diff --git a/common-contract/MANIFEST b/common-contract/MANIFEST
index 47fd9cd..5341b05 100644
--- a/common-contract/MANIFEST
+++ b/common-contract/MANIFEST
@@ -22,3 +22,9 @@ pdo/contracts/jupyter/groups.py
 pdo/contracts/jupyter/keys.py
 pdo/contracts/jupyter/services.py
 pdo/contracts/jupyter/utility.py
+scripts/gs_stop.sh
+scripts/gs_start.sh
+scripts/gs_status.sh
+scripts/ss_stop.sh
+scripts/ss_start.sh
+scripts/ss_status.sh
diff --git a/common-contract/MANIFEST.in b/common-contract/MANIFEST.in
index 3ce81a9..10f0726 100644
--- a/common-contract/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/common-contract/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1,4 +1,2 @@
-recursive-include ../build/example-contract *.b64
 recursive-include etc *.toml
-recursive-include context *.toml
-recursive-include scripts *.psh
+recursive-include scripts *.psh *.sh
diff --git a/common-contract/etc/guardian_service.toml b/common-contract/etc/guardian_service.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c315b92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common-contract/etc/guardian_service.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+# Copyright 2023 Intel Corporation
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+# --------------------------------------------------
+# GuardianService -- general information about the guardian service
+# --------------------------------------------------
+[GuardianService]
+# Identity is a string used to identify the service in log files
+Identity = "${identity}"
+HttpPort = 7900
+Host = "${host}"
+
+## Operations is the name of a python module that defines capability handlers
+## Operations = 'pdo.common.operations'
+
+# --------------------------------------------------
+# StorageService -- information about passing kv stores
+# --------------------------------------------------
+[StorageService]
+URL = "http://${host}:7901"
+KeyValueStore = "${data}/guardian_service.mdb"
+BlockStore = "${data}/guardian_service.mdb"
+Identity = "${identity}"
+HttpPort = 7901
+Host = "${host}"
+GarbageCollectionInterval = 0
+MaxDuration = 0
+
+# --------------------------------------------------
+# Keys -- configuration for retrieving service keys
+# --------------------------------------------------
+[Key]
+SearchPath = [ ".", "./keys", "${keys}" ]
+FileName = "${identity}_private.pem"
+
+# --------------------------------------------------
+# Logging -- configuration of service logging
+# --------------------------------------------------
+[Logging]
+LogLevel = "INFO"
+LogFile  = "${logs}/${identity}.log"
+
+# --------------------------------------------------
+# Data -- names for the various databases
+# --------------------------------------------------
+[Data]
+EndpointRegistry = "${data}/endpoints.db"
+CapabilityKeyStore = "${data}/keystore.db"
+
+# --------------------------------------------------
+# TokenIssuer -- configuration for TI verification
+# --------------------------------------------------
+[TokenIssuer]
+LedgerKey = ""
+CodeHash = ""
+ContractIDs = []
+
+# --------------------------------------------------
+# TokenObject -- configuration for TO verification
+# --------------------------------------------------
+[TokenObject]
diff --git a/common-contract/pdo/contracts/guardian/plugins/__init__.py b/common-contract/pdo/contracts/guardian/plugins/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..29b1fd9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common-contract/pdo/contracts/guardian/plugins/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# Copyright 2022 Intel Corporation
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+__all__ = [ 'guardian_service', ]
diff --git a/inference-contract/pdo/inference/plugins/inference_guardian.py b/common-contract/pdo/contracts/guardian/plugins/guardian_service.py
similarity index 94%
rename from inference-contract/pdo/inference/plugins/inference_guardian.py
rename to common-contract/pdo/contracts/guardian/plugins/guardian_service.py
index 3ff7131..a29e944 100644
--- a/inference-contract/pdo/inference/plugins/inference_guardian.py
+++ b/common-contract/pdo/contracts/guardian/plugins/guardian_service.py
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-"""
-inference guardian plugins
+""" This file contains functions that can be used to implement most external guardian service
+interactions. It provides the minimal set of operations required for the token-guardian protocol.
 """
 
 import json
@@ -36,9 +36,6 @@
     'op_add_endpoint',
     'cmd_provision_token_issuer',
     'cmd_provision_token_object',
-    'do_inference_guardian',
-    'do_inference_guardian_service',
-    'load_commands',
 ]
 
