diff --git a/upub/cli/Cargo.toml b/upub/cli/Cargo.toml
index ca7df1a..745fa30 100644
--- a/upub/cli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/upub/cli/Cargo.toml
@@ -23,3 +23,4 @@ clap = { version = "4.5", features = ["derive"] }
 sea-orm = "1.0"
 futures = "0.3"
 mdhtml = { path = "../../utils/mdhtml/" }
+reqwest = { version = "0.12", features = ["json"] }
diff --git a/upub/cli/src/fetch.rs b/upub/cli/src/fetch.rs
index eeb2e3e..b31d7c9 100644
--- a/upub/cli/src/fetch.rs
+++ b/upub/cli/src/fetch.rs
@@ -1,11 +1,37 @@
 use sea_orm::{EntityTrait, TransactionTrait};
-use upub::traits::{fetch::{Fetchable, RequestError}, Addresser, Normalizer};
+use upub::traits::{fetch::{Fetchable, RequestError}, Addresser, Fetcher, Normalizer};
 
-pub async fn fetch(ctx: upub::Context, uri: String, save: bool) -> Result<(), RequestError> {
+pub async fn fetch(ctx: upub::Context, uri: String, save: bool, actor: Option<String>) -> Result<(), RequestError> {
 	use apb::Base;
 
+	let mut pkey = ctx.pkey().to_string();
+	let mut from = ctx.base().to_string();
+	
+	if let Some(actor) = actor {
+		let actor_model = upub::model::actor::Entity::find_by_ap_id(&actor)
+			.one(ctx.db())
+			.await?
+			.ok_or_else(|| sea_orm::DbErr::RecordNotFound(actor.clone()))?;
+
+		match actor_model.private_key {
+			None => tracing::error!("requested actor lacks a private key, fetching with server key instead"),
+			Some(x) => {
+				pkey = x;
+				from = actor.to_string();
+			},
+		}
+	}
+
 	let mut node = apb::Node::link(uri.to_string());
-	node.fetch(&ctx).await?;
+	if let apb::Node::Link(uri) = node {
+		if let Ok(href) = uri.href() {
+			node = upub::Context::request(reqwest::Method::GET, href, None, &from, &pkey, ctx.domain())
+				.await?
+				.json::<serde_json::Value>()
+				.await?
+				.into();
+		}
+	}
 
 
 	let obj = node.extract().expect("node still empty after fetch?");