diff --git a/snakemake_interface_storage_plugins/query.py b/snakemake_interface_storage_plugins/query.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f6f2b32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/snakemake_interface_storage_plugins/query.py
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+from typing import List
+
+
+@dataclass
+class QueryBase:
+    """Base class for structured queries.
+    
+    By implementing the `to_str` method, subclasses can define how the query
+    should be represented as a string or list of strings, representing individual
+    queries.
+    """
+    # TODO determine how to auto-handle to and from str conversion
+    # how to handle wildcards, and how to handle single queries representing multiple
+    # individual queries. For the latter, can we use the same type or should we
+    # use a different type?
+    def to_str(self) -> List[str]: ...
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