 ## -----------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -258,7 +255,6 @@ def invoke(cls, state, context,  provisioning_package, url=None, **kwargs) :
         cls.display('provisioned token object for guardian {}'.format(url))
         return json.loads(to_package)
 
-
 ## -----------------------------------------------------------------
 ## Create the generic, shell independent version of the aggregate command
 ## -----------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -269,18 +265,18 @@ def invoke(cls, state, context,  provisioning_package, url=None, **kwargs) :
     op_add_endpoint,
 ]
 
-do_inference_guardian_service = pcontract.create_shell_command('inference_guardian_service', __operations__)
+do_guardian_service_ops = pcontract.create_shell_command('guardian_service_ops', __operations__)
 
 __commands__ = [
     cmd_provision_token_issuer,
     cmd_provision_token_object,
 ]
 
-do_inference_guardian = pcommand.create_shell_command('inference_guardian', __commands__)
+do_guardian_service = pcommand.create_shell_command('guardian_service', __commands__)
 
 ## -----------------------------------------------------------------
 ## Enable binding of the shell independent version to a pdo-shell command
 ## -----------------------------------------------------------------
 def load_commands(cmdclass) :
-    pshell.bind_shell_command(cmdclass, 'inference_guardian', do_inference_guardian)
-    pshell.bind_shell_command(cmdclass, 'inference_guardian_service', do_inference_guardian_service)
+    pshell.bind_shell_command(cmdclass, 'guardian_service_ops', do_guardian_service_ops)
+    pshell.bind_shell_command(cmdclass, 'guardian_service', do_guardian_service)
diff --git a/common-contract/pdo/contracts/guardian/scripts/__init__.py b/common-contract/pdo/contracts/guardian/scripts/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..78986b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common-contract/pdo/contracts/guardian/scripts/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# Copyright 2024 Intel Corporation
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+__all__ = [ 'guardianCLI' ]
diff --git a/common-contract/pdo/contracts/resources/__init__.py b/common-contract/pdo/contracts/resources/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/common-contract/pdo/contracts/resources/resources.py b/common-contract/pdo/contracts/resources/resources.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..38deac1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common-contract/pdo/contracts/resources/resources.py
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# Copyright 2023 Intel Corporation
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+import pdo.client.builder.installer as pinstaller
+
+def install_common_resources() :
+    pinstaller.install_plugin_resources('pdo.common.resources', 'common')
diff --git a/inference-contract/scripts/gs_start.sh b/common-contract/scripts/gs_start.sh
similarity index 93%
rename from inference-contract/scripts/gs_start.sh
rename to common-contract/scripts/gs_start.sh
index 2acd24a..5b5f43a 100755
--- a/inference-contract/scripts/gs_start.sh
+++ b/common-contract/scripts/gs_start.sh
@@ -85,6 +85,11 @@ until $(${F_SERVICE_CMD} $@ --test 2> /dev/null > /dev/null) ; do
     sleep 1
     tries=$((tries+1))
     if [ $tries = $max_tries ] ; then
+        if [ "${F_OUTPUTDIR}" != "" ]  ; then
+            echo "guardian service failed to start, check logs:"
+            cat $EFILE
+            cat $OFILE
+        fi
         die guardian service failed to start
     fi
 done
diff --git a/inference-contract/scripts/gs_status.sh b/common-contract/scripts/gs_status.sh
similarity index 100%
