diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8ff8c6253..e270ff773 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ There are several ways to use node-http-proxy; the library is designed to be fle
 3. In conjunction with a Proxy Routing Table
 4. As a forward-proxy with a reverse proxy 
 5. From the command-line as a long running process
+6. customized with 3rd party middleware.
 
 In each of these scenarios node-http-proxy can handle any of these types of requests:
 
@@ -312,6 +313,16 @@ https.createServer(options.https, function (req, res) {
   res.end();
 }).listen(8000);
 ```
+## Middleware
+
+`node-http-proxy` now supports connect middleware. Add middleware functions to your createServer call:
+
+``` js
+httpProxy.createServer(
+  require('connect-gzip').gzip(),
+  9000, 'localhost'
+).listen(8000);
+```
 
 ## Proxying WebSockets
 Websockets are handled automatically when using the `httpProxy.createServer()`, but if you want to use it in conjunction with a stand-alone HTTP + WebSocket (such as [socket.io][5]) server here's how:
diff --git a/examples/body-decoder.js b/examples/body-decoder.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..23ae96d51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/body-decoder.js
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+/*
+  body-decoder.js: Example of body-decoder middleware with node-http-proxy 
+
+  Copyright (c) 2010 Charlie Robbins, Mikeal Rogers, Fedor Indutny, & Marak Squires.
+
+  Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
+  a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
+  "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
+  without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
+  distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
+  permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
+  the following conditions:
+
+  The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
+  included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+  THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
+  EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
+  MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
+  NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE
+  LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
+  OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
+  WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
+
+*/
+
+var httpProxy = require('http-proxy'),
+    http = require('http'),
+    util = require('util'),
+    colors = require('colors');
+
+exports.bodyMod = function () {
+  console.log('middleware has been started.'.green);
+  return function (req, res, next) {
+    var proxy = next,
+        total = '';
+
+    req.on('data', function (data) {
+      console.log('ON DATA')
+      total += data;
+    });
+    
+    req.on('end', function () {
+      console.log('ON END')
+      console.log(total);
+      //
+      // This line, uncommented, hangs forever.
+      // proxy.proxyRequest(req, res, { port: 9000, host: 'localhost' });
+      // The following also hangs forever.
+      // next.proxyRequest(req, res, { port: 9000, host: 'localhost' });
+      //
+    });
+    
+    //
+    // The following fires just fine.
+    //proxy.proxyRequest(req, res, { port: 9000, host: 'localhost' });
+    //
+    console.log('request proxied...'.blue); 
+  }
+}
+
+var proxyServer = httpProxy.createServer(
+  // Your middleware stack goes here.  
+  exports.bodyMod()
+).listen(8000);
+
+
+var httpServer = http.createServer(function (req, res) {
+  res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
+  res.write('request successfully proxied to: ' + req.url + '\n' + JSON.stringify(req.headers, true, 2));
+  res.end();
+}).listen(9000);
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/examples/bodyDecoder-middleware.js b/examples/bodyDecoder-middleware.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..180372f44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/bodyDecoder-middleware.js
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+
+var Store = require('./lib/store')
+  , http = require('http')
+
+http.createServer(new Store().handler()).listen(7531, function () {
+//try these commands:
+// get index:
+// curl localhost:7531
+// []
+//
+// get a doc:
+// curl localhost:7531/foo
+// {"error":"not_found"}
+//
+// post an doc:
+// curl -X POST localhost:7531/foo -d '{"content": "hello", "type": "greeting"}'
+// {"ok":true}
+//
+// get index (now, not empty)
+// curl localhost:7531
+// ["/foo"]
+//
+// get doc 
+// curl localhost:7531/foo
+// {"content": "hello", "type": "greeting"}
+
+//
+// now, suppose we wanted to direct all objects where type == "greeting" to a different store 
+// than where type == "insult"
+//
+// we can use connect connect-bodyDecoder and some custom logic to send insults to another Store.
+
+//insult server:
+
+  http.createServer(new Store().handler()).listen(2600, function () {
+
+  //greetings -> 7531, insults-> 2600 
+
+  // now, start a proxy server.
+
+    var bodyParser = require('connect/lib/middleware/bodyParser')
+    //don't worry about incoming contont type
+    //bodyParser.parse[''] = JSON.parse
+
+    require('http-proxy').createServer(
+      //refactor the body parser and re-streamer into a separate package
+      bodyParser(),
+      //body parser absorbs the data and end events before passing control to the next
+      // middleware. if we want to proxy it, we'll need to re-emit these events after 
+      //passing control to the middleware.
+      require('connect-restreamer')(),
+      function (req, res, proxy) {
+        //if your posting an obect which contains type: "insult"
+        //it will get redirected to port 2600.
+        //normal get requests will go to 7531 nad will not return insults.
+        var port = (req.body && req.body.type === 'insult' ? 2600 : 7531)
+        proxy.proxyRequest(req, res, {host: 'localhost', port: port})
+      }
+    ).listen(1337, function () {
+      var request = require('request')
+      //bodyParser needs content-type set to application/json
+      //if we use request, it will set automatically if we use the 'json:' field.
