diff --git a/packages/opencensus-core/src/internal/string-utils.ts b/packages/opencensus-core/src/internal/string-utils.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..966a8e66a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/opencensus-core/src/internal/string-utils.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright 2018 Google LLC
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Internal utility methods for working with tag keys, tag values, and metric
+ * names.
+ */
+export class StringUtils {
+  /**
+   * Determines whether the String contains only printable characters.
+   *
+   * @param {string} str The String to be validated.
+   * @returns {boolean} Whether the String contains only printable characters.
+   */
+  static isPrintableString(str: string): boolean {
+    for (let i = 0; i < str.length; i++) {
+      const ch: string = str.charAt(i);
+      if (!StringUtils.isPrintableChar(ch)) {
+        return false;
+      }
+    }
+    return true;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Determines whether the Character is printable.
+   *
+   * @param {string} str The Character to be validated.
+   * @returns {boolean} Whether the Character is printable.
+   */
+  static isPrintableChar(ch: string): boolean {
+    return ch >= ' ' && ch <= '~';
+  }
+}
diff --git a/packages/opencensus-core/src/resource/resource.ts b/packages/opencensus-core/src/resource/resource.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..03e4c3acf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/opencensus-core/src/resource/resource.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,178 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright 2018, OpenCensus Authors
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+import {StringUtils} from '../internal/string-utils';
+
+import {Labels, Resource} from './types';
+
+/**
+ * Resource represents a resource, which capture identifying information about
+ * the entities for which signals (stats or traces) are reported. It further
+ * provides a framework for detection of resource information from the
+ * environment and progressive population as signals propagate from the core
+ * instrumentation library to a backend's exporter.
+ */
+export class CoreResource {
+  // Type, label keys, and label values should not exceed 256 characters.
+  private static readonly MAX_LENGTH = 255;
+
+  // OC_RESOURCE_LABELS is a comma-separated list of labels.
+  private static readonly COMMA_SEPARATOR = ',';
+
+  // OC_RESOURCE_LABELS contains key value pair separated by '='.
+  private static readonly LABEL_KEY_VALUE_SPLITTER = '=';
+
+  private static readonly ENV_TYPE =
+      CoreResource.parseResourceType(process.env.OC_RESOURCE_TYPE);
+  private static readonly ENV_LABEL_MAP =
+      CoreResource.parseResourceLabels(process.env.OC_RESOURCE_LABELS);
+  private static readonly ERROR_MESSAGE_INVALID_CHARS =
+      'should be a ASCII string with a length greater than 0 and not exceed ' +
+      CoreResource.MAX_LENGTH + ' characters.';
+  private static readonly ERROR_MESSAGE_INVALID_VALUE =
+      'should be a ASCII string with a length not exceed ' +
+      CoreResource.MAX_LENGTH + ' characters.';
+
+  /**
+   * Returns a Resource. This resource information is loaded from the
+   * OC_RESOURCE_TYPE and OC_RESOURCE_LABELS environment variables.
+   *
+   * @returns {Resource} The resource.
+   */
+  static createFromEnvironmentVariables(): Resource {
+    return {type: CoreResource.ENV_TYPE, labels: CoreResource.ENV_LABEL_MAP};
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns a Resource that runs all input resources sequentially and merges
+   * their results. In case a type of label key is already set, the first set
+   * value takes precedence.
+   *
+   * @param  {Resource[]} resources The list of the resources.
+   * @returns {Resource} The resource.
+   */
+  static mergeResources(resources: Resource[]): Resource {
+    let currentResource: Resource;
+    for (const resource of resources) {
+      currentResource = this.merge(currentResource, resource);
+    }
+    return currentResource;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Creates a resource type from the OC_RESOURCE_TYPE environment variable.
+   *
+   * OC_RESOURCE_TYPE: A string that describes the type of the resource
+   * prefixed by a domain namespace, e.g. “kubernetes.io/container”.
+   *
+   * @param  {string} rawEnvType The resource type.
+   * @returns {string} The sanitized resource type.
+   */
+  private static parseResourceType(rawEnvType: string): string {
+    if (rawEnvType) {
+      if (!CoreResource.isValidAndNotEmpty(rawEnvType)) {
+        throw new Error(`Type ${CoreResource.ERROR_MESSAGE_INVALID_CHARS}`);
+      }
+      return rawEnvType.trim();
+    }
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Creates a label map from the OC_RESOURCE_LABELS environment variable.
