diff --git a/yamlreaders/base.py b/yamlreaders/base.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1c2612f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/yamlreaders/base.py
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Any
+
+import yaml
+
+from models import TestModel
+
+
+class ParseError(Exception):
+    def __init__(self, message: str, line: int | None = None):
+        self.line = line
+        super().__init__(message)
+
+
+class BaseReader(ABC):
+    @abstractmethod
+    def validate(self, source: str | Path) -> bool:
+        pass
+
+    @abstractmethod
+    def parse(self, source: str | Path) -> TestModel:
+        pass
+
+    def load_yaml(self, source: str | Path) -> dict[str, Any]:
+        path = Path(source)
+        if not path.exists():
+            raise FileNotFoundError(f"File not found: {path}")
+
+        with open(path, "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+            data = yaml.safe_load(f)
+
+        if not isinstance(data, dict):
+            raise ParseError("YAML root must be a mapping")
+
+        return data