+      function post (greeting, type) {
+        request.post({
+          url: 'http://localhost:1337/' + greeting,
+          json: {content: greeting, type: type || "greeting"}
+        })
+      }
+      post("hello")
+      post("g'day")
+      post("kiora")
+      post("houdy")
+      post("java", "insult")
+
+      //now, the insult should have been proxied to 2600
+      
+      //curl localhost:2600
+      //["/java"]
+
+      //but the greetings will be sent to 7531
+
+      //curl localhost:7531
+      //["/hello","/g%27day","/kiora","/houdy"]
+
+    })
+  })
+})
diff --git a/examples/concurrent-proxy.js b/examples/concurrent-proxy.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4bf5673fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/concurrent-proxy.js
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+/*
+  concurrent-proxy.js: check levelof concurrency through proxy.
+
+  Copyright (c) 2010 Charlie Robbins, Mikeal Rogers, Fedor Indutny, & Marak Squires.
+
+  Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
+  a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
+  "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
+  without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
+  distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
+  permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
+  the following conditions:
+
+  The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
+  included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+  THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
+  EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
+  MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
+  NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE
+  LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
+  OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
+  WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
+
+*/
+
+var util = require('util'),
+    colors = require('colors'),
+    http = require('http'),
+    httpProxy = require('./../lib/node-http-proxy');
+
+//
+// Basic Http Proxy Server
+//
+httpProxy.createServer(9000, 'localhost').listen(8000);
+
+//
+// Target Http Server
+//
+// to check apparent problems with concurrent connections
+// make a server which only responds when there is a given nubmer on connections
+//
+
+
+var connections = []
+  , go
+
+http.createServer(function (req, res) {
+      
+  connections.push (function (){
+    res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
+    res.write('request successfully proxied to: ' + req.url + '\n' + JSON.stringify(req.headers, true, 2));
+    res.end();
+  })
+  process.stdout.write(connections.length + ', ')
+  if (connections.length > 110 || go) {
+    go = true
+    while(connections.length)
+      connections.shift()()
+  }
+
+}).listen(9000);
+
+util.puts('http proxy server'.blue + ' started '.green.bold + 'on port '.blue + '8000'.yellow);
+util.puts('http server '.blue + 'started '.green.bold + 'on port '.blue + '9000 '.yellow);
diff --git a/examples/gzip-middleware.js b/examples/gzip-middleware.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..856e2f6e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/gzip-middleware.js
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+/*
+  gzip-middleware.js: Basic example of `connect-gzip` middleware in node-http-proxy
+
+  Copyright (c) 2010 Charlie Robbins, Mikeal Rogers, Fedor Indutny, Marak Squires, & Dominic Tarr.
+
+  Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
+  a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
+  "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
+  without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
+  distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
+  permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
+  the following conditions:
+
+  The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
+  included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+  THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
+  EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
+  MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
+  NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE
+  LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
+  OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
+  WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
+
+*/
+
+var util = require('util'),
+    colors = require('colors'),
+    http = require('http'),
+    httpProxy = require('./../lib/node-http-proxy');
+
+//
+// Basic Http Proxy Server
+//
+httpProxy.createServer(
+  require('connect-gzip').gzip({ matchType: /.?/ }),
+  9000, 'localhost'
+).listen(8000);
+
+//
+// Target Http Server
+//
+http.createServer(function (req, res) {
+  res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
+  res.write('request successfully proxied to: ' + req.url + '\n' + JSON.stringify(req.headers, true, 2));
+  res.end();
+}).listen(9000);
+
+util.puts('http proxy server'.blue + ' started '.green.bold + 'on port '.blue + '8000'.yellow);
+util.puts('http server '.blue + 'started '.green.bold + 'on port '.blue + '9000 '.yellow);
diff --git a/examples/jsonp-middleware.js b/examples/jsonp-middleware.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..11cc65877
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/jsonp-middleware.js
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+var Store = require('./lib/store')
+  , http = require('http')
+
+//
+// jsonp is a handy technique for getting around the limitations of the same-origin policy. 
+// (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same_origin_policy) 
+// 
+// normally, to dynamically update a page you use an XmlHttpRequest. this has flakey support 
+// is some browsers and is restricted by the same origin policy. you cannot perform XHR requests to
+// someone else's server. one way around this would be to proxy requests to all the servers you want
+// to xhr to, and your core server - so that everything has the same port and host.
+// 
+// another way, is to turn json into javascript. (which is exempt from the same origin policy) 
+// this is done by wrapping the json object in a function call, and then including a script tag.
+//
+// here we're proxing our own JSON returning server, but we could proxy any server on the internet,
+// and our client side app would be slurping down JSONP from anywhere.
+// 
+// curl localhost:1337/whatever?callback=alert
+// alert([]) //which is valid javascript!
