diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 83cfca88d7..3b7d491167 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@
     "ipfs-merkle-dag": "^0.6.0",
     "ipfs-multipart": "^0.1.0",
     "ipfs-repo": "^0.8.0",
-    "ipfs-unixfs-engine": "^0.6.1",
+    "ipfs-unixfs-engine": "^0.8.0",
     "joi": "^8.0.5",
     "libp2p-ipfs": "^0.3.8",
     "libp2p-swarm": "^0.12.11",
@@ -122,4 +122,4 @@
     "kumavis <kumavis@users.noreply.github.com>",
     "nginnever <ginneversource@gmail.com>"
   ]
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/src/cli/commands/cat.js b/src/cli/commands/cat.js
deleted file mode 100644
index a18480b818..0000000000
--- a/src/cli/commands/cat.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-'use strict'
-
-const Command = require('ronin').Command
-
-module.exports = Command.extend({
-  desc: '',
-
-  run: function () {}
-})
diff --git a/src/cli/commands/files/cat.js b/src/cli/commands/files/cat.js
index fe61d61316..c517b8ad3e 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands/files/cat.js
+++ b/src/cli/commands/files/cat.js
@@ -22,15 +22,22 @@ module.exports = Command.extend({
       if (err) {
         throw err
       }
+      if (utils.isDaemonOn()) {
+        ipfs.cat(path, (err, res) => {
+          if (err) {
+            throw err
+          }
+          console.log(res.toString())
+        })
+        return
+      }
       ipfs.files.cat(path, (err, res) => {
         if (err) {
           throw (err)
         }
-        if (res) {
-          res.on('file', (data) => {
-            data.stream.pipe(process.stdout)
-          })
-        }
+        res.on('data', (data) => {
+          data.stream.pipe(process.stdout)
+        })
       })
     })
   }
diff --git a/src/cli/commands/files/get.js b/src/cli/commands/files/get.js
index 31e8d17ad8..3640cf1617 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands/files/get.js
+++ b/src/cli/commands/files/get.js
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ module.exports = Command.extend({
         if (err) {
           throw err
         }
-        result.on('file', fileHandler(result, dir))
+        result.on('data', fileHandler(result, dir))
       })
     })
   }
diff --git a/src/cli/commands/get.js b/src/cli/commands/get.js
deleted file mode 100644
index a46afd1faa..0000000000
--- a/src/cli/commands/get.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-'use strict'
-
-const Command = require('ronin').Command
-
-module.exports = Command.extend({
-  desc: '',
-
-  run: () => {}
-})
diff --git a/src/core/ipfs/files.js b/src/core/ipfs/files.js
index 07e7da4ad4..4b4dcf8c34 100644
--- a/src/core/ipfs/files.js
+++ b/src/core/ipfs/files.js
@@ -44,8 +44,8 @@ module.exports = function files (self) {
         if (data.type === 'directory') {
           callback('This dag node is a directory', null)
         } else {
-          const exportEvent = Exporter(hash, self._dagS)
-          callback(null, exportEvent)
+          const exportStream = Exporter(hash, self._dagS)
+          callback(null, exportStream)
         }
       })
     },
diff --git a/src/http-api/resources/files.js b/src/http-api/resources/files.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8647a8e314
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/http-api/resources/files.js
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+'use strict'
+
+const bs58 = require('bs58')
+const debug = require('debug')
+const log = debug('http-api:files')
+log.error = debug('http-api:files:error')
+
+exports = module.exports
+
+// common pre request handler that parses the args and returns `key` which is assigned to `request.pre.args`
+exports.parseKey = (request, reply) => {
+  if (!request.query.arg) {
+    return reply("Argument 'key' is required").code(400).takeover()
+  }
+
+  try {
+    return reply({
+      key: new Buffer(bs58.decode(request.query.arg))
+    })
+  } catch (err) {
+    log.error(err)
+    return reply({
+      Message: 'invalid ipfs ref path',
