diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index bd33c8db..8265c828 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -158,6 +158,32 @@ As you may have noticed there are several ways how to specify arguments. Here's
   * values specified on CLI
   * interactive mode arguments
 
+## Answer File Schema
+
+The answer file schema can be described using Puppet types as such:
+
+```
+Hash[
+  String $puppet_class => Hash[
+    String $parameter => Enum[true, false, Hash[String, Variant[String, Boolean, Integer, Array, Hash]]]
+  ]
+]
+```
+
+An example of each available option:
+
+```
+class_a: true
+class_b: false
+class_c: {}
+class_d:
+  key: value
+  key2: 'value'
+  key3: false
+  key4: 1
+  key5: ['a', 'b']
+```
+
 ## Requirements
 
 Kafo is supported with Puppet versions 4.9+, 5 and 6. Puppet may be installed
diff --git a/lib/kafo/answer_file.rb b/lib/kafo/answer_file.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e0361516
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/kafo/answer_file.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+require 'kafo/answer_file/v1'
+
+module Kafo
+  module AnswerFile
+
+    def self.load_answers(filename, version)
+      case version
+      when 1
+        AnswerFile::V1.new(filename)
+      else
+        raise InvalidAnswerFileVersion
+      end
+    end
+
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/kafo/answer_file/base.rb b/lib/kafo/answer_file/base.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ad7243d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/kafo/answer_file/base.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+require 'yaml'
+
+module Kafo
+  module AnswerFile
+    class Base
+
+      attr_reader :answers, :filename
+
+      def initialize(filename)
+        @filename = filename
+        @answers = YAML.load_file(@filename)
+        validate
+      end
+
+      def save(data, config_header)
+        FileUtils.touch @filename
+        File.chmod 0600, @filename
+        File.open(@filename, 'w') { |f| f.write(config_header + format(YAML.dump(data))) }
+      end
+
+      def puppet_classes
+        raise NoMethodError
+      end
+
+      def class_enabled?(puppet_class)
+        raise NoMethodError
+      end
+
+      def parameters_for_class(puppet_class)
+        raise NoMethodError
+      end
+
+      def validate
+        raise NoMethodError
+      end
+
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/kafo/answer_file/v1.rb b/lib/kafo/answer_file/v1.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b63af0dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/kafo/answer_file/v1.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+require 'kafo/answer_file/base'
+
+module Kafo
+  module AnswerFile
+    class V1 < Base
+
+      def puppet_classes
+        @answers.keys.sort
+      end
+
+      def parameters_for_class(puppet_class)
+        params = @answers[puppet_class]
+        params.is_a?(Hash) ? params : {}
+      end
+
+      def class_enabled?(puppet_class)
+        value = @answers[puppet_class.is_a?(String) ? puppet_class : puppet_class.identifier]
+        !!value || value.is_a?(Hash)
+      end
+
+      def validate
+        invalid = @answers.reject do |puppet_class, value|
+          value.is_a?(Hash) || [true, false].include?(value)
+        end
+
+        unless invalid.empty?
+          fail InvalidAnswerFile, "Answer file at #{@filename} has invalid values for #{invalid.keys.join(', ')}. Please ensure they are either a hash or true/false."
+        end
+      end
+
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/kafo/configuration.rb b/lib/kafo/configuration.rb
index d873b7bb..21781575 100644
--- a/lib/kafo/configuration.rb
+++ b/lib/kafo/configuration.rb
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 require 'kafo/data_type_parser'
 require 'kafo/execution_environment'
 require 'kafo/scenario_option'
+require 'kafo/answer_file'
 
 module Kafo
   class Configuration
@@ -43,6 +44,7 @@ class Configuration
       ScenarioOption::KAFO_MODULES_DIR          => nil,
       ScenarioOption::CONFIG_HEADER_FILE        => nil,
       ScenarioOption::DONT_SAVE_ANSWERS         => nil,
+      ScenarioOption::ANSWER_FILE_VERSION       => 1,
     }
 
     def self.get_scenario_id(filename)
@@ -55,14 +57,24 @@ def initialize(file, persist = true)
       configure_application
       @logger = KafoConfigure.logger
 