rename from inference-contract/scripts/gs_status.sh
rename to common-contract/scripts/gs_status.sh
diff --git a/inference-contract/scripts/gs_stop.sh b/common-contract/scripts/gs_stop.sh
similarity index 100%
rename from inference-contract/scripts/gs_stop.sh
rename to common-contract/scripts/gs_stop.sh
diff --git a/inference-contract/scripts/ss_start.sh b/common-contract/scripts/ss_start.sh
similarity index 100%
rename from inference-contract/scripts/ss_start.sh
rename to common-contract/scripts/ss_start.sh
diff --git a/inference-contract/scripts/ss_status.sh b/common-contract/scripts/ss_status.sh
similarity index 100%
rename from inference-contract/scripts/ss_status.sh
rename to common-contract/scripts/ss_status.sh
diff --git a/inference-contract/scripts/ss_stop.sh b/common-contract/scripts/ss_stop.sh
similarity index 100%
rename from inference-contract/scripts/ss_stop.sh
rename to common-contract/scripts/ss_stop.sh
diff --git a/common-contract/setup.py b/common-contract/setup.py
index 3c39d0c..6ce4fdf 100644
--- a/common-contract/setup.py
+++ b/common-contract/setup.py
@@ -76,11 +76,21 @@
     url=author_url,
     package_dir = {
         'pdo' : 'pdo',
+        f'pdo.{contract_family}.resources.etc' : 'etc',
+        f'pdo.{contract_family}.resources.scripts' : 'scripts',
     },
     packages = [
         'pdo',
         f'pdo.{contract_family}',
         f'pdo.{contract_family}.jupyter',
+        f'pdo.{contract_family}.guardian',
+        f'pdo.{contract_family}.guardian.common',
+        f'pdo.{contract_family}.guardian.plugins',
+        f'pdo.{contract_family}.guardian.scripts',
+        f'pdo.{contract_family}.guardian.wsgi',
+        f'pdo.{contract_family}.resources',
+        f'pdo.{contract_family}.resources.etc',
+        f'pdo.{contract_family}.resources.scripts',
     ],
     include_package_data=True,
     install_requires = [
@@ -93,5 +103,8 @@
         'pdo-sservice>=' + pdo_client_version,
     ],
     entry_points = {
+        'console_scripts' : [
+           'guardian_service=pdo.contracts.guardian.scripts.guardianCLI:Main',
+        ]
     }
 )
diff --git a/inference-contract/MANIFEST b/inference-contract/MANIFEST
index b6fc362..a2ba860 100644
--- a/inference-contract/MANIFEST
+++ b/inference-contract/MANIFEST
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ MANIFEST.in
 ./pdo/inference/operations/__init__.py
 ./pdo/inference/plugins/inference_token_object.py
 ./pdo/inference/plugins/__init__.py
-./pdo/inference/plugins/inference_guardian.py
 ./pdo/inference/__init__.py
 ./pdo/inference/resources/resources.py
 ./pdo/inference/resources/__init__.py
@@ -19,9 +18,6 @@ MANIFEST.in
 ./pdo/inference/scripts/__init__.py
 ./pdo/inference/scripts/scripts.py
 ./pdo/inference/jupyter.py
-./scripts/gs_stop.sh
-./scripts/gs_start.sh
-./scripts/gs_status.sh
 ./context/tokens.toml
 ./etc/inference.toml
 ./etc/guardian_service.toml
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/inference-contract/MANIFEST.in b/inference-contract/MANIFEST.in
index 451308c..f9e419d 100644
--- a/inference-contract/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/inference-contract/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 recursive-include ../build/inference-contract *.b64
 recursive-include etc *.toml
 recursive-include context *.toml
-recursive-include scripts *.sh
+recursive-include scripts *.sh *.psh
diff --git a/inference-contract/context/tokens.toml b/inference-contract/context/tokens.toml
index 87a080f..30df354 100644
--- a/inference-contract/context/tokens.toml
+++ b/inference-contract/context/tokens.toml
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ source = "${ContractFamily.Exchange.vetting.source}"
 asset_type_context = "@{..asset_type}"
 
