diff --git a/cmd/ipfs/init.go b/cmd/ipfs/init.go
index 1a9e35f57..78054c8ff 100644
--- a/cmd/ipfs/init.go
+++ b/cmd/ipfs/init.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"path"
 	"path/filepath"
 
+	context "github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/Godeps/_workspace/src/code.google.com/p/go.net/context"
 	cmds "github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/commands"
 	config "github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/config"
 	core "github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/core"
@@ -118,11 +119,13 @@ func doInit(configRoot string, dspathOverride string, force bool, nBitsForKeypai
 // minted node. On success, it calls onSuccess
 func addTheWelcomeFile(conf *config.Config) error {
 	// TODO extract this file creation operation into a function
-	nd, err := core.NewIpfsNode(conf, false)
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
+	nd, err := core.NewIpfsNode(ctx, conf, false)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	defer nd.Close()
+	defer cancel()
 
 	// Set up default file
 	reader := bytes.NewBufferString(welcomeMsg)
diff --git a/cmd/ipfs/main.go b/cmd/ipfs/main.go
index c6a48fa45..6e772a48e 100644
--- a/cmd/ipfs/main.go
+++ b/cmd/ipfs/main.go
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ type cmdInvocation struct {
 func main() {
 	rand.Seed(time.Now().UnixNano())
 	runtime.GOMAXPROCS(3) // FIXME rm arbitrary choice for n
-	ctx := context.Background()
+	ctx := eventlog.ContextWithLoggable(context.Background(), eventlog.Uuid("session"))
 	var err error
 	var invoc cmdInvocation
 	defer invoc.close()
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ func main() {
 	}
 
 	// parse the commandline into a command invocation
-	parseErr := invoc.Parse(os.Args[1:])
+	parseErr := invoc.Parse(ctx, os.Args[1:])
 
 	// BEFORE handling the parse error, if we have enough information
 	// AND the user requested help, print it out and exit
@@ -172,25 +172,27 @@ func (i *cmdInvocation) Run(ctx context.Context) (output io.Reader, err error) {
 	return res.Reader()
 }
 
-func (i *cmdInvocation) constructNode() (*core.IpfsNode, error) {
-	if i.req == nil {
-		return nil, errors.New("constructing node without a request")
-	}
+func (i *cmdInvocation) nodeFunc(ctx context.Context) func() (*core.IpfsNode, error) {
+	return func() (*core.IpfsNode, error) {
+		if i.req == nil {
+			return nil, errors.New("constructing node without a request")
+		}
 
-	ctx := i.req.Context()
-	if ctx == nil {
-		return nil, errors.New("constructing node without a request context")
-	}
+		cmdctx := i.req.Context()
+		if cmdctx == nil {
+			return nil, errors.New("constructing node without a request context")
+		}
 
-	cfg, err := ctx.GetConfig()
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("constructing node without a config: %s", err)
-	}
+		cfg, err := cmdctx.GetConfig()
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("constructing node without a config: %s", err)
+		}
 
-	// ok everything is good. set it on the invocation (for ownership)
-	// and return it.
-	i.node, err = core.NewIpfsNode(cfg, ctx.Online)
-	return i.node, err
+		// ok everything is good. set it on the invocation (for ownership)
+		// and return it.
+		i.node, err = core.NewIpfsNode(ctx, cfg, cmdctx.Online)
+		return i.node, err
+	}
 }
 
 func (i *cmdInvocation) close() {
@@ -203,7 +205,7 @@ func (i *cmdInvocation) close() {
 	}
 }
 
-func (i *cmdInvocation) Parse(args []string) error {
+func (i *cmdInvocation) Parse(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 	var err error
 
 	i.req, i.cmd, i.path, err = cmdsCli.Parse(args, os.Stdin, Root)
@@ -218,12 +220,12 @@ func (i *cmdInvocation) Parse(args []string) error {
 	log.Debugf("config path is %s", configPath)
 
 	// this sets up the function that will initialize the config lazily.
-	ctx := i.req.Context()
-	ctx.ConfigRoot = configPath
-	ctx.LoadConfig = loadConfig
+	cmdctx := i.req.Context()
+	cmdctx.ConfigRoot = configPath
+	cmdctx.LoadConfig = loadConfig
 	// this sets up the function that will initialize the node
 	// this is so that we can construct the node lazily.
-	ctx.ConstructNode = i.constructNode
+	cmdctx.ConstructNode = i.nodeFunc(ctx)
 
 	// if no encoding was specified by user, default to plaintext encoding
 	// (if command doesn't support plaintext, use JSON instead)
diff --git a/core/core.go b/core/core.go
index c0bb0d523..969811f23 100644
--- a/core/core.go
+++ b/core/core.go
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ type Mounts struct {
 }
 
 // NewIpfsNode constructs a new IpfsNode based on the given config.
-func NewIpfsNode(cfg *config.Config, online bool) (n *IpfsNode, err error) {
+func NewIpfsNode(ctx context.Context, cfg *config.Config, online bool) (n *IpfsNode, err error) {
 	success := false // flip to true after all sub-system inits succeed
 	defer func() {
 		if !success && n != nil {
@@ -110,14 +110,12 @@ func NewIpfsNode(cfg *config.Config, online bool) (n *IpfsNode, err error) {
 		return nil, debugerror.Errorf("configuration required")
 	}
 
-	// derive this from a higher context.
-	ctx := context.TODO()
 	n = &IpfsNode{
 		onlineMode: online,
 		Config:     cfg,
 	}
 	n.ContextCloser = ctxc.NewContextCloser(ctx, n.teardown)
-	ctx = n.Context()
+	ctx = n.ContextCloser.Context()
 
 	// setup datastore.
 	if n.Datastore, err = makeDatastore(cfg.Datastore); err != nil {
diff --git a/core/core_test.go b/core/core_test.go
index 91c311050..8ea0b6e8c 100644
--- a/core/core_test.go
+++ b/core/core_test.go
@@ -5,9 +5,11 @@ import (
 
 	config "github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/config"
 	"github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/peer"
+	context "github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/Godeps/_workspace/src/code.google.com/p/go.net/context"
 )
 
 func TestInitialization(t *testing.T) {
+	ctx := context.TODO()
 	id := testIdentity
 
 	good := []*config.Config{
@@ -44,14 +46,14 @@ func TestInitialization(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	for i, c := range good {
-		n, err := NewIpfsNode(c, false)
+		n, err := NewIpfsNode(ctx, c, false)
 		if n == nil || err != nil {
 			t.Error("Should have constructed.", i, err)
 		}
 	}
 
 	for i, c := range bad {
-		n, err := NewIpfsNode(c, false)
+		n, err := NewIpfsNode(ctx, c, false)
 		if n != nil || err == nil {
 			t.Error("Should have failed to construct.", i)
 		}
diff --git a/net/message/message.go b/net/message/message.go
index 7db5d21da..9cad5f3fd 100644
--- a/net/message/message.go
+++ b/net/message/message.go
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ func (m *message) Data() []byte {
 func (m *message) Loggable() map[string]interface{} {
 	return map[string]interface{}{
 		"netMessage": map[string]interface{}{
-			"recipient": m.Peer(),
+			"recipient": m.Peer().Loggable(),
 			// TODO sizeBytes? bytes? lenBytes?
 			"size": len(m.Data()),
 		},