diff --git a/.dialyzer_ignore.exs b/.dialyzer_ignore.exs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e26e2da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dialyzer_ignore.exs
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[
+  ~r/__impl__.*does\ not\ exist\./
+]
diff --git a/lib/stow/adapter/httpc.ex b/lib/stow/adapter/httpc.ex
index 7af1248..f0e48a3 100644
--- a/lib/stow/adapter/httpc.ex
+++ b/lib/stow/adapter/httpc.ex
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ defmodule Stow.Adapter.Httpc do
   @behaviour Stow.Adapter
 
   import Stow.URI, only: [to_iolist: 1]
+  import Stow.ResponseHandler
+
   alias Stow.Conn
 
   @http_options [
@@ -19,21 +21,12 @@ defmodule Stow.Adapter.Httpc do
   def dispatch(%Conn{method: :get} = conn) do
     with {http_opts, opts} <- split_options(conn.opts, {[], []}, conn.uri.scheme),
          headers <- maybe_to_charlist(conn.headers) do
-      :httpc.request(:get, {to_iolist(conn.uri), headers}, http_opts, opts)
-      |> handle_response()
+      :httpc.request(:get, {to_iolist(conn.uri), headers}, http_opts, opts) |> to_response()
     end
   end
 
   def dispatch(_conn), do: {:error, :not_supported}
 
-  defp handle_response({:ok, {{[?H, ?T, ?T, ?P | _], status, _}, headers, body}}) do
-    {:ok,
-     {status, Enum.map(headers, fn {k, v} -> {to_string(k), to_string(v)} end),
-      body |> IO.iodata_to_binary()}}
-  end
-
-  defp handle_response({:error, reason}), do: {:error, reason}
-
   defp split_options(nil, {http_opts, opts}, _), do: {http_opts, opts}
   defp split_options([], {http_opts, opts}, "http"), do: {http_opts, opts}
   defp split_options([], {http_opts, opts}, "https"), do: {http_opts |> set_ssl_opt(), opts}
diff --git a/lib/stow/response.ex b/lib/stow/response.ex
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b5b52a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/stow/response.ex
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+defmodule Stow.Response do
+  @moduledoc """
+  Struct containing a standardised response from various data sources.
+  """
+
+  defstruct [:body, :headers, :state, :status]
+
+  @type t :: %__MODULE__{
+          body: nil | iodata(),
+          headers: nil | [{binary(), binary()}],
+          status: nil | pos_integer(),
+          state: nil | :ok | {:error, term()}
+        }
+
+  def put_body(response, body) when is_binary(body) do
+    %{response | body: body}
+  end
+
+  def put_body(response, body) when is_list(body) do
+    %{response | body: if(IO.iodata_length(body) > 0, do: body, else: nil)}
+  end
+
+  def put_headers(response, [{k, v} | _] = headers) when is_binary(k) and is_binary(v) do
+    %{response | headers: headers}
+  end
+
+  def put_headers(response, [{k, v} | _] = headers)
+      when is_list(k) and is_list(v) and is_integer(hd(k)) and is_integer(hd(v)) do
+    %{response | headers: headers |> Enum.map(fn {k, v} -> {to_string(k), to_string(v)} end)}
+  end
+
+  def put_status(response, status) when is_integer(status) do
+    %{response | status: status}
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/stow/response_handler.ex b/lib/stow/response_handler.ex
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..00b1ec1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/stow/response_handler.ex
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+defprotocol Stow.ResponseHandler do
+  @moduledoc ~S"""
+  The `Stow.Response` protocol is responsible for
+  converting various data sources response to the `Stow.Response.t()` struct.
+
+  The only function that must be implemented is
+  `to_response/1` which does the conversion.
+  """
+
+  @dialyzer {:nowarn_function, to_response: 1}
+
+  @fallback_to_any true
+  @spec to_response(term()) :: Stow.Response.t()
+  def to_response(value)
+end
+
+defimpl Stow.ResponseHandler, for: Tuple do
+  alias Stow.Response
+  import Stow.Response
+
+  # httpc response
+  def to_response({:ok, {{[?H, ?T, ?T, ?P | _], status, _}, headers, body}}) do
+    %Response{state: :ok}
+    |> put_body(body |> IO.iodata_to_binary())
+    |> put_status(status)
+    |> put_headers(headers)
+  end
+
+  def to_response({:error, term}), do: %Stow.Response{state: {:error, term}}
+end
+
+defimpl Stow.ResponseHandler, for: Any do
+  def to_response(_value), do: %Stow.Response{}
+end
diff --git a/lib/stow/source.ex b/lib/stow/source.ex
index 904447c..a22e16f 100644
--- a/lib/stow/source.ex
+++ b/lib/stow/source.ex
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ defmodule Stow.Source do
 
   @type conn :: Plug.Conn.t()
 
-  @callback get(conn(), map()) :: HttpClient.response()
+  @callback get(conn(), map()) :: term()
 
   def new(uri, options \\ nil), do: %__MODULE__{uri: uri, options: options}
 end
diff --git a/test/stow/adapter/httpc_test.exs b/test/stow/adapter/httpc_test.exs
index 3d2421e..0ad9fbe 100644
--- a/test/stow/adapter/httpc_test.exs
+++ b/test/stow/adapter/httpc_test.exs
@@ -2,8 +2,9 @@ defmodule Stow.Adapter.HttpcTest do
   use ExUnit.Case, async: true
   import ExUnit.CaptureLog
 
