diff --git a/agent/proxy/daemon.go b/agent/proxy/daemon.go
index e3b376c057..e1ec2e1b08 100644
--- a/agent/proxy/daemon.go
+++ b/agent/proxy/daemon.go
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/hashicorp/consul/lib/file"
+	"github.com/mitchellh/mapstructure"
 )
 
 // Constants related to restart timers with the daemon mode proxies. At some
@@ -261,6 +262,26 @@ func (p *Daemon) Stop() error {
 	return process.Kill()
 }
 
+// stopKeepAlive is like Stop but keeps the process running. This is
+// used only for tests.
+func (p *Daemon) stopKeepAlive() error {
+	p.lock.Lock()
+
+	// If we're already stopped or never started, then no problem.
+	if p.stopped || p.process == nil {
+		p.stopped = true
+		p.lock.Unlock()
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	// Note that we've stopped
+	p.stopped = true
+	close(p.stopCh)
+	p.lock.Unlock()
+
+	return nil
+}
+
 // Equal implements Proxy to check for equality.
 func (p *Daemon) Equal(raw Proxy) bool {
 	p2, ok := raw.(*Daemon)
@@ -275,3 +296,81 @@ func (p *Daemon) Equal(raw Proxy) bool {
 		reflect.DeepEqual(p.Command.Args, p2.Command.Args) &&
 		reflect.DeepEqual(p.Command.Env, p2.Command.Env)
 }
+
+// MarshalSnapshot implements Proxy
+func (p *Daemon) MarshalSnapshot() map[string]interface{} {
+	p.lock.Lock()
+	defer p.lock.Unlock()
+
+	// If we're stopped or have no process, then nothing to snapshot.
+	if p.stopped || p.process == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	return map[string]interface{}{
+		"Pid":         p.process.Pid,
+		"CommandPath": p.Command.Path,
+		"CommandArgs": p.Command.Args,
+		"CommandDir":  p.Command.Dir,
+		"CommandEnv":  p.Command.Env,
+		"ProxyToken":  p.ProxyToken,
+	}
+}
+
+// UnmarshalSnapshot implements Proxy
+func (p *Daemon) UnmarshalSnapshot(m map[string]interface{}) error {
+	var s daemonSnapshot
+	if err := mapstructure.Decode(m, &s); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	p.lock.Lock()
+	defer p.lock.Unlock()
+
+	// Set the basic fields
+	p.ProxyToken = s.ProxyToken
+	p.Command = &exec.Cmd{
+		Path: s.CommandPath,
+		Args: s.CommandArgs,
+		Dir:  s.CommandDir,
+		Env:  s.CommandEnv,
+	}
+
+	// For the pid, we want to find the process.
+	proc, err := os.FindProcess(s.Pid)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// TODO(mitchellh): we should check if proc refers to a process that
+	// is currently alive. If not, we should return here and not manage the
+	// process.
+
+	// "Start it"
+	stopCh := make(chan struct{})
+	exitedCh := make(chan struct{})
+	p.stopCh = stopCh
+	p.exitedCh = exitedCh
+	p.process = proc
+	go p.keepAlive(stopCh, exitedCh)
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+// daemonSnapshot is the structure of the marshalled data for snapshotting.
+type daemonSnapshot struct {
+	// Pid of the process. This is the only value actually required to
+	// regain mangement control. The remainder values are for Equal.
+	Pid int
+
+	// Command information
+	CommandPath string
+	CommandArgs []string
+	CommandDir  string
+	CommandEnv  []string
+
+	// NOTE(mitchellh): longer term there are discussions/plans to only
+	// store the hash of the token but for now we need the full token in
+	// case the process dies and has to be restarted.
+	ProxyToken string
+}
diff --git a/agent/proxy/daemon_test.go b/agent/proxy/daemon_test.go
index 652364c5ea..6e74cdf885 100644
--- a/agent/proxy/daemon_test.go
+++ b/agent/proxy/daemon_test.go
@@ -316,3 +316,95 @@ func TestDaemonEqual(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestDaemonMarshalSnapshot(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		Name     string
+		Proxy    Proxy
+		Expected map[string]interface{}
+	}{
+		{
+			"stopped daemon",
+			&Daemon{
+				Command: &exec.Cmd{Path: "/foo"},
+			},
+			nil,
+		},
+
+		{
+			"basic",
+			&Daemon{
+				Command: &exec.Cmd{Path: "/foo"},
+				process: &os.Process{Pid: 42},
+			},
+			map[string]interface{}{
+				"Pid":         42,
+				"CommandPath": "/foo",
+				"CommandArgs": []string(nil),
+				"CommandDir":  "",
+				"CommandEnv":  []string(nil),
+				"ProxyToken":  "",
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range cases {
+		t.Run(tc.Name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			actual := tc.Proxy.MarshalSnapshot()
+			require.Equal(t, tc.Expected, actual)
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestDaemonUnmarshalSnapshot(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	require := require.New(t)
+	td, closer := testTempDir(t)
+	defer closer()
+
+	path := filepath.Join(td, "file")
+	uuid, err := uuid.GenerateUUID()
+	require.NoError(err)
+
+	d := &Daemon{
+		Command:    helperProcess("start-stop", path),
+		ProxyToken: uuid,
+		Logger:     testLogger,
+	}
+	require.NoError(d.Start())
+
+	// Wait for the file to exist
+	retry.Run(t, func(r *retry.R) {
+		_, err := os.Stat(path)
+		if err == nil {
+			return
+		}
+
+		r.Fatalf("error: %s", err)
+	})
+
+	// Snapshot
+	snap := d.MarshalSnapshot()
+
+	// Stop the original daemon but keep it alive
+	require.NoError(d.stopKeepAlive())
+
+	// Restore the second daemon
+	d2 := &Daemon{Logger: testLogger}
+	require.NoError(d2.UnmarshalSnapshot(snap))
+
+	// Stop the process
+	require.NoError(d2.Stop())
+
+	// File should no longer exist.
+	retry.Run(t, func(r *retry.R) {
+		_, err := os.Stat(path)
+		if os.IsNotExist(err) {
+			return
+		}
+
+		// err might be nil here but that's okay
+		r.Fatalf("should not exist: %s", err)
+	})
+}
diff --git a/agent/proxy/manager.go b/agent/proxy/manager.go
index f5c2d996ef..c9c63311f1 100644
--- a/agent/proxy/manager.go
+++ b/agent/proxy/manager.go
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ type Manager struct {
 	//
 	//   * logs/ - log files named <service id>-std{out|err}.log
 	//   * pids/ - pid files for daemons named <service id>.pid
-	//   * state.ext - the state of the manager
+	//   * snapshot.json - the state of the manager
 	//
 	DataDir string
 
