diff --git a/src/backend/src/modules/puterai/lib/Messages.js b/src/backend/src/modules/puterai/lib/Messages.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5739c1ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/src/modules/puterai/lib/Messages.js
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+const { whatis } = require("../../../util/langutil");
+
+module.exports = class Messages {
+    static normalize_single_message (message, params = {}) {
+        params = Object.assign({
+            role: 'user',
+        }, params);
+
+        if ( typeof message === 'string' ) {
+            message = {
+                content: [message],
+            };
+        }
+        if ( whatis(message) !== 'object' ) {
+            throw new Error('each message must be a string or object');
+        }
+        if ( ! message.role ) {
+            message.role = params.role;
+        }
+        if ( ! message.content ) {
+            throw new Error(`each message must have a 'content' property`);
+        }
+        if ( whatis(message.content) !== 'array' ) {
+            message.content = [message.content];
+        }
+        for ( let i=0 ; i < message.content.length ; i++ ) {
+            if ( whatis(message.content[i]) === 'string' ) {
+                message.content[i] = {
+                    type: 'text',
+                    text: message.content[i],
+                };
+            }
+            if ( whatis(message.content[i]) !== 'object' ) {
+                throw new Error('each message content item must be a string or object');
+            }
+            if ( ! message.content[i].type ) {
+                message.content[i].type = 'text';
+            }
+        }
+
+        console.log('???', message)
+        return message;
+    }
+    static normalize_messages (messages, params = {}) {
+        for ( let i=0 ; i < messages.length ; i++ ) {
+            messages[i] = this.normalize_single_message(messages[i], params);
+        }
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/backend/src/modules/puterai/lib/messages.test.js b/src/backend/src/modules/puterai/lib/messages.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5f5603fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/src/modules/puterai/lib/messages.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+const { expect } = require('chai');
+const Messages = require('./Messages.js');
+
+describe('Messages', () => {
+    describe('normalize_single_message', () => {
+        const cases = [
+            {
+                name: 'string message',
+                input: 'Hello, world!',
+                output: {
+                    role: 'user',
+                    content: [
+                        {
+                            type: 'text',
+                            text: 'Hello, world!',
+                        }
+                    ]
+                }
+            }
+        ];
+        for ( const tc of cases ) {
+            it(`should normalize ${tc.name}`, () => {
+                const output = Messages.normalize_single_message(tc.input);
+                expect(output).to.deep.equal(tc.output);
+            });
+        }
+    });
+});