diff --git a/confsync/detectors/base.py b/confsync/detectors/base.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c096339
--- /dev/null
+++ b/confsync/detectors/base.py
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+"""Base detector class and registry for configuration file detection."""
+
+from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Dict, List, Optional, Type
+
+from confsync.models.config_models import ConfigFile, ConfigCategory
+
+
+class BaseDetector(ABC):
+    """Base class for configuration file detectors."""
+
+    category: ConfigCategory
+    tool_name: str
+
+    @abstractmethod
+    def detect(self) -> List[ConfigFile]:
+        """Detect configuration files for this tool.
+
+        Returns:
+            List of detected ConfigFile objects
+        """
+        pass
+
+    def get_default_locations(self) -> List[str]:
+        """Get default locations to search for configurations."""
+        return []
+
+    def get_file_patterns(self) -> List[str]:
+        """Get file patterns to match."""
+        return []
+
+    def should_skip(self, path: str) -> bool:
+        """Check if a path should be skipped."""
+        return False
+
+    def _create_config_file(self, path: str, content: str = "") -> ConfigFile:
+        """Create a ConfigFile object from a path and content."""
+        from confsync.utils.file_utils import read_file_safe
+        from confsync.utils.path_utils import expand_path
+
+        full_path = expand_path(path)
+
+        if content == "":
+            content = read_file_safe(full_path) or ""
+
+        file_path = Path(full_path)
+        return ConfigFile(
+            path=full_path,
+            name=file_path.name,
+            category=self.category,
+            tool_name=self.tool_name,
+            content=content,
+            file_hash=self._calculate_hash(content),
+            size=len(content.encode('utf-8')),
+        )
+
+    def _calculate_hash(self, content: str) -> str:
+        """Calculate hash of content."""
+        import hashlib
+        return hashlib.sha256(content.encode('utf-8')).hexdigest()
+
+    def _get_file_hash(self, path: str) -> str:
+        """Get hash of a file."""
+        from confsync.utils.file_utils import read_file_safe
+        content = read_file_safe(path)
+        if content is None:
+            return ""
+        return self._calculate_hash(content)
+
+
+class DetectorRegistry:
+    """Registry for all configuration detectors."""
+
+    _detectors: Dict[str, Type[BaseDetector]] = {}
+    _instances: Dict[str, BaseDetector] = {}
+
+    @classmethod
+    def register(cls, detector_class: Type[BaseDetector]) -> None:
+        """Register a detector class."""
+        cls._detectors[detector_class.tool_name.lower()] = detector_class
+
+    @classmethod
+    def get_detector(cls, tool_name: str) -> Optional[BaseDetector]:
+        """Get a detector instance by tool name."""
+        tool_lower = tool_name.lower()
+        if tool_lower not in cls._instances:
+            if tool_lower in cls._detectors:
+                cls._instances[tool_lower] = cls._detectors[tool_lower]()
+        return cls._instances.get(tool_lower)
+
+    @classmethod
+    def get_all_detectors(cls) -> Dict[str, BaseDetector]:
+        """Get all registered detector instances."""
+        result = {}
+        for name, class_obj in cls._detectors.items():
+            if name not in cls._instances:
+                cls._instances[name] = class_obj()
+            result[name] = cls._instances[name]
+        return result
+
+    @classmethod
+    def detect_all(cls, categories: Optional[List[ConfigCategory]] = None) -> List[ConfigFile]:
+        """Run all registered detectors."""
+        all_configs = []
+        for name, detector in cls.get_all_detectors().items():
+            if categories is None or detector.category in categories:
+                try:
+                    configs = detector.detect()
+                    all_configs.extend(configs)
+                except Exception as e:
+                    print(f"Error running detector {name}: {e}")
+        return all_configs
+
+    @classmethod
+    def list_categories(cls) -> List[ConfigCategory]:
+        """List all available categories."""
+        categories = set()
+        for detector_class in cls._detectors.values():
+            categories.add(detector_class.category)
+        return list(categories)
+
+    @classmethod
+    def list_tools(cls) -> List[str]:
+        """List all available tools."""
+        return list(cls._detectors.keys())
+
+
+def detector(detector_class: Type[BaseDetector]) -> Type[BaseDetector]:
+    """Decorator to register a detector."""
+    DetectorRegistry.register(detector_class)
+    return detector_class