diff --git a/src/Discord.Net/Class1.cs b/src/Discord.Net/Class1.cs
deleted file mode 100644
index 9a50619c7..000000000
--- a/src/Discord.Net/Class1.cs
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-using System;
-
-namespace Discord.Net
-{
-    public class Class1
-    {
-    }
-}
diff --git a/src/Discord.Net/Discord.Net.csproj b/src/Discord.Net/Discord.Net.csproj
index d4c395e8c..260238f05 100644
--- a/src/Discord.Net/Discord.Net.csproj
+++ b/src/Discord.Net/Discord.Net.csproj
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
   <PropertyGroup>
     <TargetFramework>netstandard2.1</TargetFramework>
+    <LangVersion>8.0</LangVersion>
+    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
   </PropertyGroup>
 
 </Project>
diff --git a/src/Discord.Net/Socket/Gateway.cs b/src/Discord.Net/Socket/Gateway.cs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..df4e1ab6d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Discord.Net/Socket/Gateway.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+using System;
+using System.Threading;
+using System.Threading.Tasks;
+
+namespace Discord.Net.Socket
+{
+    public class Gateway
+    {
+        static readonly Uri DefaultGatewayUri = new Uri("wss://gateway.discord.gg");
+
+        ISocket Socket { get; set; }
+
+        public Gateway(SocketFactory socketFactory)
+        {
+            Socket = socketFactory(OnAborted, OnPacket);
+        }
+
+        public async Task ConnectAsync(Uri? gatewayUri)
+        {
+            await Socket.ConnectAsync(gatewayUri ?? DefaultGatewayUri, CancellationToken.None).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
+
+        public void OnAborted(Exception error)
+        {
+            // todo: log
+        }
+        public async Task OnPacket(object packet)
+        {
+            await Task.CompletedTask;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/Discord.Net/Socket/ISocket.cs b/src/Discord.Net/Socket/ISocket.cs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0c65e0828
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Discord.Net/Socket/ISocket.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+using System;
+using System.Threading;
+using System.Threading.Tasks;
+
+namespace Discord.Net.Socket
+{
+    public delegate ISocket SocketFactory(OnAbortionHandler abortionHandler, OnPacketHandler packetHandler);
+
+    // A socket should only have one parent, so these do not need to be decoupled events.
+    public delegate Task OnPacketHandler(object packet);
+    public delegate void OnAbortionHandler(Exception error);
+
+    public enum SocketState
+    {
+        Closed = default,
+        AcquiringOpenLock,
+        Opening,
+        Open,
+        AcquiringClosingLock,
+        Closing,
+        Aborted
+    }
+
+    public interface ISocket : IDisposable
+    {
+        SocketState State { get; }
+
+        Task ConnectAsync(Uri uri, CancellationToken token);
+        Task CloseAsync(int? code = null, string? reason = null);
+        Task SendAsync(ReadOnlyMemory<byte> payload);
+
+        OnAbortionHandler OnAbortion { get; }
+        OnPacketHandler OnPacket { get; }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/Discord.Net/Socket/Providers/DefaultSocket.cs b/src/Discord.Net/Socket/Providers/DefaultSocket.cs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c4501d2a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Discord.Net/Socket/Providers/DefaultSocket.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,194 @@
+using System;
+using System.Net.WebSockets;
+using System.Threading;
+using System.Threading.Tasks;
+
+namespace Discord.Net.Socket.Providers
+{
+    public static class DefaultSocketFactory
+    {
+        public static ISocket Create(OnAbortionHandler onAbortion, OnPacketHandler onPacket)
+        {
+            return new DefaultSocket(onAbortion, onPacket);
+        }
+    }
+
+    internal class DefaultSocket : ISocket
+    {
+        public SocketState State { get; private set; }
+        public OnAbortionHandler OnAbortion { get; }
+        public OnPacketHandler OnPacket { get; }
+
+        private ClientWebSocket _socket;
+        private Task? _receiveTask;
+
+        private CancellationTokenSource _cancelTokenSource;
+        private SemaphoreSlim _sendLock;
+        private SemaphoreSlim _stateLock;
+
+        public DefaultSocket(OnAbortionHandler onAbortion, OnPacketHandler onPacket)
+        {
+            _socket = new ClientWebSocket();
+
+            _cancelTokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
+            _sendLock = new SemaphoreSlim(1);
+            _stateLock = new SemaphoreSlim(1);
+
+            OnAbortion = onAbortion;
+            OnPacket = onPacket;
+        }
+
+        public async Task ConnectAsync(Uri uri, CancellationToken connectCancelToken)
+        {
+            if (State == SocketState.Open
+                || State == SocketState.Opening
+                || State == SocketState.AcquiringOpenLock
+                || State == SocketState.Aborted)
+            {
+                // todo: evaluate how to handle a (redundant?) state operation
