diff --git a/Setup.hs b/Setup.hs
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/Setup.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+import Distribution.Simple
+main = defaultMain
diff --git a/composite-base.cabal b/composite-base.cabal
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/composite-base.cabal
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+-- This file has been generated from package.yaml by hpack version 0.15.0.
+--
+-- see: https://github.com/sol/hpack
+
+name:           composite-base
+version:        0.1.0.0
+synopsis:       Shared utilities for composite-* packages.
+description:    Shared helpers for the various composite packages.
+category:       Records
+homepage:       https://github.com/ConferHealth/composite#readme
+author:         Confer Health, Inc
+maintainer:     oss@confer.care
+copyright:      2017 Confer Health, Inc.
+license:        BSD3
+build-type:     Simple
+cabal-version:  >= 1.10
+
+library
+  hs-source-dirs:
+      src
+  default-extensions: DataKinds FlexibleContexts FlexibleInstances GeneralizedNewtypeDeriving MultiParamTypeClasses NoImplicitPrelude OverloadedStrings PolyKinds ScopedTypeVariables StrictData TemplateHaskell TupleSections TypeFamilies TypeOperators ViewPatterns
+  ghc-options: -Wall -O2
+  build-depends:
+      base >= 4.7 && < 5
+    , Frames
+    , basic-prelude
+    , template-haskell
+    , lens
+    , text
+    , vinyl
+  exposed-modules:
+      Composite.Base
+      Composite.TH
+  default-language: Haskell2010
diff --git a/src/Composite/Base.hs b/src/Composite/Base.hs
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Composite/Base.hs
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+{-# OPTIONS_GHC -fno-warn-orphans #-}
+module Composite.Base (NamedField(..), fieldAsPair) where
+
+import BasicPrelude
+import Control.Lens (Wrapped(type Unwrapped, _Wrapped'), Rewrapped, _Wrapped, iso, view)
+import Data.Proxy (Proxy(Proxy))
+import Data.Text (pack)
+import Frames ((:->)(Col, getCol))
+import GHC.TypeLits (KnownSymbol, symbolVal)
+
+-- |Class of types which represent fields which can be named statically (i.e. via their type only) and contain some value.
+class (Wrapped f, Rewrapped f f) => NamedField f where
+  -- |Reflect the name of the field as @Text@ given some proxy representing the type.
+  fieldName :: proxy f -> Text
+
+-- |Extract the value and reflect the name of some named field.
+fieldAsPair :: forall f. NamedField f => f -> (Text, Unwrapped f)
+fieldAsPair = (fieldName (Proxy :: Proxy f),) . view _Wrapped
+
+instance Wrapped (s :-> a) where
+  type Unwrapped (s :-> a) = a
+  _Wrapped' = iso getCol Col
+
+instance (t ~ (s :-> b)) => Rewrapped (s :-> a) t
+instance KnownSymbol s => NamedField (s :-> a) where
+  fieldName _ = pack $ symbolVal (Proxy :: Proxy s)
diff --git a/src/Composite/TH.hs b/src/Composite/TH.hs
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Composite/TH.hs
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+module Composite.TH where
+
+import BasicPrelude
+import Control.Lens (_1, _head, each, over, toListOf)
+import Data.Char (toLower)
+import Data.Proxy (Proxy(Proxy))
+import Language.Haskell.TH (Q, Body(NormalB), Dec(SigD, ValD), Pat(VarP), Type(ConT), mkName, nameBase)
+import Language.Haskell.TH.Lens (_TySynD)
+
+-- |Make 'Proxy' definitions for each of the @type@ synonyms in the given block of declarations. The proxies have the same names as the synonyms but with
+-- the first letter lowercased.
+--
+-- For example:
+--
+-- @
+--   withProxies [d|
+--     type FFoo = "foo" :-> Int
+--     |]
+-- @
+--
+-- Is equivalent to:
+--
+-- @
+--   type FFoo = "foo" :-> Int
+--   fFoo :: Proxy FFoo
+--   fFoo = Proxy
+-- @
+--
+-- __Note:__ the trailing @|]@ of the quasi quote bracket has to be indented or a parse error will occur.
+withProxies :: Q [Dec] -> Q [Dec]
+withProxies qDecs = do
+  decs <- qDecs
+  proxyDecs <- traverse proxyDecForName (toListOf (each . _TySynD . _1) decs)
+  pure $ decs <> concat proxyDecs
+  where
+    proxyDecForName tySynName = do
+      let tySynType = pure $ ConT tySynName
+          proxyName = mkName . over _head toLower . nameBase $ tySynName
+      proxyType <- [t|Proxy $tySynType|]
+      proxyVal <- [|Proxy|]
+      pure
+        [ SigD proxyName proxyType
+        , ValD (VarP proxyName) (NormalB proxyVal) []
+        ]