+//
+// also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSONP#JSONP
+//
+
+http.createServer(new Store().handler()).listen(7531)
+
+require('http-proxy').createServer(
+  require('connect-jsonp')(true),
+  'localhost', 7531
+).listen(1337)
diff --git a/examples/lib/store.js b/examples/lib/store.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8144b13b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/lib/store.js
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+
+module.exports = Store
+//
+// just to make these example a little bit interesting, 
+// make a little key value store with an http interface
+// (see couchbd for a grown-up version of this)
+//
+// API:
+// GET / 
+// retrive list of keys
+//
+// GET /[url]
+// retrive object stored at [url]
+// will respond with 404 if there is nothing stored at [url]
+//
+// POST /[url]
+// 
+// JSON.parse the body and store it under [url]
+// will respond 400 (bad request) if body is not valid json.
+//
+// TODO: cached map-reduce views and auto-magic sharding.
+//
+
+
+
+function Store () {
+  this.store = {}
+}
+Store.prototype = {
+  get: function (key) {
+    return this.store[key]
+  },
+  set: function (key, value) {
+    return this.store[key] = value
+  },
+  handler:function () {
+    var store = this
+    return function (req, res) {
+      function send (obj, status) {
+        res.writeHead(200 || status,{'Content-Type': 'application/json'})
+        res.write(JSON.stringify(obj) + '\n')
+        res.end()
+      }
+      var url = req.url.split('?').shift()
+      if(url === '/') {
+        console.log('get index')
+        return send(Object.keys(store.store))
+      } else if(req.method == 'GET') {
+        var obj = store.get (url)
+        send(obj || {error: 'not_found', url: url}, obj ? 200 : 404)
+      } else {
+        //post: buffer body, and parse.
+        var body = '', obj
+        req.on('data', function (c) { body += c})
+        req.on('end', function (c) {
+          try {
+            obj = JSON.parse(body)
+          } catch (err) {
+            return send (err, 400)
+          }
+          store.set(url, obj)
+          send({ok: true})
+        })
+      } 
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/examples/package.json b/examples/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..16af680fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+{
+  "name": "http-proxy-examples"
+, "description": "packages required to run the examples"
+, "version": "0.0.0"
+, "dependencies": {
+    "connect": "1.6"
+  , "connect-gzip": "0.1"
+  , "connect-jsonp": "0.0.5"
+  , "connect-restreamer": "1"
+  , "proxy-by-url": "0.0.0"
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/examples/url-middleware.js b/examples/url-middleware.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..669a73e12
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/url-middleware.js
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+/*
+  url-middleware.js: Example of a simple url routing middleware for node-http-proxy
+
+  Copyright (c) 2010 Charlie Robbins, Mikeal Rogers, Fedor Indutny, & Marak Squires.
+
+  Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
+  a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
+  "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
+  without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
+  distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
+  permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
+  the following conditions:
+
+  The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
+  included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+  THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
+  EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
+  MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
+  NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE
+  LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
+  OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
+  WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
+
+*/
+
+var util = require('util'),
+    colors = require('colors'),
+    http = require('http'),
+    httpProxy = require('http-proxy');
+
+//
+// Now we set up our proxy.
+//
+httpProxy.createServer(
+  //
+  // This is where our middlewares go, with any options desired - in this case,
+  // the list of routes/URLs and their destinations.
+  //
+    require('proxy-by-url')({
+    '/hello': { port: 9000, host: 'localhost' },
+    '/charlie': { port: 80, host: 'charlieistheman.com' },
+    '/google': { port: 80, host: 'google.com' } 
+  });
+).listen(8000);
+
+//
+// Target Http Server (to listen for requests on 'localhost')
+//
+http.createServer(function (req, res) {
+  res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
+  res.write('request successfully proxied to: ' + req.url + '\n' + JSON.stringify(req.headers, true, 2));
+  res.end();
+}).listen(9000);
+
+// And finally, some colored startup output.
+util.puts('http proxy server'.blue + ' started '.green.bold + 'on port '.blue + '8000'.yellow);
+util.puts('http server '.blue + 'started '.green.bold + 'on port '.blue + '9000 '.yellow);
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/examples/url-middleware2.js b/examples/url-middleware2.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..95dfef46b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/url-middleware2.js
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+var util = require('util'),
+    colors = require('colors'),
+    http = require('http'),
+    httpProxy = require('http-proxy'),
+    Store = require('./lib/store') 
+
+http.createServer(new Store().handler()).listen(7531)
+
+// Now we set up our proxy.
+httpProxy.createServer(
+  // This is where our middlewares go, with any options desired - in this case,
+  // the list of routes/URLs and their destinations.
+  require('proxy-by-url')({
+    '/store': { port: 7531, host: 'localhost' },
+    '/': { port: 9000, host: 'localhost' }
+  })
+).listen(8000);
+
+//
+// Target Http Server (to listen for requests on 'localhost')
+//
+http.createServer(
+  function (req, res) {
+    res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
+    res.write('request successfully proxied to: ' + req.url + '\n' + JSON.stringify(req.headers, true, 2));
+    res.end();
+  }).listen(9000);
+
+// And finally, some colored startup output.
