diff --git a/lib/chain_manager.js b/lib/chain_manager.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2e50f35f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/chain_manager.js
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+var fs = require('fs');
+var web3 = require('web3');
+
+ChainManager = function() { }
+
+ChainManager.prototype.loadConfigFile = function(filename) {
+  try {
+    var obj = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(filename));
+    this.chainManagerConfig = obj;
+  } catch (e) {
+    throw new Error("error reading " + filename);
+  }
+  return this;
+};
+
+ChainManager.prototype.loadConfig = function(config) {
+  this.chainManagerConfig = config;
+  return this;
+};
+
+ChainManager.prototype.init = function(env, blockchainConfig) {
+  var config = blockchainConfig.config(env);
+
+  web3.setProvider(new web3.providers.HttpProvider("http://" + config.rpcHost + ":" + config.rpcPort));
+
+  var chainId = web3.eth.getBlock(0).hash;
+
+  if (this.chainManagerConfig[chainId] === undefined) {
+    this.chainManagerConfig[chainId] = {contracts: []};
+  }
+}
+
+module.exports = ChainManager;
+
diff --git a/test/chain_manager.js b/test/chain_manager.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b589f9fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/chain_manager.js
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+var ChainManager = require('../lib/chain_manager.js');
+var Config = require('../lib/config/config.js');
+var Blockchain = require('../lib/blockchain.js');
+var assert = require('assert');
+
+describe('embark.chain_manager', function() {
+  var chainManager = (new ChainManager()).loadConfigFile('./test/support/chain_manager.json');
+  var blockchainConfig = (new Config.Blockchain()).loadConfigFile('test/support/blockchain.yml');
+
+  describe('#init', function() {
+    chainManager.init('development', blockchainConfig);
+
+    it('should initialize chain', function() {
+      assert.equal(chainManager.chainManagerConfig['0x629e768beb87dc8c54a475d310a7196e86c97d0006e5a6d34a8217726c90223f'] != undefined, true);
+      assert.equal(chainManager.chainManagerConfig['0x629e768beb87dc8c54a475d310a7196e86c97d0006e5a6d34a8217726c90223f'].contracts.length, 0);
+    });
+
+  });
+});
diff --git a/test/support/chain_manager.json b/test/support/chain_manager.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0967ef42
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/support/chain_manager.json
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{}