diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/BuiltinOps.h b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/BuiltinOps.h
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/BuiltinOps.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/BuiltinOps.h
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 #ifndef MLIR_IR_BUILTINOPS_H_
 #define MLIR_IR_BUILTINOPS_H_
 
+#include "mlir/IR/ModuleInterfaces.h"
 #include "mlir/IR/OpImplementation.h"
 #include "mlir/IR/OwningOpRef.h"
 #include "mlir/IR/RegionKindInterface.h"
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/BuiltinOps.td b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/BuiltinOps.td
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/BuiltinOps.td
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/BuiltinOps.td
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 #define BUILTIN_OPS
 
 include "mlir/IR/BuiltinDialect.td"
+include "mlir/IR/ModuleInterfaces.td"
 include "mlir/IR/OpAsmInterface.td"
 include "mlir/IR/RegionKindInterface.td"
 include "mlir/IR/SymbolInterfaces.td"
@@ -31,8 +32,8 @@
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 
 def ModuleOp : Builtin_Op<"module", [
-    AffineScope, IsolatedFromAbove, NoRegionArguments, SymbolTable, Symbol,
-    OpAsmOpInterface
+    ModuleOpInterface, AffineScope, IsolatedFromAbove, NoRegionArguments,
+    SymbolTable, Symbol, OpAsmOpInterface
   ] # GraphRegionNoTerminator.traits> {
   let summary = "A top level container operation";
   let description = [{
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/CMakeLists.txt b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
+add_mlir_interface(ModuleInterfaces)
 add_mlir_interface(OpAsmInterface)
-add_mlir_interface(SymbolInterfaces)
 add_mlir_interface(RegionKindInterface)
+add_mlir_interface(SymbolInterfaces)
 
 set(LLVM_TARGET_DEFINITIONS BuiltinAttributes.td)
 mlir_tablegen(BuiltinAttributes.h.inc -gen-attrdef-decls)
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/ModuleInterfaces.h b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/ModuleInterfaces.h
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/ModuleInterfaces.h
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+//===- ModuleInterfaces.h - Interface for module ops ------------*- C++ -*-===//
+//
+// Part of the LLVM Project, under the Apache License v2.0 with LLVM Exceptions.
+// See https://llvm.org/LICENSE.txt for license information.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 WITH LLVM-exception
+//
+//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
+
+#ifndef MLIR_IR_MODULEINTERFACES_H
+#define MLIR_IR_MODULEINTERFACES_H
+
+#include "mlir/IR/OpDefinition.h"
+
+#include "mlir/IR/ModuleInterfaces.h.inc"
+
+#endif // MLIR_IR_MODULEINTERFACES_H
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/ModuleInterfaces.td b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/ModuleInterfaces.td
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/ModuleInterfaces.td
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+//===- ModuleInterface.td - Interface for module ops -------*- tablegen -*-===//
+//
+// Part of the LLVM Project, under the Apache License v2.0 with LLVM Exceptions.
+// See https://llvm.org/LICENSE.txt for license information.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 WITH LLVM-exception
+//
+//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
+//
+// This file contains interfaces that can be used to define properties of
+// top-level module-like operations.
+//
+//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
+
+#ifndef MLIR_IR_MODULEINTERFACES
+#define MLIR_IR_MODULEINTERFACES
+
+include "mlir/IR/OpBase.td"
+
+def ModuleOpInterface : OpInterface<"ModuleOpInterface"> {
+  let cppNamespace = "::mlir";
+  let description = [{TODO}];
+}
+
+#endif // MLIR_IR_MODULEINTERFACES
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/Parser/Parser.h b/mlir/include/mlir/Parser/Parser.h
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/Parser/Parser.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/Parser/Parser.h
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 
 #include "mlir/IR/AsmState.h"
 #include "mlir/IR/Builders.h"
+#include "mlir/IR/BuiltinOps.h"
 #include "mlir/IR/OwningOpRef.h"
 #include <cstddef>
 
@@ -147,6 +148,34 @@
   return detail::parseSourceFile<ContainerOpT>(config, sourceMgr);
 }
 