+util.puts('http proxy server'.blue + ' started '.green.bold + 'on port '.blue + '8000'.yellow);
+util.puts('http server '.blue + 'started '.green.bold + 'on port '.blue + '9000 '.yellow);
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/examples/web-socket-proxy.js b/examples/web-socket-proxy.js
index d94898883..d7a8efa71 100644
--- a/examples/web-socket-proxy.js
+++ b/examples/web-socket-proxy.js
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ var server = http.createServer(function (req, res) {
   res.writeHead(200);
   res.end();
 });
+
 server.listen(8080);
 
 //
diff --git a/lib/node-http-proxy.js b/lib/node-http-proxy.js
index 2e41b4236..ff22317bc 100644
--- a/lib/node-http-proxy.js
+++ b/lib/node-http-proxy.js
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /*
   node-http-proxy.js: http proxy for node.js
 
-  Copyright (c) 2010 Charlie Robbins, Mikeal Rogers, Marak Squires, Fedor Indutny 
+  Copyright (c) 2010 Charlie Robbins, Mikeal Rogers, Marak Squires, Fedor Indutny
 
   Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
   a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
@@ -51,16 +51,16 @@ var _agents = {};
 //
 function _getAgent (host, port, secure) {
   var Agent, id = [host, port].join(':');
-  
+
   if (!port) {
     port = secure ? 443 : 80;
   }
-  
+
   if (!_agents[id]) {
     Agent = secure ? https.Agent : http.Agent;
 
-    _agents[id] = new Agent({ 
-      host: host, 
+    _agents[id] = new Agent({
+      host: host,
       port: port,
       maxSockets: maxSockets
     });
@@ -70,17 +70,17 @@ function _getAgent (host, port, secure) {
 }
 
 //
-// ### function _getProtocol (secure, outgoing) 
+// ### function _getProtocol (secure, outgoing)
 // #### @secure {Object|boolean} Settings for `https`
 // #### @outgoing {Object} Outgoing request options
-// Returns the appropriate protocol based on the settings in 
+// Returns the appropriate protocol based on the settings in
 // `secure`. If the protocol is `https` this function will update
 // the options in `outgoing` as appropriate by adding `ca`, `key`,
 // and `cert` if they exist in `secure`.
 //
 function _getProtocol (secure, outgoing) {
   var protocol = secure ? https : http;
-  
+
   if (typeof secure === 'object') {
     outgoing = outgoing || {};
     ['ca', 'cert', 'key'].forEach(function (prop) {
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ function _getProtocol (secure, outgoing) {
       }
     })
   }
-  
+
   return protocol;
 }
 
@@ -137,6 +137,34 @@ function stack (middlewares, proxy) {
   return handle;
 }
 
+//
+// stack
+// adapted from https://github.com/creationix/stack
+//
+function stack (middlewares, proxy) {
+  var handle;
+  middlewares.reverse().forEach(function (layer) {
+    var child = handle;
+    handle = function (req, res) {
+      var next = function (err) {
+        if (err) {
+          throw err;
+          //
+          // TODO: figure out where to send errors.
+          // return error(req, res, err);
+          //
+        }
+        child(req, res);
+      }
+
+      next.__proto__ = proxy;
+      layer(req, res, next);
+    };
+  });
+
+  return handle;
+}
+
 //
 // ### function createServer ([port, host, options, handler])
 // #### @port {number} **Optional** Port to use on the proxy target host.
@@ -150,87 +178,101 @@ function stack (middlewares, proxy) {
 // * `httpPRoxy.createServer(function (req, res, proxy) { ... })`
 //
 exports.createServer = function () {
-  var args = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments), 
-      callback,
-      options = {}, port, host, forward, silent, proxy, server, middleware = [];
-  
+  var args = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments),
+      callback, forward,
+      port, host,
+      proxy, server,
+      options = {},
+      middleware = [],
+      silent;
+
   args.forEach(function (arg) {
-  
     switch (typeof arg) {
       case 'string': host = arg; break;
       case 'number': port = arg; break;
-      case 'function': middleware.push(arg); break;
+      case 'function': middleware.push(handler = callback = arg); break;
       case 'object': options = arg; break;
     };
-  
   });
 
   var proxy = new HttpProxy(options);
 
-  if(middleware.length)
-    //handler = callback = middleware.shift()
-  //else if (middleware.length)
-    handler = callback = stack(middleware, proxy);
+  if (port && host) {
+    //
+    // If we have a target host and port for the request
+    // then proxy to the specified location.
+    //
+    handler = function (req, res) {
+      proxy.proxyRequest(req, res, {
+        port: port,
+        host: host
+      });
+    }
 
-    if (port && host) {
-      //
-      // If we have a target host and port for the request
-      // then proxy to the specified location.
-      //
-      handler = function (req, res) {
-        proxy.proxyRequest(req, res, {
-          port: port, 
-          host: host
-        });
-      }
+    if (middleware.length) {
+      middleware.push(handler);
     }
-    else if (proxy.proxyTable) {
-      //
-      // If the proxy is configured with a ProxyTable
-      // instance then use that before failing.
-      //
-      handler = function (req, res) {
-        proxy.proxyRequest(req, res);
-      }
+  }
+  else if (proxy.proxyTable) {
+    //
+    // If the proxy is configured with a ProxyTable
+    // instance then use that before failing.
