diff --git a/include/proto/task.h b/include/proto/task.h
index 424e8ba..4044bd4 100644
--- a/include/proto/task.h
+++ b/include/proto/task.h
@@ -541,6 +541,19 @@
 	        !LIST_ISEMPTY(&task_per_thread[tid].task_list));
 }
 
+/* adds list item <item> to work list <work> and wake up the associated task */
+static inline void work_list_add(struct work_list *work, struct list *item)
+{
+	LIST_ADDQ_LOCKED(&work->head, item);
+	task_wakeup(work->task, TASK_WOKEN_OTHER);
+}
+
+struct work_list *work_list_create(int nbthread,
+                                   struct task *(*fct)(struct task *, void *, unsigned short),
+                                   void *arg);
+
+void work_list_destroy(struct work_list *work, int nbthread);
+
 /*
  * This does 3 things :
  *   - wake up all expired tasks
diff --git a/include/types/task.h b/include/types/task.h
index ab909d0..a949058 100644
--- a/include/types/task.h
+++ b/include/types/task.h
@@ -106,6 +106,23 @@
  * expire timer. The scheduler will requeue the task at the proper location.
  */
 
+
+/* A work_list is a thread-safe way to enqueue some work to be run on another
+ * thread. It consists of a list, a task and a general-purpose argument.
+ * A work is appended to the list by atomically adding a list element to the
+ * list and waking up the associated task, which is done using work_add(). The
+ * caller must be careful about how operations are run as it will definitely
+ * happen that the element being enqueued is processed by the other thread
+ * before the call returns. Some locking conventions between the caller and the
+ * callee might sometimes be necessary. The task is always woken up with reason
+ * TASK_WOKEN_OTHER and a context pointing to the work_list entry.
+ */
+struct work_list {
+	struct list head;
+	struct task *task;
+	void *arg;
+};
+
 #endif /* _TYPES_TASK_H */
 
 /*