+      Code: 0
+    }).code(500).takeover()
+  }
+}
+
+exports.cat = {
+  // uses common parseKey method that returns a `key`
+  parseArgs: exports.parseKey,
+
+  // main route handler which is called after the above `parseArgs`, but only if the args were valid
+  handler: (request, reply) => {
+    const key = request.pre.args.key
+
+    request.server.app.ipfs.files.cat(key, (err, stream) => {
+      if (err) {
+        log.error(err)
+        return reply({
+          Message: 'Failed to cat file: ' + err,
+          Code: 0
+        }).code(500)
+      }
+      stream.on('data', (data) => {
+        return reply(data.stream)
+      })
+    })
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/http-api/resources/index.js b/src/http-api/resources/index.js
index 920d576aa9..b90a9d912c 100644
--- a/src/http-api/resources/index.js
+++ b/src/http-api/resources/index.js
@@ -9,3 +9,4 @@ exports.config = require('./config')
 exports.block = require('./block')
 exports.swarm = require('./swarm')
 exports.bitswap = require('./bitswap')
+exports.files = require('./files')
diff --git a/src/http-api/routes/files.js b/src/http-api/routes/files.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..99c47741e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/http-api/routes/files.js
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+'use strict'
+
+const resources = require('./../resources')
+
+module.exports = (server) => {
+  const api = server.select('API')
+
+  api.route({
+    method: '*',
+    path: '/api/v0/cat',
+    config: {
+      pre: [
+        { method: resources.files.cat.parseArgs, assign: 'args' }
+      ],
+      handler: resources.files.cat.handler
+    }
+  })
+}
diff --git a/src/http-api/routes/index.js b/src/http-api/routes/index.js
index 6b21f38389..587f25de77 100644
--- a/src/http-api/routes/index.js
+++ b/src/http-api/routes/index.js
@@ -10,4 +10,5 @@ module.exports = (server) => {
   require('./config')(server)
   require('./swarm')(server)
   require('./bitswap')(server)
+  require('./files')(server)
 }
diff --git a/test/cli-tests/test-commands.js b/test/cli-tests/test-commands.js
index d1a2c31ca3..7234f283a3 100644
--- a/test/cli-tests/test-commands.js
+++ b/test/cli-tests/test-commands.js
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ describe('commands', () => {
       .run((err, stdout, exitcode) => {
         expect(err).to.not.exist
         expect(exitcode).to.equal(0)
-        expect(stdout.length).to.equal(50)
+        expect(stdout.length).to.equal(48)
         done()
       })
   })
diff --git a/test/cli-tests/test-files.js b/test/cli-tests/test-files.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..512b088c9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/cli-tests/test-files.js
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+/* eslint-env mocha */
+'use strict'
+
+const expect = require('chai').expect
+const nexpect = require('nexpect')
+const HttpAPI = require('../../src/http-api')
+const repoPath = require('./index').repoPath
+const _ = require('lodash')
+
+describe('files', () => {
+  const env = _.clone(process.env)
+  env.IPFS_PATH = repoPath
+
+  describe('api offline', () => {
+    it('cat', (done) => {
+      nexpect.spawn('node', [process.cwd() + '/src/cli/bin.js', 'files', 'cat', 'QmT78zSuBmuS4z925WZfrqQ1qHaJ56DQaTfyMUF7F8ff5o'], {env})
+        .run((err, stdout, exitcode) => {
+          expect(err).to.not.exist
+          expect(exitcode).to.equal(0)
+          done()
+        })
+    })
+  })
+
+  describe('api running', () => {
+    let httpAPI
+
+    before((done) => {
+      httpAPI = new HttpAPI(repoPath)
+      httpAPI.start((err) => {
+        expect(err).to.not.exist
+        done()
+      })
+    })
+
+    after((done) => {
+      httpAPI.stop((err) => {
+        expect(err).to.not.exist
+        done()
+      })
+    })
+
+    it('cat', (done) => {
+      nexpect.spawn('node', [process.cwd() + '/src/cli/bin.js', 'files', 'cat', 'QmT78zSuBmuS4z925WZfrqQ1qHaJ56DQaTfyMUF7F8ff5o'], {env})