+    //
+    handler = function (req, res) {
+      proxy.proxyRequest(req, res);
     }
-    else if (!handler) {
-      //
-      // Otherwise this server is improperly configured.
-      //
-      throw new Error('Cannot proxy without port, host, or router.')
+
+    if (middleware.length) {
+      middleware.push(handler);
     }
+  }
+
+  if (middleware.length > 1) {
+    handler = callback = stack(middleware, proxy);
+  }
+  else if (middleware.length) { 
+    //do not use middleware code if it's not needed.
+    var h = middleware[0];
+    handler = callback = function (req,res) { h(req,res,proxy) };
+  }
 
-  server = options.https 
+  if (!handler) {
+    //
+    // Otherwise this server is improperly configured.
+    //
+    throw new Error('Cannot proxy without port, host, or router.')
+  }
+
+  server = options.https
     ? https.createServer(options.https, handler)
     : http.createServer(handler);
 
   server.on('close', function () {
     proxy.close();
   });
-  
+
   proxy.on('routes', function (routes) {
     server.emit('routes', routes);
   });
 
   if (!callback) {
-    // WebSocket support: if callback is empty tunnel 
+    // WebSocket support: if callback is empty tunnel
     // websocket request automatically
     server.on('upgrade', function (req, socket, head) {
       // Tunnel websocket requests too
-      
       proxy.proxyWebSocketRequest(req, socket, head, {
         port: port,
         host: host
       });
     });
   }
-  
+
   //
   // Set the proxy on the server so it is available
   // to the consumer of the server
   //
   server.proxy = proxy;
-  
+
   return server;
 };
 
@@ -251,23 +293,23 @@ exports.createServer = function () {
 //          host: 'localhost',
 //          port: 9001
 //        }
-//      } 
+//      }
 //
 var HttpProxy = exports.HttpProxy = function (options) {
   events.EventEmitter.call(this);
-  
+
   var self          = this;
   options           = options || {};
-  
+
   //
   // Setup basic proxying options
   //
   this.https        = options.https;
   this.forward      = options.forward;
   this.target       = options.target || {};
-  
+
   //
-  // Setup additional options for WebSocket proxying. When forcing 
+  // Setup additional options for WebSocket proxying. When forcing
   // the WebSocket handshake to change the `sec-websocket-location`
   // and `sec-websocket-origin` headers `options.source` **MUST**
   // be provided or the operation will fail with an `origin mismatch`
@@ -275,7 +317,7 @@ var HttpProxy = exports.HttpProxy = function (options) {
   //
   this.source       = options.source || { host: 'localhost', port: 8000 };
   this.changeOrigin = options.changeOrigin || false;
-  
+
   if (options.router) {
     this.proxyTable = new ProxyTable(options.router, options.silent, options.hostnameOnly);
     this.proxyTable.on('routes', function (routes) {
@@ -288,10 +330,10 @@ var HttpProxy = exports.HttpProxy = function (options) {
 util.inherits(HttpProxy, events.EventEmitter);
 
 //
-// ### function buffer (obj) 
+// ### function buffer (obj)
 // #### @obj {Object} Object to pause events from
 // Buffer `data` and `end` events from the given `obj`.
-// Consumers of HttpProxy performing async tasks 
+// Consumers of HttpProxy performing async tasks
 // __must__ utilize this utility, to re-emit data once
 // the async operation has completed, otherwise these
 // __events will be lost.__
@@ -301,9 +343,9 @@ util.inherits(HttpProxy, events.EventEmitter);
 //         httpProxy.proxyRequest(req, res, host, port, buffer);
 //      });
 //
-// __Attribution:__ This approach is based heavily on 
+// __Attribution:__ This approach is based heavily on
 // [Connect](https://github.com/senchalabs/connect/blob/master/lib/utils.js#L157).
-// However, this is not a big leap from the implementation in node-http-proxy < 0.4.0. 
+// However, this is not a big leap from the implementation in node-http-proxy < 0.4.0.
 // This simply chooses to manage the scope of  the events on a new Object literal as opposed to
 // [on the HttpProxy instance](https://github.com/nodejitsu/node-http-proxy/blob/v0.3.1/lib/node-http-proxy.js#L154).
 //
@@ -335,10 +377,12 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.buffer = function (obj) {
 //
 // ### function close ()
 // Frees the resources associated with this instance,
-// if they exist. 
+// if they exist.
 //
 HttpProxy.prototype.close = function () {
-  if (this.proxyTable) this.proxyTable.close();
+  if (this.proxyTable) {
+    this.proxyTable.close();
+  }
 };
 
 //
@@ -355,18 +399,18 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.close = function () {
 //
 HttpProxy.prototype.proxyRequest = function (req, res, options) {
   var self = this, errState = false, location, outgoing, protocol, reverseProxy;
-  
+
   //
   // Create an empty options hash if none is passed.
-  // If default options have been passed to the constructor 
+  // If default options have been passed to the constructor
   // of this instance, use them by default.
