diff --git a/client/httpapi/dag.go b/client/httpapi/dag.go
index a613d18de..669b5f893 100644
--- a/client/httpapi/dag.go
+++ b/client/httpapi/dag.go
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"io/ioutil"
-	"sync"
 
 	"github.com/ipfs/go-block-format"
 	"github.com/ipfs/go-cid"
diff --git a/client/httpapi/ipldnode.go b/client/httpapi/ipldnode.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 43fa5d50d..000000000
--- a/client/httpapi/ipldnode.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,113 +0,0 @@
-package httpapi
-
-import (
-	"context"
-	"errors"
-	"io/ioutil"
-	"strconv"
-
-	"github.com/ipfs/go-cid"
-	ipld "github.com/ipfs/go-ipld-format"
-	ipfspath "github.com/ipfs/go-path"
-	"github.com/ipfs/interface-go-ipfs-core"
-)
-
-type ipldNode struct {
-	ctx  context.Context //TODO: should we re-consider adding ctx to ipld interfaces?
-	path iface.ResolvedPath
-	api  *HttpApi
-}
-
-func (api *HttpApi) nodeFromPath(ctx context.Context, p iface.ResolvedPath) ipld.Node {
-	return &ipldNode{
-		ctx:  ctx,
-		path: p,
-		api:  api,
-	}
-}
-
-func (n *ipldNode) RawData() []byte {
-	r, err := n.api.Block().Get(n.ctx, n.path)
-	if err != nil {
-		panic(err) // TODO: eww, should we add errors too / better ideas?
-	}
-
-	b, err := ioutil.ReadAll(r)
-	if err != nil {
-		panic(err)
-	}
-
-	return b
-}
-
-func (n *ipldNode) Cid() cid.Cid {
-	return n.path.Cid()
-}
-
-func (n *ipldNode) String() string {
-	return n.Cid().String()
-}
-
-func (n *ipldNode) Loggable() map[string]interface{} {
-	return nil //TODO: we can't really do better here, can we?
-}
-
-// TODO: should we use 'full'/real ipld codecs for this? js-ipfs-api does that.
-// We can also give people a choice
-func (n *ipldNode) Resolve(path []string) (interface{}, []string, error) {
-	p := ipfspath.Join([]string{n.path.String(), ipfspath.Join(path)})
-
-	var out interface{}
-	n.api.request("dag/get", p).Exec(n.ctx, &out)
-
-	// TODO: this is more than likely wrong, fix if we decide to stick with this 'http-ipld-node' hack
-	for len(path) > 0 {
-		switch o := out.(type) {
-		case map[string]interface{}:
-			v, ok := o[path[0]]
-			if !ok {
-				// TODO: ipld links
-				return nil, nil, errors.New("no element under this path")
-			}
-			out = v
-		case []interface{}:
-			n, err := strconv.ParseUint(path[0], 10, 32)
-			if err != nil {
-				return nil, nil, err
-			}
-			if len(o) < int(n) {
-				return nil, nil, errors.New("no element under this path")
-			}
-			out = o[n]
-		}
-		path = path[1:]
-	}
-
-	return out, path, nil
-}
-
-func (n *ipldNode) Tree(path string, depth int) []string {
-	panic("implement me")
-}
-
-func (n *ipldNode) ResolveLink(path []string) (*ipld.Link, []string, error) {
-	panic("implement me")
-}
-
-func (n *ipldNode) Copy() ipld.Node {
-	panic("implement me")
-}
-
-func (n *ipldNode) Links() []*ipld.Link {
-	panic("implement me")
-}
-
-func (n *ipldNode) Stat() (*ipld.NodeStat, error) {
-	panic("implement me")
-}
-
-func (n *ipldNode) Size() (uint64, error) {
-	panic("implement me")
-}
-
-var _ ipld.Node = &ipldNode{}
diff --git a/client/httpapi/object.go b/client/httpapi/object.go
index 3b648d82b..5a06f74d9 100644
--- a/client/httpapi/object.go
+++ b/client/httpapi/object.go
@@ -3,12 +3,15 @@ package httpapi
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"context"
+	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"io/ioutil"
 
 	"github.com/ipfs/go-cid"
-	"github.com/ipfs/go-ipld-format"
+	ipld "github.com/ipfs/go-ipld-format"
 	"github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag"
+	dag "github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag"
+	ft "github.com/ipfs/go-unixfs"
 	"github.com/ipfs/interface-go-ipfs-core"
 	caopts "github.com/ipfs/interface-go-ipfs-core/options"
 )
@@ -19,24 +22,23 @@ type objectOut struct {
 	Hash string
 }
 
-func (api *ObjectAPI) New(ctx context.Context, opts ...caopts.ObjectNewOption) (format.Node, error) {
+func (api *ObjectAPI) New(ctx context.Context, opts ...caopts.ObjectNewOption) (ipld.Node, error) {
 	options, err := caopts.ObjectNewOptions(opts...)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	var out objectOut
-	err = api.core().request("object/new", options.Type).Exec(ctx, &out)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+	var n ipld.Node
+	switch options.Type {
+	case "empty":
+		n = new(dag.ProtoNode)
+	case "unixfs-dir":
+		n = ft.EmptyDirNode()
+	default:
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unknown object type: %s", options.Type)
 	}
 
-	c, err := cid.Parse(out.Hash)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
-	return api.core().nodeFromPath(ctx, iface.IpfsPath(c)), nil
+	return n, nil
 }
 
 func (api *ObjectAPI) Put(ctx context.Context, r io.Reader, opts ...caopts.ObjectPutOption) (iface.ResolvedPath, error) {
@@ -64,7 +66,7 @@ func (api *ObjectAPI) Put(ctx context.Context, r io.Reader, opts ...caopts.Objec
 	return iface.IpfsPath(c), nil
 }
 
-func (api *ObjectAPI) Get(ctx context.Context, p iface.Path) (format.Node, error) {
+func (api *ObjectAPI) Get(ctx context.Context, p iface.Path) (ipld.Node, error) {
 	r, err := api.core().Block().Get(ctx, p)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -96,7 +98,7 @@ func (api *ObjectAPI) Data(ctx context.Context, p iface.Path) (io.Reader, error)
 	return b, nil
 }
 
-func (api *ObjectAPI) Links(ctx context.Context, p iface.Path) ([]*format.Link, error) {
+func (api *ObjectAPI) Links(ctx context.Context, p iface.Path) ([]*ipld.Link, error) {
 	var out struct {
 		Links []struct {
 			Name string
@@ -107,14 +109,14 @@ func (api *ObjectAPI) Links(ctx context.Context, p iface.Path) ([]*format.Link,
 	if err := api.core().request("object/links", p.String()).Exec(ctx, &out); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	res := make([]*format.Link, len(out.Links))
+	res := make([]*ipld.Link, len(out.Links))
 	for i, l := range out.Links {
 		c, err := cid.Parse(l.Hash)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
 
-		res[i] = &format.Link{
+		res[i] = &ipld.Link{
 			Cid:  c,
 			Name: l.Name,
 			Size: l.Size,