-      @answer_file = app[:answer_file]
       begin
-        @data = load_yaml_file(@answer_file)
+        @answer_file = AnswerFile.load_answers(app[:answer_file], app[:answer_file_version] || 1)
       rescue Errno::ENOENT
-        puts "No answer file at #{@answer_file} found, can not continue"
-        KafoConfigure.exit(:no_answer_file)
+        KafoConfigure.exit(:no_answer_file) do
+          @logger.error "No answer file found at #{app[:answer_file]}"
+        end
+      rescue InvalidAnswerFileVersion
+        KafoConfigure.exit(:invalid_values) do
+          @logger.error "Unsupported answer file version"
+        end
+      rescue InvalidAnswerFile => error
+        KafoConfigure.exit(:invalid_values) do
+          @logger.error(error.message)
+        end
       end
 
+      @answers = @answer_file.answers
+
       @config_dir = File.dirname(@config_file)
       @scenario_id = Configuration.get_scenario_id(@config_file)
     end
@@ -95,7 +107,7 @@ def configure_application
     def app
       @app ||= begin
         begin
-          configuration = load_yaml_file(@config_file)
+          configuration = YAML.load_file(@config_file)
         rescue
           configuration = {}
         end
@@ -130,7 +142,7 @@ def has_custom_fact?(key)
     def modules
       @modules ||= begin
         register_data_types
-        @data.keys.map { |mod| PuppetModule.new(mod, configuration: self).parse }.sort
+        @answer_file.puppet_classes.map { |mod| PuppetModule.new(mod, configuration: self).parse }.sort
       end
     end
 
@@ -231,27 +243,22 @@ class { '::kafo_configure::dump_values':
 
     # if a value is a true we return empty hash because we have no specific options for a
     # particular puppet module
-    def [](key)
-      value = @data[key]
-      value.is_a?(Hash) ? value : {}
+    def [](puppet_class)
+      @answer_file.parameters_for_class(puppet_class)
     end
 
-    def module_enabled?(mod)
-      value = @data[mod.is_a?(String) ? mod : mod.identifier]
-      !!value || value.is_a?(Hash)
+    def module_enabled?(puppet_class)
+      @answer_file.class_enabled?(puppet_class)
     end
 
     def config_header
-      files          = [app[:config_header_file], File.join(gem_root, '/config/config_header.txt')].compact
-      file           = files.find { |f| File.exist?(f) }
+      files = [app[:config_header_file], File.join(gem_root, '/config/config_header.txt')].compact
+      file = files.find { |f| File.exist?(f) }
       @config_header ||= file.nil? ? '' : File.read(file)
     end
 
-    def store(data, file = nil)
-      filename = file || answer_file
-      FileUtils.touch filename
-      File.chmod 0600, filename
-      File.open(filename, 'w') { |f| f.write(config_header + format(YAML.dump(data))) }
+    def store(answers)
+      @answer_file.save(answers, config_header)
     end
 
     def params
@@ -322,11 +329,11 @@ def answers
 
     def run_migrations
       migrations = Kafo::Migrations.new(migrations_dir)
-      @app, @data = migrations.run(app, answers)
+      @app, @answers = migrations.run(app, @answers)
       if migrations.migrations.count > 0
         @modules = nil # force the lazy loaded modules to reload next time they are used
         save_configuration(app)
-        store(answers)
+        store(@answers)
         migrations.store_applied
         @logger.notice("#{migrations.migrations.count} migration/s were applied. Updated configuration was saved.")
       end
@@ -376,10 +383,6 @@ def format(data)
       data.gsub('!ruby/sym ', ':')
     end
 
-    def load_yaml_file(filename)
-      YAML.load_file(filename)
-    end
-
     # Loads YAML from mixed output, finding the "---" and "..." document start/end delimiters
     def load_yaml_from_output(lines)
       start = lines.find_index { |l| l.start_with?('---') }
diff --git a/lib/kafo/exceptions.rb b/lib/kafo/exceptions.rb
index 698babc2..ec0e933a 100644
--- a/lib/kafo/exceptions.rb
+++ b/lib/kafo/exceptions.rb
@@ -8,4 +8,10 @@ class ConditionError < StandardError
 
   class ParserError < StandardError
   end
+
+  class InvalidAnswerFileVersion < StandardError
+  end
+
+  class InvalidAnswerFile < StandardError
+  end
 end
diff --git a/lib/kafo/kafo_configure.rb b/lib/kafo/kafo_configure.rb
index 41389c75..2c8725d5 100644
--- a/lib/kafo/kafo_configure.rb
+++ b/lib/kafo/kafo_configure.rb
@@ -464,9 +464,9 @@ def argument_missing?(value)
       !!self.class.declared_options.find { |opt| opt.handles?(value) }
     end
 