   //
   options      = options || {};
   options.host = options.host || this.target.host;
   options.port = options.port || this.target.port;
-  options.enableXForwarded = 
+  options.enableXForwarded =
     (undefined === options.enableXForwarded ? true : options.enableXForwarded);
-  
+
   //
   // Check the proxy table for this instance to see if we need
   // to get the proxy location for the request supplied. We will
@@ -375,7 +419,7 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyRequest = function (req, res, options) {
   //
   if (this.proxyTable && !options.host) {
     location = this.proxyTable.getProxyLocation(req);
-    
+
     //
     // If no location is returned from the ProxyTable instance
     // then respond with `404` since we do not have a valid proxy target.
@@ -384,38 +428,38 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyRequest = function (req, res, options) {
       res.writeHead(404);
       return res.end();
     }
-    
+
     //
     // When using the ProxyTable in conjunction with an HttpProxy instance
     // only the following arguments are valid:
-    // 
+    //
     // * `proxy.proxyRequest(req, res, { host: 'localhost' })`: This will be skipped
     // * `proxy.proxyRequest(req, res, { buffer: buffer })`: Buffer will get updated appropriately
-    // * `proxy.proxyRequest(req, res)`: Options will be assigned appropriately. 
+    // * `proxy.proxyRequest(req, res)`: Options will be assigned appropriately.
     //
     options.port = location.port;
     options.host = location.host;
   }
-  
+
   //
-  // Add common proxy headers to the request so that they can 
+  // Add common proxy headers to the request so that they can
   // be availible to the proxy target server:
-  // 
+  //
   // * `x-forwarded-for`: IP Address of the original request
   // * `x-forwarded-proto`: Protocol of the original request
-  // * `x-forwarded-port`: Port of the original request. 
+  // * `x-forwarded-port`: Port of the original request.
   //
-  if (options.enableXForwarded == true) {
+  if (options.enableXForwarded === true) {
     req.headers['x-forwarded-for']   = req.connection.remoteAddress || req.connection.socket.remoteAddress;
     req.headers['x-forwarded-port']  = req.connection.remotePort || req.connection.socket.remotePort;
     req.headers['x-forwarded-proto'] = res.connection.pair ? 'https' : 'http';
   }
-  
+
   //
   // Emit the `start` event indicating that we have begun the proxy operation.
   //
   this.emit('start', req, res, options);
-  
+
   //
   // If forwarding is enabled for this instance, foward proxy the
   // specified request to the address provided in `this.forward`
@@ -424,16 +468,16 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyRequest = function (req, res, options) {
     this.emit('forward', req, res, this.forward);
     this._forwardRequest(req);
   }
-  
+
   //
   // #### function proxyError (err)
   // #### @err {Error} Error contacting the proxy target
-  // Short-circuits `res` in the event of any error when 
+  // Short-circuits `res` in the event of any error when
   // contacting the proxy target at `host` / `port`.
   //
   function proxyError(err) {
     errState = true;
-    
+
     //
     // Emit an `error` event, allowing the application to use custom
     // error handling. The error handler should end the response.
@@ -456,10 +500,10 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyRequest = function (req, res, options) {
         res.write('An error has occurred: ' + JSON.stringify(err));
       }
     }
-  
+
     res.end();
   }
-  
+
   outgoing = {
     host: options.host,
     port: options.port,
@@ -468,12 +512,12 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyRequest = function (req, res, options) {
     path: req.url,
     headers: req.headers
   };
-  
+
   protocol = _getProtocol(options.https || this.target.https, outgoing);
-  
+
   // Open new HTTP request to internal resource with will act as a reverse proxy pass
   reverseProxy = protocol.request(outgoing, function (response) {
-    
+
     // Process the `reverseProxy` `response` when it's received.
     if (response.headers.connection) {
       if (req.headers.connection) response.headers.connection = req.headers.connection;
@@ -505,17 +549,17 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyRequest = function (req, res, options) {
       if (!errState) {
         reverseProxy.removeListener('error', proxyError);
         res.end();
-        
+
         // Emit the `end` event now that we have completed proxying
         self.emit('end', req, res);
       }
     });
   });
-  
+
   // Handle 'error' events from the `reverseProxy`.
   reverseProxy.once('error', proxyError);
-  
-  // For each data `chunk` received from the incoming 
+
+  // For each data `chunk` received from the incoming
   // `req` write it to the `reverseProxy` request.
   req.on('data', function (chunk) {
     if (!errState) {
@@ -524,8 +568,8 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyRequest = function (req, res, options) {
   });
 
   //
-  // When the incoming `req` ends, end the corresponding `reverseProxy` 
-  // request unless we have entered an error state. 
+  // When the incoming `req` ends, end the corresponding `reverseProxy`
+  // request unless we have entered an error state.
   //
   req.on('end', function () {
     if (!errState) {
@@ -538,7 +582,7 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyRequest = function (req, res, options) {
     options.buffer.resume();
   }
 };
-  
+
 //
 // ### @private function _forwardRequest (req)
 // #### @req {ServerRequest} Incoming HTTP Request to proxy.