-  alias Stow.Conn
   alias Stow.Adapter.Httpc
+  alias Stow.Conn
+  alias Stow.Response
 
   setup do
     bypass = Bypass.open()
@@ -26,8 +27,16 @@ defmodule Stow.Adapter.HttpcTest do
     }
   end
 
-  describe "dispatch/1 for uri" do
-    test "with request path and query string", %{bypass: bypass, conn: conn} do
+  defp assert_ok_response(response) do
+    assert %Response{} = response
+    assert {"server", "Cowboy"} in response.headers
+    assert response.status == 200
+    assert response.body == "getting a response"
+    assert response.state == :ok
+  end
+
+  describe "dispatch/1" do
+    test "request path and query string", %{bypass: bypass, conn: conn} do
       Bypass.expect(bypass, fn conn ->
         request_url = Plug.Conn.request_url(conn)
         assert request_url == "http://localhost:#{bypass.port}/request/path?foo=bar"
@@ -36,10 +45,7 @@ defmodule Stow.Adapter.HttpcTest do
         Plug.Conn.resp(conn, 200, "getting a response")
       end)
 
-      assert {:ok, {status, headers, body}} = conn |> Httpc.dispatch()
-      assert status == 200
-      assert {"server", "Cowboy"} in headers
-      assert body == "getting a response"
+      conn |> Httpc.dispatch() |> assert_ok_response()
     end
 
     test "without request path and query string ", %{bypass: bypass, conn: conn, uri: uri} do
@@ -52,10 +58,7 @@ defmodule Stow.Adapter.HttpcTest do
       end)
 
       uri = %{uri | query: "", path: ""}
-      conn = %{conn | uri: uri}
-      assert {:ok, {status, _headers, body}} = conn |> Httpc.dispatch()
-      assert status == 200
-      assert body == "getting a response"
+      %{conn | uri: uri} |> Httpc.dispatch() |> assert_ok_response()
     end
 
     test "without query string ", %{bypass: bypass, conn: conn, uri: uri} do
@@ -68,10 +71,7 @@ defmodule Stow.Adapter.HttpcTest do
       end)
 
       uri = %{uri | query: ""}
-      conn = %{conn | uri: uri}
-      assert {:ok, {status, _headers, body}} = conn |> Httpc.dispatch()
-      assert status == 200
-      assert body == "getting a response"
+      %{conn | uri: uri} |> Httpc.dispatch() |> assert_ok_response()
     end
 
     test "in https scheme", %{conn: conn, opts: opts, uri: uri} do
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ defmodule Stow.Adapter.HttpcTest do
       conn = %{conn | opts: opts}
 
       Bypass.expect(bypass, fn conn -> Plug.Conn.resp(conn, 200, "getting a response") end)
-      assert {:ok, _} = conn |> Httpc.dispatch()
+      conn |> Httpc.dispatch() |> assert_ok_response()
     end
 
     test "with charlist (native) request headers", %{bypass: bypass, conn: conn} do
@@ -98,8 +98,6 @@ defmodule Stow.Adapter.HttpcTest do
         {~c"accept-Language", ~c"en-US,en;q=0.5"}
       ]
 
-      conn = %{conn | headers: req_headers}
-
       Bypass.expect(bypass, fn conn ->
         assert {"accept", "application/json,text/html"} in conn.req_headers
         assert {"accept-language", "en-US,en;q=0.5"} in conn.req_headers
@@ -107,7 +105,7 @@ defmodule Stow.Adapter.HttpcTest do
         Plug.Conn.resp(conn, 200, "getting a response")
       end)
 
-      assert {:ok, _} = conn |> Httpc.dispatch()
+      %{conn | headers: req_headers} |> Httpc.dispatch() |> assert_ok_response()
     end
 
     test "with binary request headers", %{bypass: bypass, conn: conn} do
@@ -116,8 +114,6 @@ defmodule Stow.Adapter.HttpcTest do
         {"accept-Language", "en-US,en;q=0.5"}
       ]
 
-      conn = %{conn | headers: req_headers}
-
       Bypass.expect(bypass, fn conn ->
         assert {"accept", "application/json,text/html"} in conn.req_headers
         assert {"accept-language", "en-US,en;q=0.5"} in conn.req_headers
@@ -125,7 +121,7 @@ defmodule Stow.Adapter.HttpcTest do
         Plug.Conn.resp(conn, 200, "getting a response")
       end)
 
-      assert {:ok, _} = conn |> Httpc.dispatch()
+      %{conn | headers: req_headers} |> Httpc.dispatch() |> assert_ok_response()
     end
 
     test "returns error on invalid headers", %{conn: conn} do
@@ -134,8 +130,8 @@ defmodule Stow.Adapter.HttpcTest do
         {"accept-Language", "en-US,en;q=0.5"}
       ]
 
-      conn = %{conn | headers: req_headers}
-      assert {:error, {:headers_error, :invalid_field}} = conn |> Httpc.dispatch()
+      assert %Response{} = response = %{conn | headers: req_headers} |> Httpc.dispatch()
+      assert response.state == {:error, {:headers_error, :invalid_field}}
     end
   end