-    def store_params(file = nil)
+    def store_params
       data = Hash[config.modules.map { |mod| [mod.identifier, mod.enabled? ? mod.params_hash : false] }]
-      config.store(data, file)
+      config.store(data)
     end
 
     def validate_all(logging = true)
diff --git a/lib/kafo/scenario_option.rb b/lib/kafo/scenario_option.rb
index b399d683..f34af176 100644
--- a/lib/kafo/scenario_option.rb
+++ b/lib/kafo/scenario_option.rb
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@ class ScenarioOption
     # Path to answer file, if the file does not exist a $pwd/config/answers.yaml is used as a fallback
     ANSWER_FILE = :answer_file
 
+    # The version of the answer file schema being used
+    ANSWER_FILE_VERSION = :answer_file_version
+
     # Enable colors? If you don't touch this, we'll autodetect terminal capabilities
     COLORS = :colors
     # Color scheme, we support :bright and :dark (first is better for white background, dark for black background)
diff --git a/test/fixtures/answer_files/v1/basic-answers.yaml b/test/fixtures/answer_files/v1/basic-answers.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8f31128f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/answer_files/v1/basic-answers.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+class_a: true
+class_b:
+  key: value
+class_c: {}
+class_d: false
diff --git a/test/fixtures/answer_files/v1/invalid-answers.yaml b/test/fixtures/answer_files/v1/invalid-answers.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d0a41c42
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/answer_files/v1/invalid-answers.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+---
+class_a: 'true'
+class_b:
+class_c: 1
diff --git a/test/kafo/answer_file_test.rb b/test/kafo/answer_file_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..73cb9c89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/kafo/answer_file_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+require 'test_helper'
+
+describe 'Kafo::AnswerFile' do
+  describe 'answer file version 1' do
+    describe 'valid answer file' do
+      let(:answer_file_path) { 'test/fixtures/answer_files/v1/basic-answers.yaml' }
+      let(:answer_file) { Kafo::AnswerFile.load_answers(answer_file_path, 1) }
+
+      it 'returns the sorted puppet classes' do
+        _(answer_file.puppet_classes).must_equal(['class_a', 'class_b', 'class_c', 'class_d'])
+      end
+
+      it 'returns the parameters for a class' do
+        _(answer_file.parameters_for_class('class_b')).must_equal({'key' => 'value'})
+      end
+
+      it 'returns true for a class with a hash' do
+        _(answer_file.class_enabled?('class_c')).must_equal(true)
+      end
+
+      it 'returns true for a class set to true' do
+        _(answer_file.class_enabled?('class_a')).must_equal(true)
+      end
+
+      it 'returns false for a class set to false' do
+        _(answer_file.class_enabled?('class_d')).must_equal(false)
+      end
+    end
+
+    describe 'invalid answer file' do
+      let(:answer_file_path) { 'test/fixtures/answer_files/v1/invalid-answers.yaml' }
+
+      it 'exits with invalid_answer_file' do
+        _(Proc.new { Kafo::AnswerFile.load_answers(answer_file_path, 1) } ).must_raise Kafo::InvalidAnswerFile
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/test/kafo/configuration_test.rb b/test/kafo/configuration_test.rb
index 85576c1c..46623b6b 100644
--- a/test/kafo/configuration_test.rb
+++ b/test/kafo/configuration_test.rb
@@ -213,5 +213,22 @@ module Kafo
         end
       end
     end
+
+    describe 'invalid answer file' do
+      let(:answer_file_path) { 'test/fixtures/answer_files/v1/invalid-answers.yaml' }
+      let(:dummy_logger) { DummyLogger.new }
+      let(:config_file) { ConfigFileFactory.build('invalid-answer', {:answer_file => answer_file_path}.to_yaml).path }
+
+      before do
+        Kafo::KafoConfigure.logger = dummy_logger
+      end
+
+      it 'exits with invalid_answer_file' do
+        must_exit_with_code(21) { Kafo::Configuration.new(config_file, false) }
+
+        dummy_logger.rewind
+        _(dummy_logger.error.read).must_match(%r{Answer file at\s.*\shas invalid values for class_a, class_b, class_c. Please ensure they are either a hash or true/false.\n})
+      end
+    end
   end
 end