diff --git a/packages/jmespath/src/Expression.ts b/packages/jmespath/src/Expression.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..94c69ef3c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/jmespath/src/Expression.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+import type { TreeInterpreter } from './TreeInterpreter.js';
+import type { JSONObject, Node } from './types.js';
+
+/**
+ * Apply a JMESPath expression to a JSON value.
+ */
+class Expression {
+  readonly #expression: Node;
+  readonly #interpreter: TreeInterpreter;
+
+  public constructor(expression: Node, interpreter: TreeInterpreter) {
+    this.#expression = expression;
+    this.#interpreter = interpreter;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Evaluate the expression against a JSON value.
+   *
+   * @param value The JSON value to apply the expression to.
+   * @param node The node to visit.
+   * @returns The result of applying the expression to the value.
+   */
+  public visit(value: JSONObject, node?: Node): JSONObject {
+    return this.#interpreter.visit(node ?? this.#expression, value);
+  }
+}
+
+export { Expression };
diff --git a/packages/jmespath/src/TreeInterpreter.ts b/packages/jmespath/src/TreeInterpreter.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..29fcfcf0ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/jmespath/src/TreeInterpreter.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+import type { Node, JSONObject } from './types.js';
+
+// This is a placeholder for the real class. The actual implementation will be added in a subsequent PR.
+export class TreeInterpreter {
+  public iAmAPlaceholder = true;
+
+  public visit(_node: Node, _value: JSONObject): JSONObject | null {
+    return this.iAmAPlaceholder;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/packages/jmespath/src/utils.ts b/packages/jmespath/src/utils.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fe115f3098
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/jmespath/src/utils.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,334 @@
+import {
+  getType,
+  isIntegerNumber,
+  isRecord,
+  isTruthy as isTruthyJS,
+  isNumber,
+} from '@aws-lambda-powertools/commons/typeutils';
+import { Expression } from './Expression.js';
+import { ArityError, JMESPathTypeError, VariadicArityError } from './errors.js';
+
+/**
+ * Check if a value is truthy.
+ *
+ * In JavaScript, zero is falsy while all other non-zero numbers are truthy.
+ * In JMESPath however, zero is truthy as well as all other non-zero numbers. For
+ * this reason we wrap the original isTruthy function from the commons package
+ * and add a check for numbers.
+ *
+ * @param value The value to check
+ */
+const isTruthy = (value: unknown): boolean => {
+  if (isNumber(value)) {
+    return true;
+  } else {
+    return isTruthyJS(value);
+  }
+};
+
+/**
+ * @internal
+ * Cap a slice range value to the length of an array, taking into account
+ * negative values and whether the step is negative.
+ *
+ * @param arrayLength The length of the array
+ * @param value The value to cap
+ * @param isStepNegative Whether the step is negative
+ */
+const capSliceRange = (
+  arrayLength: number,
+  value: number,
+  isStepNegative: boolean
+): number => {
+  if (value < 0) {
+    value += arrayLength;
+    if (value < 0) {
+      value = isStepNegative ? -1 : 0;
+    }
+  } else if (value >= arrayLength) {
+    value = isStepNegative ? arrayLength - 1 : arrayLength;
+  }
+
+  return value;
+};
+
+/**
+ * Given a start, stop, and step value, the sub elements in an array are extracted as follows:
+ * * The first element in the extracted array is the index denoted by start.
+ * * The last element in the extracted array is the index denoted by end - 1.
+ * * The step value determines how many indices to skip after each element is selected from the array. An array of 1 (the default step) will not skip any indices. A step value of 2 will skip every other index while extracting elements from an array. A step value of -1 will extract values in reverse order from the array.
+ *
+ * Slice expressions adhere to the following rules:
+ * * If a negative start position is given, it is calculated as the total length of the array plus the given start position.
+ * * If no start position is given, it is assumed to be 0 if the given step is greater than 0 or the end of the array if the given step is less than 0.
+ * * If a negative stop position is given, it is calculated as the total length of the array plus the given stop position.
+ * * If no stop position is given, it is assumed to be the length of the array if the given step is greater than 0 or 0 if the given step is less than 0.
