diff --git a/src/ona/utf8.zig b/src/ona/utf8.zig
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..352a9d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ona/utf8.zig
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+const std = @import("std");
+const table = @import("./table.zig");
+
+///
+/// Tests if the contents of `this_utf8_sequence` lexically equals the contents of
+/// `that_utf8_sequence`.
+///
+pub fn equals(this_utf8_sequence: []const u8, that_utf8_sequence: []const u8) bool {
+    return std.mem.eql(u8, this_utf8_sequence, that_utf8_sequence);
+}
+
+///
+/// Returns a deterministic hash for `utf8_sequence`.
+///
+pub fn hash(utf8_sequence: []const u8) usize {
+    var utf8_hash = @as(usize, 5381);
+
+    for (utf8_sequence) |utf8_code| utf8_hash = ((utf8_hash << 5) + utf8_hash) + utf8_code;
+
+    return utf8_hash;
+}
+
+///
+/// A [table.KeyContext] for handling UTF-8 character sequences.
+///
+pub const key_context = table.KeyContext([]const u8){
+    .hash = hash,
+    .equals = equals,
+};