diff --git a/dvc/repo/experiments/serialize.py b/dvc/repo/experiments/serialize.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..06c0238e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dvc/repo/experiments/serialize.py
@@ -0,0 +1,154 @@
+import json
+from dataclasses import asdict, dataclass, field
+from datetime import datetime
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, Callable, Dict, Optional
+
+from dvc.exceptions import DvcException
+from dvc.repo.metrics.show import _gather_metrics
+from dvc.repo.params.show import _gather_params
+from dvc.utils import onerror_collect, relpath
+
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from dvc.repo import Repo
+
+
+class DeserializeError(DvcException):
+    pass
+
+
+class _ISOEncoder(json.JSONEncoder):
+    def default(self, o: object) -> Any:
+        if isinstance(o, datetime):
+            return o.isoformat()
+        return super().default(o)
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class SerializableExp:
+    """Serializable experiment state."""
+
+    rev: str
+    timestamp: Optional[datetime] = None
+    params: Dict[str, Any] = field(default_factory=dict)
+    metrics: Dict[str, Any] = field(default_factory=dict)
+    deps: Dict[str, "_ExpDep"] = field(default_factory=dict)
+    outs: Dict[str, "_ExpOut"] = field(default_factory=dict)
+    status: Optional[str] = None
+    executor: Optional[str] = None
+    error: Optional["SerializableError"] = None
+
+    @classmethod
+    def from_repo(
+        cls,
+        repo: "Repo",
+        rev: Optional[str] = None,
+        onerror: Optional[Callable] = None,
+        **kwargs,
+    ) -> "SerializableExp":
+        """Returns a SerializableExp from the current repo state.
+
+        Params, metrics, deps, outs are filled via repo fs/index, all other fields
+        should be passed via kwargs.
+        """
+        from dvc.dependency import ParamsDependency, RepoDependency
+
+        if not onerror:
+            onerror = onerror_collect
+
+        rev = rev or repo.get_rev()
+        assert rev
+        status: Optional[str] = kwargs.get("status")
+        # NOTE: _gather_params/_gather_metrics return defaultdict which is not
+        # supported in dataclasses.asdict() on all python releases
+        # see https://bugs.python.org/issue35540
+        params = dict(_gather_params(repo, onerror=onerror))
+        if status and status.lower() in ("queued", "failed"):
+            metrics: Dict[str, Any] = {}
+        else:
+            metrics = dict(
+                _gather_metrics(
+                    repo,
+                    targets=None,
+                    rev=rev[:7],
+                    recursive=False,
+                    onerror=onerror_collect,
+                )
+            )
+        return cls(
+            rev=rev,
+            params=params,
+            metrics=metrics,
+            deps={
+                relpath(dep.fs_path, repo.root_dir): _ExpDep(
+                    hash=dep.hash_info.value if dep.hash_info else None,
+                    size=dep.meta.size if dep.meta else None,
+                    nfiles=dep.meta.nfiles if dep.meta else None,
+                )
+                for dep in repo.index.deps
+                if not isinstance(dep, (ParamsDependency, RepoDependency))
+            },
+            outs={
+                relpath(out.fs_path, repo.root_dir): _ExpOut(
+                    hash=out.hash_info.value if out.hash_info else None,
+                    size=out.meta.size if out.meta else None,
+                    nfiles=out.meta.nfiles if out.meta else None,
+                    use_cache=out.use_cache,
+                    is_data_source=out.stage.is_data_source,
+                )
+                for out in repo.index.outs
+                if not (out.is_metric or out.is_plot)
+            },
+            **kwargs,
+        )
+
+    def dumpd(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+        return asdict(self)
+
+    def as_bytes(self) -> bytes:
+        return _ISOEncoder().encode(self.dumpd()).encode("utf-8")
+
+    @classmethod
+    def from_bytes(cls, data: bytes):
+        try:
+            parsed = json.loads(data)
+            if "timestamp" in parsed:
+                parsed["timestamp"] = datetime.fromisoformat(parsed["timestamp"])
+            return cls(**parsed)
+        except (TypeError, json.JSONDecodeError) as exc:
+            raise DeserializeError("failed to load SerializableExp") from exc
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class _ExpDep:
+    hash: Optional[str]  # noqa: A003
+    size: Optional[int]
+    nfiles: Optional[int]
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class _ExpOut:
+    hash: Optional[str]  # noqa: A003
+    size: Optional[int]
+    nfiles: Optional[int]
+    use_cache: bool
+    is_data_source: bool
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class SerializableError:
+    msg: str
+    type: str = ""  # noqa: A003
+
+    def dumpd(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+        return asdict(self)
+
+    def as_bytes(self) -> bytes:
+        return json.dumps(self.dumpd()).encode("utf-8")
+
+    @classmethod
+    def from_bytes(cls, data: bytes):
+        try:
+            parsed = json.loads(data)
+            return cls(**parsed)
+        except (TypeError, json.JSONDecodeError) as exc:
+            raise DeserializeError("failed to load SerializableError") from exc