+ * * If the given step is omitted, it it assumed to be 1.
+ * * If the given step is 0, an invalid-value error MUST be raised (thrown before calling the function)
+ * * If the element being sliced is not an array, the result is null (returned before calling the function)
+ * * If the element being sliced is an array and yields no results, the result MUST be an empty array.
+ *
+ * @param array The array to slice
+ * @param start The start index
+ * @param end The end index
+ * @param step The step value
+ */
+const sliceArray = <T>({
+  array,
+  start,
+  end,
+  step,
+}: {
+  array: T[];
+  start?: number;
+  end?: number;
+  step: number;
+}): T[] | null => {
+  const isStepNegative = step < 0;
+  const length = array.length;
+  const defaultStart = isStepNegative ? length - 1 : 0;
+  const defaultEnd = isStepNegative ? -1 : length;
+
+  start = isIntegerNumber(start)
+    ? capSliceRange(length, start, isStepNegative)
+    : defaultStart;
+
+  end = isIntegerNumber(end)
+    ? capSliceRange(length, end, isStepNegative)
+    : defaultEnd;
+
+  const result: T[] = [];
+  if (step > 0) {
+    for (let i = start; i < end; i += step) {
+      result.push(array[i]);
+    }
+  } else {
+    for (let i = start; i > end; i += step) {
+      result.push(array[i]);
+    }
+  }
+
+  return result;
+};
+
+/**
+ * Checks if the number of arguments passed to a function matches the expected arity.
+ * If the number of arguments does not match the expected arity, an ArityError is thrown.
+ *
+ * If the function is variadic, then the number of arguments passed to the function must be
+ * greater than or equal to the expected arity. If the number of arguments passed to the function
+ * is less than the expected arity, a `VariadicArityError` is thrown.
+ *
+ * @param args The arguments passed to the function
+ * @param argumentsSpecs The expected types for each argument
+ * @param decoratedFuncName The name of the function being called
+ * @param variadic Whether the function is variadic
+ */
+const arityCheck = (
+  args: unknown[],
+  argumentsSpecs: Array<Array<string>>,
+  variadic?: boolean
+): void => {
+  if (variadic) {
+    if (args.length < argumentsSpecs.length) {
+      throw new VariadicArityError({
+        expectedArity: argumentsSpecs.length,
+        actualArity: args.length,
+      });
+    }
+  } else if (args.length !== argumentsSpecs.length) {
+    throw new ArityError({
+      expectedArity: argumentsSpecs.length,
+      actualArity: args.length,
+    });
+  }
+};
+
+/**
+ * Type checks the arguments passed to a function against the expected types.
+ *
+ * Type checking at runtime involves checking the top level type,
+ * and in the case of arrays, potentially checking the types of
+ * the elements in the array.
+ *
+ * If the list of types includes 'any', then the type check is a
+ * no-op.
+ *
+ * If the list of types includes more than one type, then the
+ * argument is checked against each type in the list. If the
+ * argument matches any of the types, then the type check
+ * passes. If the argument does not match any of the types, then
+ * a JMESPathTypeError is thrown.
+ *
+ * @param args The arguments passed to the function
+ * @param argumentsSpecs The expected types for each argument
+ */
+const typeCheck = (
+  args: unknown[],
+  argumentsSpecs: Array<Array<string>>
+): void => {
+  for (const [index, argumentSpec] of argumentsSpecs.entries()) {
+    if (argumentSpec[0] === 'any') continue;
+    typeCheckArgument(args[index], argumentSpec);
+  }
+};
+
+/**
+ * Type checks an argument against a list of types.
+ *
+ * If the list of types includes more than one type, then the
+ * argument is checked against each type in the list. If the
+ * argument matches any of the types, then the type check
+ * passes. If the argument does not match any of the types, then
+ * a JMESPathTypeError is thrown.
+ *
+ * @param arg
+ * @param argumentSpec
+ */
+const typeCheckArgument = (arg: unknown, argumentSpec: Array<string>): void => {
+  let valid = false;
+  argumentSpec.forEach((type, index) => {
+    if (valid) return;
+    valid = checkIfArgumentTypeIsValid(arg, type, index, argumentSpec);
+  });
+};
+
+/**
+ * Check if the argument is of the expected type.