+   *
+   * OC_RESOURCE_LABELS: A comma-separated list of labels describing the
+   * source in more detail, e.g. “key1=val1,key2=val2”. Domain names and paths
+   * are accepted as label keys. Values may be quoted or unquoted in general. If
+   * a value contains whitespaces, =, or " characters, it must always be quoted.
+   *
+   * @param {string} rawEnvLabels The resource labels as a comma-seperated list
+   * of key/value pairs.
+   * @returns {Labels} The sanitized resource labels.
+   */
+  private static parseResourceLabels(rawEnvLabels: string): Labels {
+    const labels: Labels = {};
+    if (rawEnvLabels) {
+      const rawLabels: string[] = rawEnvLabels.split(this.COMMA_SEPARATOR, -1);
+      for (const rawLabel of rawLabels) {
+        const keyValuePair: string[] =
+            rawLabel.split(this.LABEL_KEY_VALUE_SPLITTER, -1);
+        if (keyValuePair.length !== 2) {
+          continue;
+        }
+        let [key, value] = keyValuePair;
+        // Leading and trailing whitespaces are trimmed.
+        key = key.trim();
+        value = value.trim().split('^"|"$').join('');
+        if (!CoreResource.isValidAndNotEmpty(key)) {
+          throw new Error(
+              `Label key ${CoreResource.ERROR_MESSAGE_INVALID_CHARS}`);
+        }
+        if (!CoreResource.isValid(value)) {
+          throw new Error(
+              `Label value ${CoreResource.ERROR_MESSAGE_INVALID_VALUE}`);
+        }
+        labels[key] = value;
+      }
+    }
+    return labels;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns a new, merged Resource by merging two resources. In case of
+   * a collision, first resource takes precedence.
+   *
+   * @param {Resource} resource The resource object.
+   * @param {Resource} otherResource The resource object.
+   * @returns {Resource} A new, merged Resource.
+   */
+  private static merge(resource: Resource, otherResource: Resource): Resource {
+    if (!resource) {
+      return otherResource;
+    }
+    if (!otherResource) {
+      return resource;
+    }
+    return {
+      type: resource.type || otherResource.type,
+      labels: Object.assign({}, otherResource.labels, resource.labels)
+    };
+  }
+
+
+  /**
+   * Determines whether the given String is a valid printable ASCII string with
+   * a length not exceed MAX_LENGTH characters.
+   *
+   * @param {string} str The String to be validated.
+   * @returns {boolean} Whether the String is valid.
+   */
+  private static isValid(name: string): boolean {
+    return name.length <= CoreResource.MAX_LENGTH &&
+        StringUtils.isPrintableString(name);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Determines whether the given String is a valid printable ASCII string with
+   * a length greater than 0 and not exceed MAX_LENGTH characters.
+   *
+   * @param {string} str The String to be validated.
+   * @returns {boolean} Whether the String is valid and not empty.
+   */
+  private static isValidAndNotEmpty(name: string): boolean {
+    return name && name.length > 0 && CoreResource.isValid(name);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/packages/opencensus-core/src/resource/types.ts b/packages/opencensus-core/src/resource/types.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d32dba8ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/opencensus-core/src/resource/types.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright 2018, OpenCensus Authors
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+/** A Resource describes the entity for which a signal was collected. */
+export interface Resource {
+  /**
+   * An optional string which describes a well-known type of resource.
+   */
+  readonly type: string;
+
+  /**
+   * A dictionary of labels with string keys and values that provide information
+   * about the entity.
