diff --git a/piker/fsp/_api.py b/piker/fsp/_api.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6c3c6cd7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/piker/fsp/_api.py
@@ -0,0 +1,178 @@
+# piker: trading gear for hackers
+# Copyright (C) Tyler Goodlet (in stewardship of pikers)
+
+# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+'''
+FSP (financial signal processing) apis.
+
+'''
+from __future__ import annotations
+from functools import partial
+from typing import (
+    Any,
+    Callable,
+    Awaitable,
+    Optional,
+)
+
+import numpy as np
+import tractor
+from tractor._portal import NamespacePath
+# import wrapt
+
+from ..data._sharedmem import (
+    ShmArray,
+    maybe_open_shm_array,
+)
+
+
+# global fsp registry filled out by @fsp decorator below
+_fsp_builtins = {}
+    # 'rsi': _rsi,
+    # 'wma': _wma,
+    # 'vwap': _tina_vwap,
+    # 'dolla_vlm': dolla_vlm,
+# }
+
+def _load_builtins() -> dict[tuple, Callable]:
+    from ._momo import _rsi, _wma
+    from ._volume import tina_vwap, dolla_vlm
+
+    return _fsp_builtins
+
+# TODO: things to figure the heck out:
+# - how to handle non-plottable values (pyqtgraph has facility for this
+#   now in `arrayToQPath()`)
+# - composition of fsps / implicit chaining syntax (we need an issue)
+
+
+class Fsp:
+    '''
+    "Financial signal processor" decorator wrapped async function.
+
+    '''
+
+    # TODO: checkout the advanced features from ``wrapt``:
+    # - dynamic enable toggling,
+    # https://wrapt.readthedocs.io/en/latest/decorators.html#dynamically-disabling-decorators
+    # - custom object proxies, might be useful for implementing n-compose
+    # https://wrapt.readthedocs.io/en/latest/wrappers.html#custom-object-proxies
+    # - custom function wrappers,
+    # https://wrapt.readthedocs.io/en/latest/wrappers.html#custom-function-wrappers
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        func: Callable[..., Awaitable],
+        *,
+        outputs: tuple[str] = (),
+        display_name: Optional[str] = None,
+        **config,
+
+    ) -> None:
+        # if wrapped is not None:
+        #     self.name = wrapped.__name__
+        # TODO: should we make this a wrapt object proxy?
+        self.func = func
+        self.__name__ = func.__name__
+        self.__module__ = func.__module__
+        self.ns_path: tuple[str, str] = NamespacePath.from_ref(func)
+        _fsp_builtins[self.ns_path] = func
+        self.outputs = outputs
+        self.config: dict[str, Any] = config
+
+    # @wrapt.decorator
+    def __call__(
+        self,
+
+        # TODO: when we settle on py3.10 we should probably use the new
+        # type annots from pep 612:
+        # https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0612/
+        # instance,
+        *args,
+        **kwargs
+    ):
+        return self.func(*args, **kwargs)
+        # return wrapped(*args, **kwargs)
+
+
+def fsp(
+    wrapped=None,
+    *,
+    outputs: tuple[str] = (),
+    display_name: Optional[str] = None,
+    **config,
+
+) -> Fsp:
+    # @wrapt.decorator
+    # def wrapper(wrapped, instance, args, kwargs):
+    #     return wrapped(*args, **kwargs)
+
+    if wrapped is None:
+        # return functools.partial(with_optional_arguments,
+        #         myarg1=myarg1, myarg2=myarg2)
+        return partial(
+            Fsp,
+            outputs=outputs,
+            display_name=display_name,
+            **config,
+        )
+
+    # return wrapper(wrapped)
+    return Fsp(wrapped, outputs=(wrapped.__name__,))
+        # outputs=outputs,
+        # display_name=display_name,
+        # **config,
+    # )(wrapped)
+
+
+def maybe_mk_fsp_shm(
+    sym: str,
+    target: fsp,
+    # field_name: str,
+    # display_name: Optional[str] = None,
+    readonly: bool = True,
+
+) -> (ShmArray, bool):
+    '''
+    Allocate a single row shm array for an symbol-fsp pair if none
+    exists, otherwise load the shm already existing for that token.
+
+    '''
+    uid = tractor.current_actor().uid
+
+    # load declared fields from fsp and allocate in
+    # shm array.
+    # if not display_name:
+    #     display_name = field_name
+
+    # TODO: load function here and introspect
+    # return stream type(s)
+    display_name = target.__name__
+
+    # TODO: should `index` be a required internal field?
+    fsp_dtype = np.dtype(
+        [('index', int)] +
+        [(field_name, float) for field_name in target.outputs]
+    )
+
+    key = f'{sym}.fsp.{display_name}.{".".join(uid)}'
+
+    shm, opened = maybe_open_shm_array(
+        key,
+        # TODO: create entry for each time frame
+        dtype=fsp_dtype,
+        readonly=True,
+    )
+    return shm, opened