diff --git a/src/fixtures/stubbed_logstash_index_pattern.js b/src/fixtures/stubbed_logstash_index_pattern.js
index cac43c3255d3d4..5b46c409079cab 100644
--- a/src/fixtures/stubbed_logstash_index_pattern.js
+++ b/src/fixtures/stubbed_logstash_index_pattern.js
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 import _ from 'lodash';
+
 import TestUtilsStubIndexPatternProvider from 'testUtils/stub_index_pattern';
 import IndexPatternsFieldTypesProvider from 'ui/index_patterns/_field_types';
 import FixturesLogstashFieldsProvider from 'fixtures/logstash_fields';
+
 export default function stubbedLogstashIndexPatternService(Private) {
   var StubIndexPattern = Private(TestUtilsStubIndexPatternProvider);
   var fieldTypes = Private(IndexPatternsFieldTypesProvider);
diff --git a/src/ui/public/filter_context/__tests__/filter_context.js b/src/ui/public/filter_context/__tests__/filter_context.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..6c62f1e4881f8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ui/public/filter_context/__tests__/filter_context.js
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+import ngMock from 'ngMock';
+import expect from 'expect.js';
+import moment from 'moment';
+import { difference, isEqual } from 'lodash';
+
+import FilterContextProvider from '../filter_context';
+import RootSearchSourceProvider from 'ui/courier/data_source/_root_search_source';
+import noDigestPromises from 'testUtils/noDigestPromises';
+import StubbedIndexPatternProvider from 'fixtures/stubbed_logstash_index_pattern';
+
+describe('filterContext', function () {
+  noDigestPromises.activateForSuite();
+
+  let init;
+
+  beforeEach(ngMock.module('kibana'));
+  beforeEach(ngMock.inject(function (Private, $injector) {
+    init = function () {
+      const filterContext = Private(FilterContextProvider);
+      const rootSearchSource = Private(RootSearchSourceProvider);
+
+      const timefilter = $injector.get('timefilter');
+      const indexPattern = Private(StubbedIndexPatternProvider);
+      rootSearchSource.getGlobalSource().set('index', indexPattern);
+
+      return { filterContext, rootSearchSource, timefilter, indexPattern };
+    };
+  }));
+
+  describe('#getEsBoolQuery()', function () {
+    it('provides access to the current root-level filters', function () {
+      const { rootSearchSource, filterContext, timefilter, indexPattern } = init();
+
+      timefilter.time.mode = 'absolute';
+      timefilter.time.from = moment().subtract(1, 'hour').toISOString();
+      timefilter.time.to = moment().toISOString();
+
+      // add a filter to the rootSearchSource
+      rootSearchSource.get()
+      .filter([
+        { term: { field: 'term value' } }
+      ])
+      .query({
+        match: { field: 'matcher' }
+      });
+
+      // read the filterContext
+      return filterContext.getEsBoolQuery()
+      .then(function ({ bool }) {
+        // the resulting boolQuery should include the filter we added and other contextual filters
+        var rootQuery = bool.must.filter(f => isEqual(f, { match: { field: 'matcher' } }));
+        var rootFilter = bool.must.filter(f => isEqual(f, { term: { field: 'term value' } }));
+        var filterForTime = bool.must.filter(f => isEqual(f, timefilter.get(indexPattern)));
+
+        expect(rootQuery).to.have.length(1);
+        expect(rootFilter).to.have.length(1);
+        expect(filterForTime).to.have.length(1);
+        expect(difference(bool.must, rootQuery, rootFilter, filterForTime)).to.have.length(0);
+        expect(bool.must_not).to.have.length(0);
+        expect(bool.should).to.have.length(0);
+      });
+    });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/ui/public/filter_context/filter_context.js b/src/ui/public/filter_context/filter_context.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..4d4802e2e652b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ui/public/filter_context/filter_context.js
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+import RootSearchSourceProvider from 'ui/courier/data_source/_root_search_source';
+
+export default function FilterContextProvider(Private) {
+  const rootSearchSource = Private(RootSearchSourceProvider);
+
+  return {
+    getEsBoolQuery() {
+      const searchSource = rootSearchSource.get();
+      return searchSource._flatten().then(({ body: { query: { bool } } }) => ({ bool }));
+    }
+  };
+}