diff --git a/src/common/libremoteio.h b/src/common/libremoteio.h
--- a/src/common/libremoteio.h
+++ b/src/common/libremoteio.h
@@ -20,10 +20,12 @@
 #ifndef _DISTREN_LIBREMOTEIO_H
 #define _DISTREN_LIBREMOTEIO_H
 
-#include "remoteio.h"
+#include "common/multiio.h"
+#include "common/remoteio.h"
 
 #include <confuse.h>
 #include <list.h>
+#include <queue.h>
 
 /**
   private declarations for remoteio, to be included by options.c and remoteio.c
@@ -37,7 +39,9 @@ enum remoteio_method
 #endif
     REMOTEIO_METHOD_TCP = 2,
     /*    REMOETIO_METHOD_XMLRPC */ /*< maybe someday */
-    REMOTEIO_METHOD_MAX = 3 /*< This is a number used to check the consitency of remoteio_server structs */
+    /** method for the remoteio_open_socket() function, where we don't call open() ourselves: */
+    REMOTEIO_METHOD_SOCKET = 3,
+    REMOTEIO_METHOD_MAX = 4 /*< This is a number used to check the consitency of remoteio_server structs */
   };
 
 struct remoteio_server
@@ -53,15 +57,58 @@ struct remoteio_opts
 {
   char *ssh_command;
   list_t servers;  /* type: (struct remoteio_server *) */
+  /* store the multiio context for general use */
+  multiio_context_t multiio;
+  /* store remoteio's socket_type */
+  multiio_socket_type_t socket_type;
+
+  /* an argument for the remoteio_read_handle_func_t */
+  void *generic_handler_data;
 };
 
-struct remoteio {
+/**
+ * Used to describe the nature of the data stored in the
+ * outbound and message queues that power remoteio_write()
+ * and remoteio_read() (?).
+ */
+struct remoteio_packet
+{
+  size_t len;
+  char *data;
+};
+
+
+struct remoteio
+{
   enum remoteio_method method;
   struct remoteio_opts *opts;
   struct execio *execio;
 #ifndef WINDOWS
   int sock;
 #endif
+
+  remoteio_read_handle_func_t read_handler;
+  /* for the read_handler */
+  void *read_handler_data;
+
+  /**
+   * Store a buffer of data waiting to be processed.
+   */
+  struct remoteio_packet inbuf;
+
+  /**
+   * Provide the asynchronosity abstraction by queuing outgoing messages.
+   */
+  queue_t outmsgs;
+
+  /**
+   * This is disappointingly hacky. If this variable is 0, then
+   * remoteio_close() will act normal. If set to 1, then
+   * remoteio_close() will not actually free this struct but instead
+   * increment this variable to 2. This is so that read_handler can
+   * call remoteio_close() without segfaulting us.
+   */
+  short careful_free;
 };