diff --git a/.busted b/.busted
index 7d7e86c5e..b1ab83a81 100644
--- a/.busted
+++ b/.busted
@@ -10,7 +10,9 @@ local default = {
   verbose = true,
   ['shuffle-tests'] = true,
   ['shuffle-files'] = true,
-  lpath = path.join(root, 'spec/?.lua;')  .. path.join(root, 'gateway/src/?.lua;'),
+
+  -- src/?/policy.lua allows us to require apicast.policy.apolicy
+  lpath = path.join(root, 'spec/?.lua;')  .. path.join(root, 'gateway/src/?.lua;gateway/src/?/policy.lua'),
 }
 
 if ci then
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a881ee5fb..6afafa5c9 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+## Added
+
+- Definition of JSON schemas for policy configurations [PR #522](https://github.com/3scale/apicast/pull/522)
+
 ## Fixed
 
 - Detecting local rover installation from the CLI [PR #519](https://github.com/3scale/apicast/pull/519)
diff --git a/doc/policies.md b/doc/policies.md
index f83deef06..814502128 100644
--- a/doc/policies.md
+++ b/doc/policies.md
@@ -72,8 +72,8 @@ replaceable with custom ones.
 ## Write your own policy
 
 To write your own policy you need to write a Lua module that instantiates a
-[Policy](../gateway/src/apicast/policy.lua) and defines a method for each of
-the phases where it needs to execute something.
+[Policy](../gateway/src/apicast/policy/policy.lua) and defines a method for
+each of the phases where it needs to execute something.
 
 Suppose that we wanted to run a policy that logged a message in the `rewrite`
 and the `header_filter` phases. This is how our module would look
@@ -125,10 +125,10 @@ end
 In the [policy folder](../gateway/src/apicast/policy) you can find several
 policies. These ones are quite simple and can be used as examples to write your
 own:
-- [Echo](../gateway/src/apicast/policy/echo.lua)
-- [Phase logger](../gateway/src/apicast/policy/phase_logger.lua)
-- [CORS](../gateway/src/apicast/policy/cors.lua)
-- [Headers](../gateway/src/apicast/policy/headers.lua)
+- [Echo](../gateway/src/apicast/policy/echo)
+- [Phase logger](../gateway/src/apicast/policy/phase_logger)
+- [CORS](../gateway/src/apicast/policy/cors)
+- [Headers](../gateway/src/apicast/policy/headers)
 
 
 ## Integrate your policies
diff --git a/examples/policy_chain/README.md b/examples/policy_chain/README.md
index a6f33624c..dab382ab1 100644
--- a/examples/policy_chain/README.md
+++ b/examples/policy_chain/README.md
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ Environment configuration can define the global policy chain. You can provide cu
 
 ## Using Echo Policy
 
-[Echo policy](../../gateway/src/apicast/policy/echo.lua) accepts configuration option to terminate the request phase. See the example in [`configuration.lua`](./configuration.lua).
+[Echo policy](../../gateway/src/apicast/policy/echo) accepts configuration option to terminate the request phase. See the example in [`configuration.lua`](./configuration.lua).
 
 You can start it as:
 
diff --git a/gateway/bin/apicast b/gateway/bin/apicast
index 054293d0f..85607d1ec 100755
--- a/gateway/bin/apicast
+++ b/gateway/bin/apicast
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@ if ($rover && !$lua_path) {
 
 chdir $apicast;
 
-$ENV{LUA_PATH} = "$apicast/src/?.lua;${lua_path}";
+# src/?/policy.lua allows us to require apicast.policy.apolicy
+$ENV{LUA_PATH} = "$apicast/src/?.lua;$apicast/src/?/policy.lua;${lua_path}";
 $ENV{PWD} = $cwd;
 
 my @args = ('resty', "$bindir/cli", @ARGV);
diff --git a/gateway/conf/nginx.conf.liquid b/gateway/conf/nginx.conf.liquid
index 112e43eba..636a72044 100644
--- a/gateway/conf/nginx.conf.liquid
+++ b/gateway/conf/nginx.conf.liquid
@@ -42,7 +42,8 @@ http {
   log_format time '[$time_local] $host:$server_port $remote_addr:$remote_port "$request" $status $body_bytes_sent ($request_time) $post_action_impact';
   access_log off;
 
-  lua_package_path ";;{{prefix}}/?.lua;{{prefix}}/src/?.lua";
+  # src/?/policy.lua allows us to require apicast.policy.apolicy
+  lua_package_path ";;{{prefix}}/?.lua;{{prefix}}/src/?.lua;{{prefix}}/src/?/policy.lua";
 
   {% if nameservers %}
     resolver {{ nameservers | join: " " }};
diff --git a/gateway/libexec/boot.lua b/gateway/libexec/boot.lua
index 9d9fb4675..feb1077c7 100644
--- a/gateway/libexec/boot.lua
+++ b/gateway/libexec/boot.lua
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 pcall(require, 'luarocks.loader')
-package.path = package.path .. ";./src/?.lua"
+
+-- src/?/policy.lua allows us to require apicast.policy.apolicy
+package.path = package.path .. ";./src/?.lua;./src/?/policy.lua"
 
 local configuration = require 'apicast.configuration_loader'
 
diff --git a/gateway/src/apicast/policy/apicast.lua b/gateway/src/apicast/policy/apicast/policy.lua
similarity index 100%
rename from gateway/src/apicast/policy/apicast.lua
rename to gateway/src/apicast/policy/apicast/policy.lua
diff --git a/gateway/src/apicast/policy/cors.lua b/gateway/src/apicast/policy/cors/policy.lua
similarity index 100%
rename from gateway/src/apicast/policy/cors.lua
rename to gateway/src/apicast/policy/cors/policy.lua
diff --git a/gateway/src/apicast/policy/cors/schema.json b/gateway/src/apicast/policy/cors/schema.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..af482ff55
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gateway/src/apicast/policy/cors/schema.json
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+{
+  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
+  "title": "CORS policy configuration",
+  "type": "object",
+  "properties": {
+    "allow_headers": {
+      "type": "array",
+      "items": {
+        "type": "string"
+      }
+    },
+    "allow_methods": {
+      "type": "array",
+      "items": {
+        "type": "string",
+        "enum": [
+          "GET",
+          "HEAD",
+          "POST",
+          "PUT",
+          "DELETE",
+          "PATCH",
+          "OPTIONS",
+          "TRACE",
+          "CONNECT"
+        ]
+      }
+    },
+    "allow_origin": {
+      "type": "string"
+    },
+    "allow_credentials": {
+      "type": "boolean"
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/gateway/src/apicast/policy/echo.lua b/gateway/src/apicast/policy/echo/policy.lua
similarity index 100%
rename from gateway/src/apicast/policy/echo.lua
rename to gateway/src/apicast/policy/echo/policy.lua
diff --git a/gateway/src/apicast/policy/echo/schema.json b/gateway/src/apicast/policy/echo/schema.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c8354195c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gateway/src/apicast/policy/echo/schema.json
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+{
+  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
+  "title": "Echo policy configuration",
+  "type": "object",
+  "properties": {
+    "status": {
+      "type": "integer"
+    },
+    "exit": {
+      "type": "string",
+      "enum": ["request", "phase"]
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/gateway/src/apicast/policy/find_service.lua b/gateway/src/apicast/policy/find_service/policy.lua
similarity index 100%
rename from gateway/src/apicast/policy/find_service.lua
rename to gateway/src/apicast/policy/find_service/policy.lua
diff --git a/gateway/src/apicast/policy/headers.lua b/gateway/src/apicast/policy/headers/policy.lua
similarity index 100%
rename from gateway/src/apicast/policy/headers.lua
rename to gateway/src/apicast/policy/headers/policy.lua
diff --git a/gateway/src/apicast/policy/headers/schema.json b/gateway/src/apicast/policy/headers/schema.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..65b101abe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gateway/src/apicast/policy/headers/schema.json
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+{
+  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
+  "title": "Headers policy configuration",
+  "type": "object",
+  "definitions": {
+    "commands": {
+      "type": "array",
+      "items": {
+        "type": "object",
+        "properties": {
+          "op": {
+            "type": "string",
+            "enum": ["add", "set", "push"]
+          },
+          "header": {
+            "type": "string"
+          },
+          "value": {
+            "type": "string"
+          }
+        },
+        "required": ["op", "header", "value"]
+      }
+    }
+  },
+  "properties": {
+    "request": { "$ref": "#/definitions/commands" },
+    "response": { "$ref": "#/definitions/commands" }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/gateway/src/apicast/policy/load_configuration.lua b/gateway/src/apicast/policy/load_configuration/policy.lua
similarity index 100%
rename from gateway/src/apicast/policy/load_configuration.lua
rename to gateway/src/apicast/policy/load_configuration/policy.lua
diff --git a/gateway/src/apicast/policy/local_chain.lua b/gateway/src/apicast/policy/local_chain/policy.lua
similarity index 100%
rename from gateway/src/apicast/policy/local_chain.lua
rename to gateway/src/apicast/policy/local_chain/policy.lua
diff --git a/gateway/src/apicast/policy/phase_logger.lua b/gateway/src/apicast/policy/phase_logger/policy.lua
similarity index 100%
rename from gateway/src/apicast/policy/phase_logger.lua
rename to gateway/src/apicast/policy/phase_logger/policy.lua
diff --git a/gateway/src/apicast/policy.lua b/gateway/src/apicast/policy/policy.lua
similarity index 100%
rename from gateway/src/apicast/policy.lua
rename to gateway/src/apicast/policy/policy.lua
diff --git a/spec/policy/apicast_spec.lua b/spec/policy/apicast/policy_spec.lua
similarity index 100%
rename from spec/policy/apicast_spec.lua
rename to spec/policy/apicast/policy_spec.lua
diff --git a/spec/policy/find_service_spec.lua b/spec/policy/find_service/policy_spec.lua
similarity index 100%
rename from spec/policy/find_service_spec.lua
rename to spec/policy/find_service/policy_spec.lua
diff --git a/spec/policy/load_configuration_spec.lua b/spec/policy/load_configuration/policy_spec.lua
similarity index 100%
rename from spec/policy/load_configuration_spec.lua
rename to spec/policy/load_configuration/policy_spec.lua
diff --git a/t/TestAPIcast.pm b/t/TestAPIcast.pm
index da0c1fccb..8d2233862 100644
--- a/t/TestAPIcast.pm
+++ b/t/TestAPIcast.pm
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ our $path = $ENV{TEST_NGINX_APICAST_PATH} ||= "$pwd/gateway";
 our $spec = "$pwd/spec";
 our $servroot = $Test::Nginx::Util::ServRoot;
 
-$ENV{TEST_NGINX_LUA_PATH} = "$path/src/?.lua;;";
+# src/?/policy.lua allows us to require apicast.policy.apolicy
+$ENV{TEST_NGINX_LUA_PATH} = "$path/src/?.lua;$path/src/?/policy.lua;;";
 $ENV{TEST_NGINX_MANAGEMENT_CONFIG} = "$path/conf.d/management.conf";
 $ENV{TEST_NGINX_UPSTREAM_CONFIG} = "$path/http.d/upstream.conf";
 $ENV{TEST_NGINX_BACKEND_CONFIG} = "$path/conf.d/backend.conf";