diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/xblock_user_state/__init__.py b/lms/djangoapps/xblock_user_state/__init__.py
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diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/xblock_user_state/interface.py b/lms/djangoapps/xblock_user_state/interface.py
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+++ b/lms/djangoapps/xblock_user_state/interface.py
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+"""
+A baseclass for a generic client for accessing XBlock Scope.user_state field data.
+"""
+
+from abc import abstractmethod
+
+from contracts import contract, new_contract, ContractsMeta
+from opaque_keys.edx.keys import UsageKey
+from xblock.fields import Scope, ScopeBase
+
+new_contract('UsageKey', UsageKey)
+
+class XBlockUserStateClient(object):
+    """
+    First stab at an interface for accessing XBlock User State. This will have
+    use StudentModule as a backing store in the default case.
+
+    Scope/Goals:
+    1. Mediate access to all student-specific state stored by XBlocks.
+        a. This includes "preferences" and "user_info" (i.e. UserScope.ONE)
+        b. This includes XBlock Asides.
+        c. This may later include user_state_summary (i.e. UserScope.ALL).
+        d. This may include group state in the future.
+        e. This may include other key types + UserScope.ONE (e.g. Definition)
+    2. Assume network service semantics.
+        At some point, this will probably be calling out to an external service.
+        Even if it doesn't, we want to be able to implement circuit breakers, so
+        that a failure in StudentModule doesn't bring down the whole site.
+        This also implies that the client is running as a user, and whatever is
+        backing it is smart enough to do authorization checks.
+    3. This does not yet cover export-related functionality.
+
+    Open Questions:
+    1. Is it sufficient to just send the block_key in and extract course +
+       version info from it?
+    2. Do we want to use the username as the identifier? Privacy implications?
+       Ease of debugging?
+    3. Would a get_many_by_type() be useful?
+    """
+
+    __metaclass__ = ContractsMeta
+
+    class ServiceUnavailable(Exception):
+        """
+        This error is raised if the service backing this client is currently unavailable.
+        """
+        pass
+
+    class PermissionDenied(Exception):
+        """
+        This error is raised if the caller is not allowed to access the requested data.
+        """
+        pass
+
+    class DoesNotExist(Exception):
+        """
+        This error is raised if the caller has requested data that does not exist.
+        """
+        pass
+
+    @contract(
+        username="basestring",
+        block_key=UsageKey,
+        scope=ScopeBase,
+        fields="seq(basestring)|set(basestring)|None",
+        returns="dict(basestring: *)"
+    )
+    def get(self, username, block_key, scope=Scope.user_state, fields=None):
+        """
+        Retrieve the stored XBlock state for a single xblock usage.
+
+        Arguments:
+            username: The name of the user whose state should be retrieved
+            block_key (UsageKey): The UsageKey identifying which xblock state to load.
+            scope (Scope): The scope to load data from
+            fields: A list of field values to retrieve. If None, retrieve all stored fields.
+
+        Returns
+            dict: A dictionary mapping field names to values
+        """
+        return next(self.get_many(username, [block_key], scope, fields=fields))[1]
+
+    @contract(
+        username="basestring",
+        block_key=UsageKey,
+        state="dict(basestring: *)",
+        scope=ScopeBase,
+        returns=None,
+    )
+    def set(self, username, block_key, state, scope=Scope.user_state):
+        """
+        Set fields for a particular XBlock.
+
+        Arguments:
+            username: The name of the user whose state should be retrieved
+            block_key (UsageKey): The UsageKey identifying which xblock state to load.
+            state (dict): A dictionary mapping field names to values
+            scope (Scope): The scope to store data to
+        """
+        self.set_many(username, {block_key: state}, scope)
+
+    @contract(
+        username="basestring",
+        block_key=UsageKey,
+        scope=ScopeBase,
+        fields="seq(basestring)|set(basestring)|None",
+        returns=None,
+    )
+    def delete(self, username, block_key, scope=Scope.user_state, fields=None):
+        """
+        Delete the stored XBlock state for a single xblock usage.
+
+        Arguments:
+            username: The name of the user whose state should be deleted
+            block_key (UsageKey): The UsageKey identifying which xblock state to delete.
+            scope (Scope): The scope to delete data from
+            fields: A list of fields to delete. If None, delete all stored fields.
+        """
+        return self.delete_many(username, [block_key], scope, fields=fields)
+
+    @contract(
+        username="basestring",
+        block_key=UsageKey,
+        scope=ScopeBase,
+        fields="seq(basestring)|set(basestring)|None",
+        returns="dict(basestring: datetime)",
+    )
+    def get_mod_date(self, username, block_key, scope=Scope.user_state, fields=None):
+        """
+        Get the last modification date for fields from the specified blocks.