@@ -550,7 +594,7 @@ HttpProxy.prototype._forwardRequest = function (req) {
 
   port = this.forward.port;
   host = this.forward.host;
-  
+
   outgoing = {
     host: host,
     port: port,
@@ -559,13 +603,13 @@ HttpProxy.prototype._forwardRequest = function (req) {
     path: req.url,
     headers: req.headers
   };
-  
+
   // Force the `connection` header to be 'close' until
   // node.js core re-implements 'keep-alive'.
   outgoing.headers['connection'] = 'close';
-  
+
   protocol = _getProtocol(this.forward.https, outgoing);
-  
+
   // Open new HTTP request to internal resource with will act as a reverse proxy pass
   forwardProxy = protocol.request(outgoing, function (response) {
     //
@@ -573,10 +617,10 @@ HttpProxy.prototype._forwardRequest = function (req) {
     // Remark (indexzero): We will eventually emit a 'forward' event here for performance tuning.
     //
   });
-  
+
   // Add a listener for the connection timeout event.
   //
-  // Remark: Ignoring this error in the event 
+  // Remark: Ignoring this error in the event
   //         forward target doesn't exist.
   //
   forwardProxy.once('error', function (err) { });
@@ -594,7 +638,7 @@ HttpProxy.prototype._forwardRequest = function (req) {
 
 //
 // ### function proxyWebSocketRequest (req, socket, head, options)
-// #### @req {ServerRequest} Websocket request to proxy. 
+// #### @req {ServerRequest} Websocket request to proxy.
 // #### @socket {net.Socket} Socket for the underlying HTTP request
 // #### @head {string} Headers for the Websocket request.
 // #### @options {Object} Options to use when proxying this request.
@@ -605,28 +649,29 @@ HttpProxy.prototype._forwardRequest = function (req) {
 //     options.https {Object|boolean} Settings for https.
 //
 HttpProxy.prototype.proxyWebSocketRequest = function (req, socket, head, options) {
-  var self      = this, 
+  var self      = this,
       listeners = {},
-      errState  = false, 
+      errState  = false,
       CRLF      = '\r\n',
       outgoing;
 
   options      = options || {};
   options.host = options.host || this.target.host;
   options.port = options.port || this.target.port;
-  
+
   if (this.proxyTable && !options.host) {
     location = this.proxyTable.getProxyLocation(req);
-    
+
     if (!location) {
-      res.writeHead(404);
-      return res.end();
+      return socket.destroy();
     }
+
     options.port = location.port;
     options.host = location.host;
   }
+
   //
-  // WebSocket requests must have the `GET` method and 
+  // WebSocket requests must have the `GET` method and
   // the `upgrade:websocket` header
   //
   if (req.method !== 'GET' || req.headers.upgrade.toLowerCase() !== 'websocket') {
@@ -635,7 +680,7 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyWebSocketRequest = function (req, socket, head, options
     //
     return;
   }
-  
+
   //
   // Helper function for setting appropriate socket values:
   // 1. Turn of all bufferings
@@ -652,14 +697,14 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyWebSocketRequest = function (req, socket, head, options
       else if (socket.pair.cleartext.socket.setKeepAlive) {
         socket.pair.cleartext.socket.setKeepAlive(true, 0);
       }
-    } 
+    }
     else {
       socket.setEncoding('utf8');
     }
   }
-  
+
   //
-  // On `upgrade` from the Agent socket, listen to 
+  // On `upgrade` from the Agent socket, listen to
   // the appropriate events.
   //
   function onUpgrade (reverseProxy, proxySocket) {
@@ -668,7 +713,7 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyWebSocketRequest = function (req, socket, head, options
       socket.end();
       return;
     }
-    
+
     //
     // Any incoming data on this WebSocket to the proxy target
     // will be written to the `reverseProxy` socket.
@@ -678,7 +723,7 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyWebSocketRequest = function (req, socket, head, options
         try {
           self.emit('websocket:outgoing', req, socket, head, data);
           reverseProxy.incoming.socket.write(data);
-        } 
+        }
         catch (e) {
           reverseProxy.incoming.socket.end();
           proxySocket.end();
@@ -694,15 +739,15 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyWebSocketRequest = function (req, socket, head, options
       try {
         self.emit('websocket:incoming', reverseProxy, reverseProxy.incoming, head, data);
         proxySocket.write(data);
-      } 
+      }
       catch (e) {
         proxySocket.end();
         socket.end();
       }
     });
-    
+
     //
-    // Helper function to detach all event listeners 
+    // Helper function to detach all event listeners
     // from `reverseProxy` and `proxySocket`.
     //
     function detach() {
@@ -713,19 +758,19 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyWebSocketRequest = function (req, socket, head, options
     }
 
     //
-    // If the incoming `proxySocket` socket closes, then 
-    // detach all event listeners. 
+    // If the incoming `proxySocket` socket closes, then
+    // detach all event listeners.
     //
     proxySocket.on('end', listeners.onIncomingClose = function() {
       reverseProxy.incoming.socket.end();
       detach();
-      
+
       // Emit the `end` event now that we have completed proxying
       self.emit('websocket:end', req, socket, head);
     });
 
     //
-    // If the `reverseProxy` socket closes, then detach all 
+    // If the `reverseProxy` socket closes, then detach all
     // event listeners.
