diff --git a/metropolis/pkg/logtree/logtree_entry.go b/metropolis/pkg/logtree/logtree_entry.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..321406d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/metropolis/pkg/logtree/logtree_entry.go
@@ -0,0 +1,141 @@
+// Copyright 2020 The Monogon Project Authors.
+//
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+//
+// 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.
+
+package logtree
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+
+	"git.monogon.dev/source/nexantic.git/metropolis/pkg/logbuffer"
+	apb "git.monogon.dev/source/nexantic.git/metropolis/proto/api"
+)
+
+// LogEntry contains a log entry, combining both leveled and raw logging into a single stream of events. A LogEntry
+// will contain exactly one of either LeveledPayload or RawPayload.
+type LogEntry struct {
+	// If non-nil, this is a leveled logging entry.
+	Leveled *LeveledPayload
+	// If non-nil, this is a raw logging entry line.
+	Raw *logbuffer.Line
+	// DN from which this entry was logged.
+	DN DN
+}
+
+// String returns a canonical representation of this payload as a single string prefixed with metadata. If the entry is
+// a leveled log entry that originally was logged with newlines this representation will also contain newlines, with
+// each original message part prefixed by the metadata.
+// For an alternative call that will instead return a canonical prefix and a list of lines in the message, see Strings().
+func (l *LogEntry) String() string {
+	if l.Leveled != nil {
+		prefix, messages := l.Leveled.Strings()
+		res := make([]string, len(messages))
+		for i, m := range messages {
+			res[i] = fmt.Sprintf("%-32s %s%s", l.DN, prefix, m)
+		}
+		return strings.Join(res, "\n")
+	}
+	if l.Raw != nil {
+		return fmt.Sprintf("%-32s R %s", l.DN, l.Raw)
+	}
+	return "INVALID"
+}
+
+// Strings returns the canonical representation of this payload split into a prefix and all lines that were contained in
+// the original message. This is meant to be displayed to the user by showing the prefix before each line, concatenated
+// together - possibly in a table form with the prefixes all unified with a rowspan-like mechanism.
+//
+// For example, this function can return:
+//   prefix = "root.foo.bar                    I1102 17:20:06.921395     0 foo.go:42] "
+//   lines = []string{"current tags:", " - one", " - two"}
+//
+// With this data, the result should be presented to users this way in text form:
+// root.foo.bar                    I1102 17:20:06.921395 foo.go:42] current tags:
+// root.foo.bar                    I1102 17:20:06.921395 foo.go:42]  - one
+// root.foo.bar                    I1102 17:20:06.921395 foo.go:42]  - two
+//
+// Or, in a table layout:
+// .-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
+// | root.foo.bar                    I1102 17:20:06.921395 foo.go:42] : current tags:    |
+// |                                                                  :------------------|
+// |                                                                  :  - one           |
+// |                                                                  :------------------|
+// |                                                                  :  - two           |
+// '-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------'
+//
+func (l *LogEntry) Strings() (prefix string, lines []string) {
+	if l.Leveled != nil {
+		prefix, messages := l.Leveled.Strings()
+		prefix = fmt.Sprintf("%-32s %s", l.DN, prefix)
+		return prefix, messages
+	}
+	if l.Raw != nil {
+		return fmt.Sprintf("%-32s R ", l.DN), []string{l.Raw.Data}
+	}
+	return "INVALID ", []string{"INVALID"}
+}
+
+// Convert this LogEntry to proto. Returned value may be nil if given LogEntry is invalid, eg. contains neither a Raw
+// nor Leveled entry.
+func (l *LogEntry) Proto() *apb.LogEntry {
+	p := &apb.LogEntry{
+		Dn: string(l.DN),
+	}
+	switch {
+	case l.Leveled != nil:
+		leveled := l.Leveled
+		p.Kind = &apb.LogEntry_Leveled_{
+			Leveled: leveled.Proto(),
+		}
+	case l.Raw != nil:
+		raw := l.Raw
+		p.Kind = &apb.LogEntry_Raw_{
+			Raw: raw.ProtoLog(),
+		}
+	default:
+		return nil
+	}
+	return p
+}
+
+// Parse a proto LogEntry back into internal structure. This can be used in log proto API consumers to easily print
+// received log entries.
+func LogEntryFromProto(l *apb.LogEntry) (*LogEntry, error) {
+	dn := DN(l.Dn)
+	if _, err := dn.Path(); err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("could not convert DN: %w", err)
+	}
+	res := &LogEntry{
+		DN: dn,
+	}
+	switch inner := l.Kind.(type) {
+	case *apb.LogEntry_Leveled_:
+		leveled, err := LeveledPayloadFromProto(inner.Leveled)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("could not convert leveled entry: %w", err)
+		}
+		res.Leveled = leveled
+	case *apb.LogEntry_Raw_:
+		line, err := logbuffer.LineFromLogProto(inner.Raw)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("could not convert raw entry: %w", err)
+		}
+		res.Raw = line
+	default:
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("proto has neither Leveled nor Raw set")
+	}
+	return res, nil
+}