+
+        Arguments:
+            username: The name of the user whose state should queried
+            block_key (UsageKey): The UsageKey identifying which xblock modification dates to retrieve.
+            scope (Scope): The scope to retrieve from.
+            fields: A list of fields to query. If None, query all fields.
+                Specific implementations are free to return the same modification date
+                for all fields, if they don't store changes individually per field.
+                Implementations may omit fields for which data has not been stored.
+
+        Returns: list a dict of {field_name: modified_date} for each selected field.
+        """
+        results = self.get_mod_date_many(username, [block_key], scope, fields=fields)
+        return {
+            field: date for (_, field, date) in results
+        }
+
+    @contract(
+        username="basestring",
+        block_keys="seq(UsageKey)|set(UsageKey)",
+        scope=ScopeBase,
+        fields="seq(basestring)|set(basestring)|None",
+    )
+    @abstractmethod
+    def get_many(self, username, block_keys, scope=Scope.user_state, fields=None):
+        """
+        Retrieve the stored XBlock state for a single xblock usage.
+
+        Arguments:
+            username: The name of the user whose state should be retrieved
+            block_keys ([UsageKey]): A list of UsageKeys identifying which xblock states to load.
+            scope (Scope): The scope to load data from
+            fields: A list of field values to retrieve. If None, retrieve all stored fields.
+
+        Yields:
+            (UsageKey, field_state) tuples for each specified UsageKey in block_keys.
+            field_state is a dict mapping field names to values.
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    @contract(
+        username="basestring",
+        block_keys_to_state="dict(UsageKey: dict(basestring: *))",
+        scope=ScopeBase,
+        returns=None,
+    )
+    @abstractmethod
+    def set_many(self, username, block_keys_to_state, scope=Scope.user_state):
+        """
+        Set fields for a particular XBlock.
+
+        Arguments:
+            username: The name of the user whose state should be retrieved
+            block_keys_to_state (dict): A dict mapping UsageKeys to state dicts.
+                Each state dict maps field names to values. These state dicts
+                are overlaid over the stored state. To delete fields, use
+                :meth:`delete` or :meth:`delete_many`.
+            scope (Scope): The scope to load data from
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    @contract(
+        username="basestring",
+        block_keys="seq(UsageKey)|set(UsageKey)",
+        scope=ScopeBase,
+        fields="seq(basestring)|set(basestring)|None",
+        returns=None,
+    )
+    @abstractmethod
+    def delete_many(self, username, block_keys, scope=Scope.user_state, fields=None):
+        """
+        Delete the stored XBlock state for a many xblock usages.
+
+        Arguments:
+            username: The name of the user whose state should be deleted
+            block_key (UsageKey): The UsageKey identifying which xblock state to delete.
+            scope (Scope): The scope to delete data from
+            fields: A list of fields to delete. If None, delete all stored fields.
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    @contract(
+        username="basestring",
+        block_keys="seq(UsageKey)|set(UsageKey)",
+        scope=ScopeBase,
+        fields="seq(basestring)|set(basestring)|None",
+    )
+    @abstractmethod
+    def get_mod_date_many(self, username, block_keys, scope=Scope.user_state, fields=None):
+        """
+        Get the last modification date for fields from the specified blocks.
+
+        Arguments:
+            username: The name of the user whose state should be queried
+            block_key (UsageKey): The UsageKey identifying which xblock modification dates to retrieve.
+            scope (Scope): The scope to retrieve from.
+            fields: A list of fields to query. If None, delete all stored fields.
+                Specific implementations are free to return the same modification date
+                for all fields, if they don't store changes individually per field.
+                Implementations may omit fields for which data has not been stored.
+
+        Yields: tuples of (block, field_name, modified_date) for each selected field.
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    def get_history(self, username, block_key, scope=Scope.user_state):
+        """We don't guarantee that history for many blocks will be fast."""
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    def iter_all_for_block(self, block_key, scope=Scope.user_state, batch_size=None):
+        """
+        You get no ordering guarantees. Fetching will happen in batch_size
+        increments. If you're using this method, you should be running in an
+        async task.
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError()
+
+    def iter_all_for_course(self, course_key, block_type=None, scope=Scope.user_state, batch_size=None):
+        """
+        You get no ordering guarantees. Fetching will happen in batch_size
+        increments. If you're using this method, you should be running in an
+        async task.
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError()