diff --git a/src/components.rs b/src/components.rs
index 90c5a1f952..d5e853f1f1 100644
--- a/src/components.rs
+++ b/src/components.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 //!
 //! Components are the building blocks of the whole application, wired together inside a reactor.
 //! Each component has a unified interface, expressed by the `Component` trait.
+pub(crate) mod consensus;
 pub(crate) mod pinger;
 pub(crate) mod small_network;
 pub(crate) mod storage;
diff --git a/src/components/consensus.rs b/src/components/consensus.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f7025e241d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/components/consensus.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+//! The consensus component. Provides distributed consensus among the nodes in the network.
+
+use std::fmt;
+
+use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
+
+use crate::{
+    components::{small_network::NodeId, Component},
+    effect::{requests::NetworkRequest, Effect, EffectBuilder, Multiple},
+};
+
+/// The consensus component.
+#[derive(Debug)]
+pub(crate) struct Consensus {
+    // TODO
+}
+
+/// Network message used by the consensus component.
+#[derive(Clone, Debug, Deserialize, Serialize)]
+pub(crate) enum Message {
+    /// TODO: create actual message variants
+    Dummy,
+}
+
+/// Consensus component event.
+#[derive(Debug)]
+pub(crate) enum Event {
+    /// An incoming network message.
+    // TODO: remove lint relaxation
+    #[allow(dead_code)]
+    MessageReceived { sender: NodeId, msg: Message },
+    // TODO: remove lint relaxation
+    #[allow(dead_code)]
+    Timer,
+}
+
+impl fmt::Display for Message {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
+        match self {
+            Message::Dummy => write!(f, "dummy"),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl fmt::Display for Event {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
+        match self {
+            Event::MessageReceived { sender, msg } => write!(f, "msg from {}: {}", sender, msg),
+            Event::Timer => write!(f, "timer"),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl<REv> Component<REv> for Consensus
+where
+    REv: From<Event> + Send + From<NetworkRequest<NodeId, Message>>,
+{
+    type Event = Event;
+
+    fn handle_event(
+        &mut self,
+        eb: EffectBuilder<REv>,
+        event: Self::Event,
+    ) -> Multiple<Effect<Self::Event>> {
+        match event {
+            Event::Timer => todo!(),
+            Event::MessageReceived { sender, msg } => self.handle_message(eb, sender, msg),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl Consensus {
+    /// Create and initialize a new consensus instance.
+    pub(crate) fn new<REv: From<Event> + Send + From<NetworkRequest<NodeId, Message>>>(
+        _eb: EffectBuilder<REv>,
+    ) -> (Self, Multiple<Effect<Event>>) {
+        let consensus = Consensus {};
+
+        (consensus, Default::default())
+    }
+
+    /// Handles an incoming message
+    fn handle_message<REv: From<Event> + Send + From<NetworkRequest<NodeId, Message>>>(
+        &mut self,
+        _eb: EffectBuilder<REv>,
+        _sender: NodeId,
+        _msg: Message,
+    ) -> Multiple<Effect<Event>> {
+        Default::default()
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/reactor/validator.rs b/src/reactor/validator.rs
index c874fb8d64..e3c061a286 100644
--- a/src/reactor/validator.rs
+++ b/src/reactor/validator.rs
@@ -5,10 +5,12 @@
 use std::fmt::{self, Display, Formatter};
 
 use derive_more::From;
+use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 
 use crate::{
     components::{
-        pinger::{self, Message, Pinger},
+        consensus::{self, Consensus},
+        pinger::{self, Pinger},
         storage::{self, Storage},
         Component,
     },
@@ -21,6 +23,53 @@ use crate::{
     Config, SmallNetwork,
 };
 