+                return;
+            }
+
+            CancellationTokenSource openLock; // create a linked token in case the caller wants to cancel an opening connection
+            try
+            {
+                openLock = CancellationTokenSource.CreateLinkedTokenSource(_cancelTokenSource.Token, connectCancelToken);
+            }
+            catch (ObjectDisposedException e)
+            {
+                // Failed to link openLock, an expired cancellation token was passed
+                State = SocketState.Aborted;
+                OnAbortion(e);
+                return;
+            }
+
+            State = SocketState.AcquiringOpenLock;
+            try
+            {
+                await _stateLock.WaitAsync(openLock.Token).ConfigureAwait(false);
+            }
+            catch (Exception e)
+            {
+                // Failed to acquire openLock
+                State = SocketState.Aborted;
+                OnAbortion(e);
+            }
+            State = SocketState.Opening;
+
+            try
+            { 
+                await _socket.ConnectAsync(uri, _cancelTokenSource.Token).ConfigureAwait(false);
+            }
+            catch (Exception e)
+            {
+                // Failed to open socket connection
+                State = SocketState.Aborted;
+                OnAbortion(e);
+                return;
+            }
+            State = SocketState.Open;
+
+            // TODO: this should not be expected to fail
+            _stateLock.Release();
+            openLock.Dispose();
+        }
+        public async Task CloseAsync(int? code, string? reason)
+        {
+            if (State == SocketState.Closed
+                || State == SocketState.Closing
+                || State == SocketState.AcquiringClosingLock
+                || State == SocketState.Aborted)
+            {
+                // todo: evaluate how to handle a (redundant?) state operation; see OpenAsync
+                return;
+            }
+
+            State = SocketState.AcquiringClosingLock;
+            try
+            {
+                await _stateLock.WaitAsync();
+            }
+            catch (Exception e)
+            {
+                State = SocketState.Aborted;
+                OnAbortion(e);
+                return;
+            }
+            State = SocketState.Closing;
+            
+            // I think it is acceptable to use CancellationToken.None here, as no parallel operation should need to cancel the socket closure
+            await _socket.CloseAsync((WebSocketCloseStatus)(code ?? 1005),
+                reason ?? string.Empty,
+                CancellationToken.None
+            ).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            // Wait until after .NET has been told to close the socket to cancel any pending sends/receives
+            //
+            // Presumably, sends/receives should have failed gracefully by this point, instead of aborting the underlying socket
+            try
+            {
+                _cancelTokenSource.Cancel();
+                await (_receiveTask ?? Task.CompletedTask);
+            }
+            catch
+            {
+                // just log for now
+            }
+
+            State = SocketState.Closed;
+        }
+        public async Task ReceiveAsync()
+        {
+            while (State == SocketState.Open && !_cancelTokenSource.IsCancellationRequested)
+            {
+                try
+                {
+                    Memory<byte> buffer = new Memory<byte>();
+                    var res = await _socket.ReceiveAsync(buffer, _cancelTokenSource.Token).ConfigureAwait(false);
+                    // todo: handle memory renting and ongoing messages
+                    // todo: parse and OnPacket
+                }
+                catch (Exception err)
+                {
+                    // log error
+                    if (_socket.State != WebSocketState.Open) // detrimental error
+                    {
+                        State = SocketState.Aborted;
+                        OnAbortion(err);
+                        return;
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        public async Task SendAsync(ReadOnlyMemory<byte> data)
+        {
+            if (State != SocketState.Open)
+            {
+                // raise error?
+                return;
+            }
+
+            await _sendLock.WaitAsync().ConfigureAwait(false);
+            try
+            {
+                // TODO: compression? who needs it
+                await _socket.SendAsync(data, WebSocketMessageType.Text, true, _cancelTokenSource.Token).ConfigureAwait(false);
+            }
+            finally
+            {
+                _sendLock.Release();
+            }
+        }
+
+        public void Dispose()
+        {
+            if (State != SocketState.Closed)
+            {
+                // log error? can this still proceed...
+            }
+            _socket.Dispose();
+            _cancelTokenSource.Dispose();
+            _stateLock.Dispose();
+        }
+    }
+}