diff --git a/core/core.go b/core/core.go
index 4489d2203..4e2c5f89a 100644
--- a/core/core.go
+++ b/core/core.go
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ import (
 
 	context "github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/Godeps/_workspace/src/code.google.com/p/go.net/context"
 	b58 "github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-base58"
-	ds "github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-datastore"
 	ma "github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-multiaddr"
 
 	bserv "github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/blockservice"
@@ -48,7 +47,7 @@ type IpfsNode struct {
 	Peerstore peer.Peerstore
 
 	// the local datastore
-	Datastore ds.ThreadSafeDatastoreCloser
+	Datastore u.ThreadSafeDatastoreCloser
 
 	// the network message stream
 	Network inet.Network
diff --git a/core/datastore.go b/core/datastore.go
index c53a0e43c..0611939ae 100644
--- a/core/datastore.go
+++ b/core/datastore.go
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import (
 	u "github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/util"
 )
 
-func makeDatastore(cfg config.Datastore) (ds.ThreadSafeDatastoreCloser, error) {
+func makeDatastore(cfg config.Datastore) (u.ThreadSafeDatastoreCloser, error) {
 	if len(cfg.Type) == 0 {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("config datastore.type required")
 	}
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ func makeDatastore(cfg config.Datastore) (ds.ThreadSafeDatastoreCloser, error) {
 		return makeLevelDBDatastore(cfg)
 
 	case "memory":
-		return syncds.MutexWrap(ds.NewMapDatastore()), nil
+		return u.CloserWrap(syncds.MutexWrap(ds.NewMapDatastore())), nil
 
 	case "fs":
 		log.Warning("using fs.Datastore at .datastore for testing.")
@@ -33,13 +33,13 @@ func makeDatastore(cfg config.Datastore) (ds.ThreadSafeDatastoreCloser, error) {
 			return nil, err
 		}
 		ktd := ktds.Wrap(d, u.B58KeyConverter)
-		return syncds.MutexWrap(ktd), nil
+		return u.CloserWrap(syncds.MutexWrap(ktd)), nil
 	}
 
 	return nil, fmt.Errorf("Unknown datastore type: %s", cfg.Type)
 }
 
-func makeLevelDBDatastore(cfg config.Datastore) (ds.ThreadSafeDatastoreCloser, error) {
+func makeLevelDBDatastore(cfg config.Datastore) (u.ThreadSafeDatastoreCloser, error) {
 	if len(cfg.Path) == 0 {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("config datastore.path required for leveldb")
 	}
diff --git a/core/mock.go b/core/mock.go
index f35e591f2..92ffcb57d 100644
--- a/core/mock.go
+++ b/core/mock.go
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 	path "github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/path"
 	peer "github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/peer"
 	mdht "github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/routing/mock"
+	"github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/util"
 )
 
 // NewMockNode constructs an IpfsNode for use in tests.
@@ -35,7 +36,7 @@ func NewMockNode() (*IpfsNode, error) {
 
 	// Temp Datastore
 	dstore := ds.NewMapDatastore()
-	nd.Datastore = syncds.MutexWrap(dstore)
+	nd.Datastore = util.CloserWrap(syncds.MutexWrap(dstore))
 
 	// Routing
 	dht := mdht.NewMockRouter(nd.Identity, nd.Datastore)
diff --git a/util/datastore_closer.go b/util/datastore_closer.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7330ddb2d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/util/datastore_closer.go
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+package util
+
+import (
+	"io"
+
+	"github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/Godeps/_workspace/src/github.com/jbenet/go-datastore"
+)
+
+type ThreadSafeDatastoreCloser interface {
+	datastore.ThreadSafeDatastore
+	io.Closer
+}
+
+func CloserWrap(ds datastore.ThreadSafeDatastore) ThreadSafeDatastoreCloser {
+	return &datastoreCloserWrapper{ds}
+}
+
+type datastoreCloserWrapper struct {
+	datastore.ThreadSafeDatastore
+}
+
+func (w *datastoreCloserWrapper) Close() error {
+	return nil // no-op
+}