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, From, Serialize, Deserialize)]
+enum Message {
+    #[from]
+    Pinger(pinger::Message),
+    #[from]
+    Consensus(consensus::Message),
+}
+
+impl Display for Message {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut Formatter) -> fmt::Result {
+        match self {
+            Message::Pinger(pinger) => write!(f, "Pinger::{}", pinger),
+            Message::Consensus(consensus) => write!(f, "Consensus::{}", consensus),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+// This is ugly, but it works around trait specialization not being stable yet:
+trait IsNotMessage {}
+impl IsNotMessage for pinger::Message {}
+impl IsNotMessage for consensus::Message {}
+
+impl<I, P> From<NetworkRequest<I, P>> for NetworkRequest<I, Message>
+where
+    P: Into<Message> + IsNotMessage,
+{
+    fn from(other: NetworkRequest<I, P>) -> NetworkRequest<I, Message> {
+        match other {
+            NetworkRequest::SendMessage {
+                dest,
+                payload,
+                responder,
+            } => NetworkRequest::SendMessage {
+                dest,
+                payload: payload.into(),
+                responder,
+            },
+            NetworkRequest::BroadcastMessage { payload, responder } => {
+                NetworkRequest::BroadcastMessage {
+                    payload: payload.into(),
+                    responder,
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 /// Top-level event for the reactor.
 #[derive(Debug, From)]
 #[must_use]
@@ -33,11 +82,15 @@ enum Event {
     Storage(Box<StorageRequest<Storage>>),
     #[from]
     StorageConsumer(Box<storage::dummy::Event>),
+    #[from]
+    Consensus(consensus::Event),
 }
 
-impl From<NetworkRequest<NodeId, Message>> for Event {
-    fn from(req: NetworkRequest<NodeId, Message>) -> Self {
-        Event::Network(small_network::Event::from(req))
+impl<P: Into<Message> + IsNotMessage> From<NetworkRequest<NodeId, P>> for Event {
+    fn from(req: NetworkRequest<NodeId, P>) -> Self {
+        Event::Network(small_network::Event::from(
+            NetworkRequest::<NodeId, Message>::from(req),
+        ))
     }
 }
 
@@ -46,6 +99,7 @@ struct Reactor {
     net: SmallNetwork<Event, Message>,
     pinger: Pinger,
     storage: Storage,
+    consensus: Consensus,
     dummy_storage_consumer: storage::dummy::StorageConsumer,
 }
 
@@ -65,18 +119,22 @@ impl reactor::Reactor for Reactor {
         let (dummy_storage_consumer, storage_consumer_effects) =
             storage::dummy::StorageConsumer::new(eb);
 
+        let (consensus, consensus_effects) = Consensus::new(eb);
+
         let mut effects = reactor::wrap_effects(Event::Network, net_effects);
         effects.extend(reactor::wrap_effects(Event::Pinger, pinger_effects));
         effects.extend(reactor::wrap_effects(
             |event| Event::StorageConsumer(Box::new(event)),
             storage_consumer_effects,
         ));
+        effects.extend(reactor::wrap_effects(Event::Consensus, consensus_effects));
 
         Ok((
             Reactor {
                 net,
                 pinger,
                 storage,
+                consensus,
                 dummy_storage_consumer,
             },
             effects,
@@ -103,6 +161,9 @@ impl reactor::Reactor for Reactor {
                 |event| Event::StorageConsumer(Box::new(event)),
                 self.dummy_storage_consumer.handle_event(eb, *ev),
             ),
+            Event::Consensus(ev) => {
+                reactor::wrap_effects(Event::Consensus, self.consensus.handle_event(eb, ev))
+            }
         }
     }
 }
@@ -114,6 +175,7 @@ impl Display for Event {
             Event::Pinger(ev) => write!(f, "pinger: {}", ev),
             Event::Storage(ev) => write!(f, "storage: {}", ev),
             Event::StorageConsumer(ev) => write!(f, "storage_consumer: {}", ev),
+            Event::Consensus(ev) => write!(f, "consensus: {}", ev),
         }
     }
 }