+        .run((err, stdout, exitcode) => {
+          expect(err).to.not.exist
+          expect(exitcode).to.equal(0)
+          done()
+        })
+    })
+  })
+})
diff --git a/test/core-tests/test-files.js b/test/core-tests/test-files.js
index 4dd22d2777..3be2be1530 100644
--- a/test/core-tests/test-files.js
+++ b/test/core-tests/test-files.js
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ describe('files', () => {
     const hash = 'QmT78zSuBmuS4z925WZfrqQ1qHaJ56DQaTfyMUF7F8ff5o'
     ipfs.files.cat(hash, (err, res) => {
       expect(err).to.not.exist
-      res.on('file', (data) => {
+      res.on('data', (data) => {
         data.stream.pipe(bl((err, bldata) => {
           expect(err).to.not.exist
           expect(bldata.toString()).to.equal('hello world\n')
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ describe('files', () => {
     const hash = 'QmT78zSuBmuS4z925WZfrqQ1qHaJ56DQaTfyMUF7F8ff5o'
     ipfs.files.get(hash, (err, res) => {
       expect(err).to.not.exist
-      res.on('file', (data) => {
+      res.on('data', (data) => {
         data.stream.pipe(bl((err, bldata) => {
           expect(err).to.not.exist
           expect(bldata.toString()).to.equal('hello world\n')
diff --git a/test/http-api-tests/test-files.js b/test/http-api-tests/test-files.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c41dda2862
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/http-api-tests/test-files.js
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+/* eslint-env mocha */
+'use strict'
+
+const expect = require('chai').expect
+const APIctl = require('ipfs-api')
+
+module.exports = (httpAPI) => {
+  describe('files', () => {
+    describe('api', () => {
+      let api
+
+      it('api', () => {
+        api = httpAPI.server.select('API')
+      })
+
+      describe('/files/cat', () => {
+        it('returns 400 for request without argument', (done) => {
+          api.inject({
+            method: 'GET',
+            url: '/api/v0/cat'
+          }, (res) => {
+            expect(res.statusCode).to.equal(400)
+            expect(res.result).to.be.a('string')
+            done()
+          })
+        })
+
+        it('returns 500 for request with invalid argument', (done) => {
+          api.inject({
+            method: 'GET',
+            url: '/api/v0/cat?arg=invalid'
+          }, (res) => {
+            expect(res.statusCode).to.equal(500)
+            expect(res.result.Message).to.be.a('string')
+            done()
+          })
+        })
+
+        it('returns a buffer', (done) => {
+          api.inject({
+            method: 'GET',
+            url: '/api/v0/cat?arg=QmT78zSuBmuS4z925WZfrqQ1qHaJ56DQaTfyMUF7F8ff5o'
+          }, (res) => {
+            expect(res.statusCode).to.equal(200)
+            expect(res.rawPayload).to.deep.equal(new Buffer('hello world' + '\n'))
+            expect(res.payload).to.equal('hello world' + '\n')
+            done()
+          })
+        })
+      })
+    })
+
+    describe('using js-ipfs-api', () => {
+      var ctl
+
+      it('start IPFS API ctl', (done) => {
+        ctl = APIctl('/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/6001')
+        done()
+      })
+
+      describe('ipfs.cat', () => {
+        it('returns error for request without argument', (done) => {
+          ctl.cat(null, (err, result) => {
+            expect(err).to.exist
+            done()
+          })
+        })
+
+        it('returns error for request with invalid argument', (done) => {
+          ctl.cat('invalid', (err, result) => {
+            expect(err).to.exist
+            done()
+          })
+        })
+
+        it('returns a buffer', (done) => {
+          ctl.cat('QmT78zSuBmuS4z925WZfrqQ1qHaJ56DQaTfyMUF7F8ff5o', (err, result) => {
+            expect(err).to.not.exist
+            expect(result).to.deep.equal(new Buffer('hello world' + '\n'))
+            done()
+          })
+        })
+      })
+    })
+  })
+}