.html#tag_06_02
+[posix-lang]: http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap08.html#tag_08_02
+[posix-locale-encoding]: http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr35/#Bundle_vs_Item_Lookup
+[posix_openpt.3]: http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/functions/posix_openpt.html
+[posix-signals]: http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/signal.h.html#tag_13_42_03
+[prctl.2]: http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man2/prctl.2.html
+[ptrace.2]: http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man2/ptrace.2.html
+[runtime]: glossary.md#runtime
+[socket-queue]: http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/functions/V2_chap02.html#tag_15_10_11
+[socket-types]: http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/functions/V2_chap02.html#tag_15_10_06
+[socket.h]: http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/sys_socket.h.html
+[standard-streams]: https://github.com/opencontainers/specs/blob/v0.1.1/runtime-linux.md#file-descriptors
+[start]: runtime.md#start
+[state]: runtime.md#state
+[state-request]: runtime.md#query-state
+[systemd-listen-fds]: http://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/sd_listen_fds.html
+[TIOCSTI-security]: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=628843
+[tty_ioctl.4]: http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man4/tty_ioctl.4.html
+[unix-socket]: http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/functions/V2_chap02.html#tag_15_10_17
+[UTF-8]: http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode8.0.0/ch03.pdf
diff --git a/runtime-linux.md b/runtime-linux.md
index 388df30a7..e4ba33e35 100644
--- a/runtime-linux.md
+++ b/runtime-linux.md
@@ -1,11 +1,5 @@
 # Linux Runtime
 
-## File descriptors
-
-By default, only the `stdin`, `stdout` and `stderr` file descriptors are kept open for the application by the runtime.
-The runtime MAY pass additional file descriptors to the application to support features such as [socket activation](http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/socket-activated-containers.html).
-Some of the file descriptors MAY be redirected to `/dev/null` even though they are open.
-
 ## Dev symbolic links
 
 After the container has `/proc` mounted, the following standard symlinks MUST be setup within `/dev/` for the io.
diff --git a/runtime.md b/runtime.md
index 6b5deb3db..827b565f7 100644
--- a/runtime.md
+++ b/runtime.md
@@ -129,3 +129,14 @@ Once a container is deleted its ID MAY be used by a subsequent container.
 ## Hooks
 Many of the operations specified in this specification have "hooks" that allow for additional actions to be taken before or after each operation.
 See [runtime configuration for hooks](./config.md#hooks) for more information.
+
+## Container environment
+
+The following sections discuss portions of the container environment which are not configurable via the [configuration JSON](config.md).
+Beyond the sections below, there are additional platform-specific requirements for [Linux](runtime-linux.md).
+
+### Standard streams
+
+All OCI-specified runtime APIs MUST allow runtime-callers to specify the file descriptors which will be inherited by the container process, with the [POSIX *exec* caveat][exec] that if file descriptor 0, 1, or 2 would otherwise be closed, the container process may have unspecified files opened for those file descriptors.
+
+[exec]: http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/functions/execve.html
diff --git a/schema/README.md b/schema/README.md
index 0362da137..11e9f14cd 100644
--- a/schema/README.md
+++ b/schema/README.md
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ The layout of the files is as follows:
 * [config-linux.json](config-linux.json) - the [Linux-specific configuration sub-structure](../config-linux.md)
 * [config-solaris.json](config-solaris.json) - the [Solaris-specific configuration sub-structure](../config-solaris.md)
 * [config-windows.json](config-windows.json) - the [Windows-specific configuration sub-structure](../config-windows.md)
+* [socket-terminal-request-schema.json](socket-terminal-request-schema.json) - the primary entrypoint for the [`terminal` request](../command-line-interface.md#requests)
+* [socket-response-schema.json](socket-response-schema.json) - the primary entrypoint for the [`success` and `error` responses](../command-line-interface.md#responses)
 * [state-schema.json](state-schema.json) - the primary entrypoint for the [state JSON](../runtime.md#state) schema
 * [defs.json](defs.json) - definitions for general types
 * [defs-linux.json](defs-linux.json) - definitions for Linux-specific types
diff --git a/schema/socket-response-schema.json b/schema/socket-response-schema.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d97e82eff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/schema/socket-response-schema.json
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+{
+    "description": "Open Container Runtime Socket Response Schema",
+    "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#",
+    "id": "https://opencontainers.org/schema/runtime/socket/response",
+    "type": "object",
+    "properties": {
+        "type": {
+            "id": "https://opencontainers.org/schema/runtime/socket/response/type",
+            "type": "string",
+            "enum": [
+                "success",
+                "error"
+            ]
+        },
+        "message": {
+            "id": "https://opencontainers.org/schema/runtime/socket/response/message",
+            "description": "A phrase describing the response.",
+            "type": "string"
+        }
+    },
+    "required": [
+        "type"
+    ]
+}
diff --git a/schema/socket-terminal-request-schema.json b/schema/socket-terminal-request-schema.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..14844180c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/schema/socket-terminal-request-schema.json
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+{
+    "description": "Open Container Runtime Socket Terminal Request Schema",
+    "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema#",
+    "id": "https://opencontainers.org/schema/runtime/socket/terminal-request",
+    "type": "object",
+    "properties": {
+        "type": {
+            "id": "https://opencontainers.org/schema/runtime/socket/terminal-request/type",
+            "type": "string",
+            "enum": [
+                "terminal"
+            ]
+        },
+        "container": {
+            "id": "https://opencontainers.org/schema/runtime/state/id",
+            "description": "the container's ID",
+            "type": "string"
+        }
+    },
+    "required": [
+        "type",
+        "container"
+    ]
+}
diff --git a/specs-go/socket/socket.go b/specs-go/socket/socket.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7bb23dc94
--- /dev/null
+++ b/specs-go/socket/socket.go
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+package socket
+
+// Message is the normal data for messages passed on the console socket.
+type Message struct {
+	// Type of message being passed
+	Type string `json:"type"`
+}
+
+// TerminalRequest is the normal data for messages passing a pseudoterminal master.
+type TerminalRequest struct {
+	Message
+
+	// Container ID for the container whose pseudoterminal master is being set.
+	Container string `json:"container"`
+}
+
+// Response is the normal data for response messages.
+type Response struct {
+	Message
+
+	// Message is a phrase describing the response.
+	Message string `json:"message,omitempty"`
+}