 [token.${token}.guardian]
-module = "pdo.inference.plugins.inference_guardian"
+module = "pdo.contracts.guardian.plugins.guardian_service"
 url = "${url}"
 identity = "${..token_issuer.identity}"
 token_issuer_context = "@{..token_issuer}"
diff --git a/inference-contract/pdo/inference/jupyter.py b/inference-contract/pdo/inference/jupyter.py
index c514160..7eb3bc2 100644
--- a/inference-contract/pdo/inference/jupyter.py
+++ b/inference-contract/pdo/inference/jupyter.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 # set up the context
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------
 guardian_context = jp_common.ContextTemplate('guardian', {
-    'module' : 'pdo.inference.plugins.inference_guardian',
+    'module' : 'pdo.contracts.guardian.plugins.guardian_service',
     'identity' : '${..token_issuer.identity}',
     'token_issuer_context' : '@{..token_issuer}',
     'service_only' : True,
diff --git a/inference-contract/pdo/inference/plugins/__init__.py b/inference-contract/pdo/inference/plugins/__init__.py
index 56c065a..62c5ba0 100644
--- a/inference-contract/pdo/inference/plugins/__init__.py
+++ b/inference-contract/pdo/inference/plugins/__init__.py
@@ -12,4 +12,4 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-__all__ = [ 'inference_guardian',  'inference_token_object']
+__all__ = [ 'inference_token_object']
diff --git a/inference-contract/pdo/inference/scripts/scripts.py b/inference-contract/pdo/inference/scripts/scripts.py
index 76514e6..dcd732e 100644
--- a/inference-contract/pdo/inference/scripts/scripts.py
+++ b/inference-contract/pdo/inference/scripts/scripts.py
@@ -27,5 +27,4 @@ def inference_token() :
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------
 def inference_guardian() :
-    run_shell_command('do_inference_guardian', 'pdo.inference.plugins.inference_guardian')
-
+    run_shell_command('do_guardian_service', 'pdo.contracts.guardian.plugins.guardian_service')
diff --git a/inference-contract/setup.py b/inference-contract/setup.py
index dbfcf9f..0a7cc2c 100644
--- a/inference-contract/setup.py
+++ b/inference-contract/setup.py
@@ -61,7 +61,6 @@
         'pdo.inference.resources.etc' : 'etc',
         'pdo.inference.resources.context' : 'context',
         'pdo.inference.resources.contracts' : '../build/inference-contract',
-        'pdo.inference.resources.scripts' : 'scripts',
     },
     packages = [
         'pdo',
@@ -75,7 +74,6 @@
         'pdo.inference.resources.etc',
         'pdo.inference.resources.context',
         'pdo.inference.resources.contracts',
-        'pdo.inference.resources.scripts',
     ],
     include_package_data=True,
     # add everything from requirements.txt here
diff --git a/inference-contract/test/script_test.sh b/inference-contract/test/script_test.sh
index 77004a4..f077823 100755
--- a/inference-contract/test/script_test.sh
+++ b/inference-contract/test/script_test.sh
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ fi
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------
 # Process command line arguments
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------
+COMMON_CONTRACT_ROOT=${PDO_HOME}/contracts/contracts
+
 SCRIPTDIR="$(dirname $(readlink --canonicalize ${BASH_SOURCE}))"
 SOURCE_ROOT="$(realpath ${SCRIPTDIR}/..)"
 
@@ -139,8 +141,8 @@ function cleanup {
     done
 
     yell "shutdown guardian and storage service"
-    ${PDO_HOME}/contracts/inference/scripts/gs_stop.sh
-    ${PDO_HOME}/contracts/inference/scripts/ss_stop.sh
+    ${COMMON_CONTRACT_ROOT}/scripts/gs_stop.sh
+    ${COMMON_CONTRACT_ROOT}/scripts/ss_stop.sh
 }
 
 trap cleanup EXIT
@@ -148,7 +150,7 @@ trap cleanup EXIT
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------
 # Start the guardian service and the storage service
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------
-try ${PDO_HOME}/contracts/inference/scripts/ss_start.sh -c -o ${PDO_HOME}/logs -- \
+try ${COMMON_CONTRACT_ROOT}/scripts/ss_start.sh -c -o ${PDO_HOME}/logs -- \
     --loglevel debug \
     --config guardian_service.toml \
     --config-dir ${PDO_HOME}/etc/contracts \
@@ -156,7 +158,7 @@ try ${PDO_HOME}/contracts/inference/scripts/ss_start.sh -c -o ${PDO_HOME}/logs -
 
 sleep 3
 
-try ${PDO_HOME}/contracts/inference/scripts/gs_start.sh -c -o ${PDO_HOME}/logs -- \
+try ${COMMON_CONTRACT_ROOT}/scripts/gs_start.sh -c -o ${PDO_HOME}/logs -- \
     --loglevel debug \
     --config guardian_service.toml \
     --config-dir ${PDO_HOME}/etc/contracts \