diff --git a/chord/httpnode/httpnode.go b/chord/httpnode/httpnode.go
index 19db9d9..bdc5672 100644
--- a/chord/httpnode/httpnode.go
+++ b/chord/httpnode/httpnode.go
@@ -43,5 +43,5 @@ func readResponse[T any](r *http.Response) (x T, err error) {
 
 type neighbors struct {
 	Succ []netip.AddrPort `json:"succ"`
-	Pred netip.AddrPort   `json:"pred"`
+	Pred netip.AddrPort   `json:"pred,omitzero"`
 }
diff --git a/chord/httpnode/server.go b/chord/httpnode/server.go
index 7dcf2ef..4c55101 100644
--- a/chord/httpnode/server.go
+++ b/chord/httpnode/server.go
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ type Node struct {
 	// self is the node topology this server represents.
 	self *chord.Node
 	// client is the Chord client for forwarding queries to other nodes.
+	// TODO(branden): really we should have a client per peer so that we can
+	// interchange protocols
 	client chord.Client
 }