+   */
+  readonly labels: Labels;
+}
+
+/** Labels are maps of keys -> values */
+export interface Labels { [key: string]: string; }
diff --git a/packages/opencensus-core/test/test-resource.ts b/packages/opencensus-core/test/test-resource.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e216c96a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/opencensus-core/test/test-resource.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright 2018, OpenCensus Authors
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+import * as assert from 'assert';
+
+process.env.OC_RESOURCE_TYPE = 'k8s.io/container';
+process.env.OC_RESOURCE_LABELS =
+    'k8s.io/pod/name="pod-xyz-123",k8s.io/container/name="c1",k8s.io/namespace/name="default"';
+
+import {CoreResource} from '../src/resource/resource';
+import {Resource, Labels} from '../src/resource/types';
+
+describe('Resource()', () => {
+  after(() => {
+    delete process.env.OC_RESOURCE_TYPE;
+    delete process.env.OC_RESOURCE_LABELS;
+  });
+
+  it('should return resource information from environment variables', () => {
+    const resource = CoreResource.createFromEnvironmentVariables();
+    const actualLabels = resource.labels;
+    const expectedLabels: Labels = {
+      'k8s.io/container/name': '"c1"',
+      'k8s.io/namespace/name': '"default"',
+      'k8s.io/pod/name': '"pod-xyz-123"'
+    };
+
+    assert.strictEqual(resource.type, 'k8s.io/container');
+    assert.equal(Object.keys(actualLabels).length, 3);
+    assert.deepEqual(actualLabels, expectedLabels);
+  });
+});
+
+describe('mergeResources()', () => {
+  const DEFAULT_RESOURCE: Resource = {type: null, labels: {}};
+  const DEFAULT_RESOURCE_1: Resource = {type: 'default', labels: {'a': '100'}};
+  const RESOURCE_1: Resource = {type: 't1', labels: {'a': '1', 'b': '2'}};
+  const RESOURCE_2:
+      Resource = {type: 't2', labels: {'a': '1', 'b': '3', 'c': '4'}};
+
+  it('merge resources with default, resource1', () => {
+    const resources: Resource[] = [DEFAULT_RESOURCE, RESOURCE_1];
+    const resource = CoreResource.mergeResources(resources);
+    const expectedLabels: Labels = {'a': '1', 'b': '2'};
+
+    assert.equal(resource.type, 't1');
+    assert.equal(Object.keys(resource.labels).length, 2);
+    assert.deepEqual(resource.labels, expectedLabels);
+  });
+
+  it('merge resources with default, resource1, resource2 = null', () => {
+    const resources: Resource[] = [DEFAULT_RESOURCE, RESOURCE_1, null];
+    const resource = CoreResource.mergeResources(resources);
+    const expectedLabels: Labels = {'a': '1', 'b': '2'};
+
+    assert.equal(resource.type, 't1');
+    assert.equal(Object.keys(resource.labels).length, 2);
+    assert.deepEqual(resource.labels, expectedLabels);
+  });
+
+  it('merge resources with default, resource1 = null, resource2', () => {
+    const resources: Resource[] = [DEFAULT_RESOURCE, null, RESOURCE_2];
+    const resource = CoreResource.mergeResources(resources);
+    const expectedLabels: Labels = {'a': '1', 'b': '3', 'c': '4'};
+
+    assert.equal(resource.type, 't2');
+    assert.equal(Object.keys(resource.labels).length, 3);
+    assert.deepEqual(resource.labels, expectedLabels);
+  });
+
+  it('merge resources with default1, resource1, resource2', () => {
+    const resources: Resource[] = [DEFAULT_RESOURCE_1, RESOURCE_1, RESOURCE_2];
+    const resource = CoreResource.mergeResources(resources);
+    const expectedLabels: Labels = {'a': '100', 'b': '2', 'c': '4'};
+
+    assert.equal(resource.type, 'default');
+    assert.equal(Object.keys(resource.labels).length, 3);
+    assert.deepEqual(resource.labels, expectedLabels);
+  });
+
+  it('merge resources with default, resource1 = undefined, resource2 = undefined',
+     () => {
+       const resources: Resource[] = [DEFAULT_RESOURCE_1, undefined, undefined];
+       const resource = CoreResource.mergeResources(resources);
+       const expectedLabels: Labels = {'a': '100'};
+
+       assert.equal(resource.type, 'default');
+       assert.equal(Object.keys(resource.labels).length, 1);
+       assert.deepEqual(resource.labels, expectedLabels);
+     });
+});
diff --git a/packages/opencensus-core/test/test-string-utils.ts b/packages/opencensus-core/test/test-string-utils.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fed4ff924
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/opencensus-core/test/test-string-utils.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright 2018, OpenCensus Authors
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+import * as assert from 'assert';
+import {StringUtils} from '../src/internal/string-utils';
+
+describe('StringUtils', () => {
+  it('should return true when string is printable', () => {
+    const isValid = StringUtils.isPrintableString('abcd');
+    assert.deepStrictEqual(isValid, true);
+  });
+
+  it('should return false when string is not printable', () => {
+    const isValid = StringUtils.isPrintableString('\x00-\xFF');
+    assert.deepStrictEqual(isValid, false);
+  });
+});