+/// This parses the file specified by the indicated SourceMgr. If the source IR
+/// contained a single instance of an op implementing `ModuleOpInterface`, it is
+/// returned. Otherwise, a new `builtin.module` op is constructed containing all
+/// of the parsed operations. If parsing was not successful, null is returned
+/// and an error message is emitted through the error handler registered in the
+/// context, and failure is returned.
+inline OwningOpRef<ModuleOpInterface>
+parseSourceFile(const llvm::SourceMgr &sourceMgr, const ParserConfig &config) {
+  LocationAttr sourceFileLoc;
+  Block block;
+  if (failed(parseSourceFile(sourceMgr, &block, config, &sourceFileLoc)))
+    return nullptr;
+
+  // Check to see if we parsed a single module-like operation.
+  if (llvm::hasSingleElement(block)) {
+    if (auto mod = dyn_cast<ModuleOpInterface>(block.front())) {
+      mod->remove();
+      return mod;
+    }
+  }
+
+  // If not, then build a new module op to contain it.
+  auto mod = ModuleOp::create(sourceFileLoc);
+  Block *body = mod.getBody();
+  body->getOperations().splice(body->begin(), block.getOperations());
+  return cast<ModuleOpInterface>(*mod);
+}
+
 /// This parses the file specified by the indicated filename. If the source IR
 /// contained a single instance of `ContainerOpT`, it is returned. Otherwise, a
 /// new instance of `ContainerOpT` is constructed containing all of the parsed
diff --git a/mlir/lib/IR/CMakeLists.txt b/mlir/lib/IR/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/mlir/lib/IR/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/mlir/lib/IR/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
   IntegerSet.cpp
   Location.cpp
   MLIRContext.cpp
+  ModuleInterfaces.cpp
   Operation.cpp
   OperationSupport.cpp
   PatternMatch.cpp
diff --git a/mlir/lib/IR/ModuleInterfaces.cpp b/mlir/lib/IR/ModuleInterfaces.cpp
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mlir/lib/IR/ModuleInterfaces.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+//===- ModuleInterfaces.cpp - Interface for module ops ----------*- C++ -*-===//
+//
+// Part of the LLVM Project, under the Apache License v2.0 with LLVM Exceptions.
+// See https://llvm.org/LICENSE.txt for license information.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 WITH LLVM-exception
+//
+//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
+
+#include "mlir/IR/ModuleInterfaces.h"
+#include "mlir/IR/ModuleInterfaces.cpp.inc"
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Tools/mlir-opt/MlirOptMain.cpp b/mlir/lib/Tools/mlir-opt/MlirOptMain.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/Tools/mlir-opt/MlirOptMain.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Tools/mlir-opt/MlirOptMain.cpp
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@
 
   // Parse the input file and reset the context threading state.
   TimingScope parserTiming = timing.nest("Parser");
-  OwningOpRef<ModuleOp> module(parseSourceFile<ModuleOp>(sourceMgr, config));
+  OwningOpRef<ModuleOpInterface> module = parseSourceFile(sourceMgr, config);
   context->enableMultithreading(wasThreadingEnabled);
   if (!module)
     return failure();
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@
 
   // Prepare the pass manager, applying command-line and reproducer options.
   PassManager pm(context, OpPassManager::Nesting::Implicit,
-                 module->getOperationName());
+                 module->getOperation()->getName().getStringRef());
   pm.enableVerifier(verifyPasses);
   applyPassManagerCLOptions(pm);
   pm.enableTiming(timing);
diff --git a/mlir/test/IR/module-op.mlir b/mlir/test/IR/module-op.mlir
--- a/mlir/test/IR/module-op.mlir
+++ b/mlir/test/IR/module-op.mlir
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// RUN: mlir-opt -allow-unregistered-dialect %s -split-input-file -mlir-print-debuginfo -mlir-print-local-scope  | FileCheck %s
+// RUN: mlir-opt -allow-unregistered-dialect %s -split-input-file -mlir-print-debuginfo -mlir-print-local-scope -verify-diagnostics | FileCheck %s
 
 // CHECK: module {
 module {
@@ -34,6 +34,14 @@
 
 // -----
 
+// Check that no implicit module is inserted if there's a already a top-level
+// module-like operation.
+// CHECK-NOT: module {
+//     CHECK: test.module
+test.module
+
+// -----
+
 // Check that the implicit top-level module is also a name scope for SSA
 // values.  This should not crash.
 // CHECK: module {
diff --git a/mlir/test/lib/Dialect/Test/TestOps.td b/mlir/test/lib/Dialect/Test/TestOps.td
--- a/mlir/test/lib/Dialect/Test/TestOps.td
+++ b/mlir/test/lib/Dialect/Test/TestOps.td
@@ -14,8 +14,9 @@
 include "mlir/Dialect/DLTI/DLTIBase.td"
 include "mlir/Dialect/Linalg/IR/LinalgInterfaces.td"
 include "mlir/IR/EnumAttr.td"
-include "mlir/IR/OpBase.td"
+include "mlir/IR/ModuleInterfaces.td"
 include "mlir/IR/OpAsmInterface.td"
+include "mlir/IR/OpBase.td"
 include "mlir/IR/PatternBase.td"
 include "mlir/IR/RegionKindInterface.td"
 include "mlir/IR/SymbolInterfaces.td"
@@ -2996,4 +2997,12 @@
 
   let assemblyFormat = "attr-dict $value";
 }
+
+//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
+// Test ModuleOpInterface
+//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
+def TestModuleOp : TEST_Op<"module", [ModuleOpInterface]> {
+  let assemblyFormat = "attr-dict";
+}
+
 #endif // TEST_OPS