+ *
+ * @param arg The argument to check
+ * @param type The expected type
+ * @param index The index of the type we are checking
+ * @param argumentSpec The list of types to check against
+ */
+const checkIfArgumentTypeIsValid = (
+  arg: unknown,
+  type: string,
+  index: number,
+  argumentSpec: string[]
+): boolean => {
+  const hasMoreTypesToCheck = index < argumentSpec.length - 1;
+  if (type.startsWith('array')) {
+    if (!Array.isArray(arg)) {
+      if (hasMoreTypesToCheck) {
+        return false;
+      }
+      throw new JMESPathTypeError({
+        currentValue: arg,
+        expectedTypes: argumentSpec,
+        actualType: getType(arg),
+      });
+    }
+    checkComplexArrayType(arg, type, hasMoreTypesToCheck);
+
+    return true;
+  }
+  if (type === 'expression') {
+    checkExpressionType(arg, argumentSpec, hasMoreTypesToCheck);
+
+    return true;
+  } else if (['string', 'number', 'boolean'].includes(type)) {
+    typeCheckType(arg, type, argumentSpec, hasMoreTypesToCheck);
+    if (typeof arg === type) return true;
+  } else if (type === 'object') {
+    checkObjectType(arg, argumentSpec, hasMoreTypesToCheck);
+
+    return true;
+  }
+
+  return false;
+};
+
+/**
+ * Check if the argument is of the expected type.
+ *
+ * @param arg The argument to check
+ * @param type The type to check against
+ * @param argumentSpec The list of types to check against
+ * @param hasMoreTypesToCheck Whether there are more types to check
+ */
+const typeCheckType = (
+  arg: unknown,
+  type: string,
+  argumentSpec: string[],
+  hasMoreTypesToCheck: boolean
+): void => {
+  if (typeof arg !== type && !hasMoreTypesToCheck) {
+    throw new JMESPathTypeError({
+      currentValue: arg,
+      expectedTypes: argumentSpec,
+      actualType: getType(arg),
+    });
+  }
+};
+
+/**
+ * Check if the argument is an array of complex types.
+ *
+ * @param arg The argument to check
+ * @param type The type to check against
+ * @param hasMoreTypesToCheck Whether there are more types to check
+ */
+const checkComplexArrayType = (
+  arg: unknown[],
+  type: string,
+  hasMoreTypesToCheck: boolean
+): void => {
+  if (!type.includes('-')) return;
+  const arrayItemsType = type.slice(6);
+  let actualType: string | undefined;
+  for (const element of arg) {
+    try {
+      typeCheckArgument(element, [arrayItemsType]);
+      actualType = arrayItemsType;
+    } catch (error) {
+      if (!hasMoreTypesToCheck || actualType !== undefined) {
+        throw error;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+};
+
+/**
+ * Check if the argument is an expression.
+ *
+ * @param arg The argument to check
+ * @param type The type to check against
+ * @param hasMoreTypesToCheck Whether there are more types to check
+ */
+const checkExpressionType = (
+  arg: unknown,
+  type: string[],
+  hasMoreTypesToCheck: boolean
+): void => {
+  if (!(arg instanceof Expression) && !hasMoreTypesToCheck) {
+    throw new JMESPathTypeError({
+      currentValue: arg,
+      expectedTypes: type,
+      actualType: getType(arg),
+    });
+  }
+};
+
+/**
+ * Check if the argument is an object.
+ *
+ * @param arg The argument to check
+ * @param type The type to check against
+ * @param hasMoreTypesToCheck Whether there are more types to check
+ */
+const checkObjectType = (
+  arg: unknown,
+  type: string[],
+  hasMoreTypesToCheck: boolean
+): void => {
+  if (!isRecord(arg) && !hasMoreTypesToCheck) {
+    throw new JMESPathTypeError({
+      currentValue: arg,
+      expectedTypes: type,
+      actualType: getType(arg),
+    });
+  }
+};
+
+export { isTruthy, arityCheck, sliceArray, typeCheck, typeCheckArgument };