     //
     reverseProxy.incoming.socket.on('end', listeners.onOutgoingClose = function() {
@@ -736,12 +781,12 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyWebSocketRequest = function (req, socket, head, options
 
   // Setup the incoming client socket.
   _socket(socket);
-  
+
   function getPort (port) {
     port = port || 80;
     return port - 80 === 0 ? '' : ':' + port
   }
-  
+
   //
   // Get the protocol, and host for this request and create an instance
   // of `http.Agent` or `https.Agent` from the pool managed by `node-http-proxy`.
@@ -756,7 +801,7 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyWebSocketRequest = function (req, socket, head, options
     req.headers.host   = remoteHost;
     req.headers.origin = protocolName + '://' + remoteHost;
   }
-  
+
   //
   // Make the outgoing WebSocket request
   //
@@ -767,10 +812,11 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyWebSocketRequest = function (req, socket, head, options
     path: req.url,
     headers: req.headers,
   };
+  
   var reverseProxy = agent.appendMessage(outgoing);
 
   //
-  // On any errors from the `reverseProxy` emit the 
+  // On any errors from the `reverseProxy` emit the
   // `webSocketProxyError` and close the appropriate
   // connections.
   //
@@ -779,14 +825,14 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyWebSocketRequest = function (req, socket, head, options
     if (self.emit('webSocketProxyError', req, socket, head)) {
       return;
     }
-    
+
     socket.end();
   }
 
   //
   // Here we set the incoming `req`, `socket` and `head` data to the outgoing
   // request so that we can reuse this data later on in the closure scope
-  // available to the `upgrade` event. This bookkeeping is not tracked anywhere 
+  // available to the `upgrade` event. This bookkeeping is not tracked anywhere
   // in nodejs core and is **very** specific to proxying WebSockets.
   //
   reverseProxy.agent = agent;
@@ -795,27 +841,27 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyWebSocketRequest = function (req, socket, head, options
     socket: socket,
     head: head
   };
-  
+
   //
   // If the agent for this particular `host` and `port` combination
   // is not already listening for the `upgrade` event, then do so once.
-  // This will force us not to disconnect. 
+  // This will force us not to disconnect.
   //
   // In addition, it's important to note the closure scope here. Since
-  // there is no mapping of the 
+  // there is no mapping of the
   //
   if (!agent._events || agent._events['upgrade'].length === 0) {
     agent.on('upgrade', function (_, remoteSocket, head) {
       //
-      // Prepare the socket for the reverseProxy request and begin to 
-      // stream data between the two sockets. Here it is important to 
+      // Prepare the socket for the reverseProxy request and begin to
+      // stream data between the two sockets. Here it is important to
       // note that `remoteSocket._httpMessage === reverseProxy`.
       //
       _socket(remoteSocket, true);
       onUpgrade(remoteSocket._httpMessage, remoteSocket);
     });
   }
-  
+
   //
   // If the reverseProxy connection has an underlying socket,
   // then execute the WebSocket handshake.
@@ -824,9 +870,9 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyWebSocketRequest = function (req, socket, head, options
     reverseProxy.socket.on('data', function handshake (data) {
       //
       // Ok, kind of harmfull part of code. Socket.IO sends a hash
-      // at the end of handshake if protocol === 76, but we need 
-      // to replace 'host' and 'origin' in response so we split 
-      // data to printable data and to non-printable. (Non-printable 
+      // at the end of handshake if protocol === 76, but we need
+      // to replace 'host' and 'origin' in response so we split
+      // data to printable data and to non-printable. (Non-printable
       // will come after double-CRLF).
       //
       var sdata = data.toString();
@@ -836,7 +882,7 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyWebSocketRequest = function (req, socket, head, options
 
       // Get the Non-Printable data
       data = data.slice(Buffer.byteLength(sdata), data.length);
-      
+
       if (self.https && !self.target.https) {
         //
         // If the proxy server is running HTTPS but the client is running
@@ -848,12 +894,12 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyWebSocketRequest = function (req, socket, head, options
       try {
         //
         // Write the printable and non-printable data to the socket
-        // from the original incoming request. 
-        // 
+        // from the original incoming request.
+        //
         self.emit('websocket:handshake', req, socket, head, sdata, data);
         socket.write(sdata);
         socket.write(data);
-      } 
+      }
       catch (ex) {
         proxyError(ex)
       }
@@ -865,7 +911,7 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyWebSocketRequest = function (req, socket, head, options
       reverseProxy.socket.removeListener('data', handshake);
     });
   }
-  
+
   reverseProxy.on('error', proxyError);
 
   try {
@@ -873,11 +919,11 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyWebSocketRequest = function (req, socket, head, options
     // Attempt to write the upgrade-head to the reverseProxy request.
     //
     reverseProxy.write(head);
-  } 
+  }
   catch (ex) {
     proxyError(ex);
   }
-  
+
   //
   // If we have been passed buffered data, resume it.
   //