diff --git a/os_traits/compute/arch.py b/os_traits/compute/arch.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..528abb9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/os_traits/compute/arch.py
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
+# 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.
+
+TRAITS = [
+    # traits corresponding to the allowed values of "hw_emulaton_architecture"
+    # image metadata property
+    # https://github.com/openstack/nova/blob/1f74441/nova/objects/fields.py#L120-228
+    'AARCH64',
+    'PPC64LE',
+    'MIPSEL',
+    'S390X',
+    'RISCV64',
+    'X86_64',
+]
diff --git a/os_traits/hw/arch.py b/os_traits/hw/arch.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..78f0596
--- /dev/null
+++ b/os_traits/hw/arch.py
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
+# 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.
+
+TRAITS = [
+    # traits corresponding to the allowed values of "hw_architecture"
+    # image metadata property
+    # https://github.com/openstack/nova/blob/1f74441/nova/objects/fields.py#L120-228
+    'ALPHA',
+    'ARMV6',
+    'ARMV7',
+    'ARMV7B',
+    'AARCH64',
+    'CRIS',
+    'I686',
+    'IA64',
+    'LM32',
+    'M68K',
+    'MICROBLAZE',
+    'MICROBLAZEEL',
+    'MIPS',
+    'MIPSEL',
+    'MIPS64',
+    'MIPS64EL',
+    'OPENRISC',
+    'PARISC',
+    'PARISC64',
+    'PPC',
+    'PPCLE',
+    'PPC64',
+    'PPC64LE',
+    'PPCEMB',
+    'S390',
+    'S390X',
+    'SH4',
+    'SH4EB',
+    'SPARC',
+    'SPARC64',
+    'UNICORE32',
+    'X86_64',
+    'XTENSA',
+    'XTENSAEB',
+]