diff --git a/agent/proxy/noop.go b/agent/proxy/noop.go
index 9ce0135546..a96425d848 100644
--- a/agent/proxy/noop.go
+++ b/agent/proxy/noop.go
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ package proxy
 // Noop implements Proxy and does nothing.
 type Noop struct{}
 
-func (p *Noop) Start() error     { return nil }
-func (p *Noop) Stop() error      { return nil }
-func (p *Noop) Equal(Proxy) bool { return true }
+func (p *Noop) Start() error                                   { return nil }
+func (p *Noop) Stop() error                                    { return nil }
+func (p *Noop) Equal(Proxy) bool                               { return true }
+func (p *Noop) MarshalSnapshot() map[string]interface{}        { return nil }
+func (p *Noop) UnmarshalSnapshot(map[string]interface{}) error { return nil }
diff --git a/agent/proxy/proxy.go b/agent/proxy/proxy.go
index 549a6ee26d..e1bad92c0e 100644
--- a/agent/proxy/proxy.go
+++ b/agent/proxy/proxy.go
@@ -39,4 +39,20 @@ type Proxy interface {
 	// If Equal returns true, the old proxy will remain running and the new
 	// one will be ignored.
 	Equal(Proxy) bool
+
+	// MarshalSnapshot returns the state that will be stored in a snapshot
+	// so that Consul can recover the proxy process after a restart. The
+	// result should only contain primitive values and containers (lists/maps).
+	//
+	// UnmarshalSnapshot is called to restore the receiving Proxy from its
+	// marshalled state. If UnmarshalSnapshot returns an error, the snapshot
+	// is ignored and the marshalled snapshot will be lost. The manager will
+	// log.
+	//
+	// This should save/restore enough state to be able to regain management
+	// of a proxy process as well as to perform the Equal method above. The
+	// Equal method will be called when a local state sync happens to determine
+	// if the recovered process should be restarted or not.
+	MarshalSnapshot() map[string]interface{}
+	UnmarshalSnapshot(map[string]interface{}) error
 }
diff --git a/agent/proxy/snapshot.go b/agent/proxy/snapshot.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b119bfddf6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/agent/proxy/snapshot.go
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+package proxy
+
+import (
+	"github.com/hashicorp/consul/agent/structs"
+)
+
+// snapshot is the structure of the snapshot file. This is unexported because
+// we don't want this being a public API.
+//
+// The snapshot doesn't contain any configuration for the manager. We only
+// want to restore the proxies that we're managing, and we use the config
+// set at runtime to sync and reconcile what proxies we should start,
+// restart, stop, or have already running.
+type snapshot struct {
+	// Version is the version of the snapshot format and can be used
+	// to safely update the format in the future if necessary.
+	Version int
+
+	// Proxies are the set of proxies that the manager has.
+	Proxies []snapshotProxy
+}
+
+// snapshotProxy represents a single proxy.
+type snapshotProxy struct {
+	// Mode corresponds to the type of proxy running.
+	Mode structs.ProxyExecMode
+
+	// Config is an opaque mapping of primitive values that the proxy
+	// implementation uses to restore state.
+	Config map[string]interface{}
+}