diff --git a/contrib/devstack/lib/murano b/contrib/devstack/lib/murano
index 9a48abf2..493b17e2 100644
--- a/contrib/devstack/lib/murano
+++ b/contrib/devstack/lib/murano
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ function init_murano() {
 
     $MURANO_BIN_DIR/murano-manage --config-file $MURANO_CONF_FILE db-sync
     $MURANO_BIN_DIR/murano-manage --config-file $MURANO_CONF_FILE import-package $MURANO_DIR/meta/io.murano
-    $MURANO_BIN_DIR/murano-manage --config-file $MURANO_CONF_FILE import-package $MURANO_DIR/meta/io.murano.windows.ActiveDirectory
+    $MURANO_BIN_DIR/murano-manage --config-file $MURANO_CONF_FILE import-package $MURANO_DIR/meta/io.murano.windows.ActiveDirectory -c "Microsoft Services"
 }
 
 
diff --git a/muranoapi/cmd/manage.py b/muranoapi/cmd/manage.py
index f44edb14..4d0bd586 100644
--- a/muranoapi/cmd/manage.py
+++ b/muranoapi/cmd/manage.py
@@ -17,10 +17,12 @@
 """
 
 import sys
+import traceback
 
 from oslo.config import cfg
 
 import muranoapi
+from muranoapi.common import consts
 from muranoapi.db.catalog import api as db_catalog_api
 from muranoapi.db import session as db_session
 from muranoapi.openstack.common import log as logging
@@ -40,20 +42,38 @@ def do_db_sync():
     db_session.db_sync()
 
 
-def _do_import_package(_dir):
+def _do_import_package(_dir, categories):
     LOG.info("Going to import Murano package from {0}".format(_dir))
     pkg = application_package.load_from_dir(_dir)
-    result = db_catalog_api.package_upload(pkg.__dict__, None)
+    package = {
+        'fully_qualified_name': pkg.full_name,
+        'type': pkg.package_type,
+        'author': pkg.author,
+        'name': pkg.display_name,
+        'description': pkg.description,
+        # note: we explicitly mark all the imported packages as public,
+        # until a parameter added to control visibility scope of a package
+        'is_public': True,
+        #'tags': pkg.tags,
+        'logo': pkg.logo,
+        'ui_definition': pkg.raw_ui,
+        'class_definition': pkg.classes,
+        'archive': pkg.blob,
+        'categories': categories or []
+    }
+
+    # note(ruhe): the second parameter is tenant_id
+    # it is a required field in the DB, that's why we pass an empty string
+    result = db_catalog_api.package_upload(package, '')
     LOG.info("Finished import of package {0}".format(result.id))
 
 
 # TODO(ruhe): proper error handling
 def do_import_package():
     """
-    Import Murano packages from local directories.
+    Import Murano package from local directory.
     """
-    for _dir in CONF.command.directories:
-        _do_import_package(_dir)
+    _do_import_package(CONF.command.directory, CONF.command.categories)
 
 
 def add_command_parsers(subparsers):
@@ -64,10 +84,14 @@ def add_command_parsers(subparsers):
 
     parser = subparsers.add_parser('import-package')
     parser.set_defaults(func=do_import_package)
-    parser.add_argument('directories',
-                        nargs='+',
-                        help="list of directories with Murano packages "
-                             "separated by space")
+    parser.add_argument('directory',
+                        help='A directory with Murano package.')
+
+    parser.add_argument('-c', '--categories',
+                        choices=consts.CATEGORIES,
+                        nargs='*',
+                        help='An optional list of categories this package '
+                             'to be assigned to.')
 
 
 command_opt = cfg.SubCommandOpt('command',
@@ -85,13 +109,16 @@ def main():
              default_config_files=default_config_files)
         logging.setup("murano-api")
     except RuntimeError as e:
-        LOG.error("murano-manage command failed: %s" % e)
+        LOG.error("failed to initialize murano-manage: %s" % e)
         sys.exit("ERROR: %s" % e)
 
     try:
         CONF.command.func()
     except Exception as e:
-        sys.exit("ERROR: %s" % e)
+        tb = traceback.format_exc()
+        err_msg = "murano-manage command failed: {0}\n{1}".format(e, tb)
+        LOG.error(err_msg)
+        sys.exit(err_msg)
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
diff --git a/muranoapi/packages/application_package.py b/muranoapi/packages/application_package.py
index e5762942..751b2d95 100644
--- a/muranoapi/packages/application_package.py
+++ b/muranoapi/packages/application_package.py
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ import tempfile
 import yaml
 import zipfile
 
+from sqlalchemy.util import byte_buffer
+
 import muranoapi.packages.exceptions as e
 import muranoapi.packages.versions.v1
 
@@ -60,6 +62,7 @@ class ApplicationPackage(object):
         self._raw_ui_cache = None
         self._logo_cache = None
         self._classes_cache = {}
+        self._blob_cache = None
 
     @property
     def full_name(self):
@@ -107,6 +110,12 @@ class ApplicationPackage(object):
             self._load_logo(False)
         return self._logo_cache
 
+    @property
+    def blob(self):
+        if not self._blob_cache:
+            self._blob_cache = _pack_dir(self._source_directory)
+        return self._blob_cache
+
     def get_class(self, name):
         if name not in self._classes_cache:
             self._load_class(name)
@@ -209,6 +218,23 @@ def load_from_dir(source_directory, filename='manifest.yaml', preload=False,
         return package
 
 
+def _zipdir(path, zipf):
+    for root, dirs, files in os.walk(path):
+        for f in files:
+            abspath = os.path.join(root, f)
+            relpath = os.path.relpath(abspath, path)
+            zipf.write(abspath, relpath)
+
+
+def _pack_dir(source_directory):
+    blob = byte_buffer()
+    zipf = zipfile.ZipFile(blob, mode='w')
+    _zipdir(source_directory, zipf)
+    zipf.close()
+
+    return blob.getvalue()
+
+
 def load_from_file(archive_path, target_dir=None, drop_dir=False,
                    loader=DummyLoader):
     if not os.path.isfile(archive_path):