diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 1ba9a864..3f08b715 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ tokio = { version = "1.35", features = ["full"] } # TODO slim this down
 sea-orm = { version = "0.12", features = ["macros", "sqlx-sqlite", "runtime-tokio-rustls"] }
 reqwest = { version = "0.12", features = ["json"] }
 axum = "0.7"
-apb = { path = "apb", features = ["unstructured", "fetch", "orm"] }
+apb = { path = "apb", features = ["unstructured", "orm"] }
 # nodeinfo = "0.0.2" # the version on crates.io doesn't re-export necessary types to build the struct!!!
 nodeinfo = { git = "https://codeberg.org/thefederationinfo/nodeinfo-rs", rev = "e865094804" }
 # migrations
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 3c12cff1..25b291c6 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ use sea_orm::{ConnectOptions, Database, EntityTrait, IntoActiveModel};
 
 pub use errors::UpubResult as Result;
 
+use crate::server::fetcher::Fetchable;
+
 pub const VERSION: &str = env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION");
 
 #[derive(Parser)]
@@ -92,7 +94,7 @@ async fn main() {
 		CliCommand::Faker { count } => model::faker::faker(&db, args.domain, count)
 			.await.expect("error creating fake entities"),
 
-		CliCommand::Fetch { uri, save } => fetch(&db, &uri, save)
+		CliCommand::Fetch { uri, save } => fetch(db, args.domain, uri, save)
 			.await.expect("error fetching object"),
 
 		CliCommand::Serve => {
@@ -119,12 +121,15 @@ async fn main() {
 }
 
 
-async fn fetch(db: &sea_orm::DatabaseConnection, uri: &str, save: bool) -> reqwest::Result<()> {
+async fn fetch(db: sea_orm::DatabaseConnection, domain: String, uri: String, save: bool) -> crate::Result<()> {
 	use apb::{Base, Object};
 
-	let mut node = apb::Node::from(uri);
+	let ctx = server::Context::new(db, domain)
+		.await.expect("failed creating server context");
+
+	let mut node = apb::Node::link(uri.to_string());
 	tracing::info!("fetching object");
-	node.fetch().await?;
+	node.fetch(&ctx).await?;
 	tracing::info!("fetched node");
 
 	let obj = node.get().expect("node still empty after fetch?");
@@ -136,17 +141,17 @@ async fn fetch(db: &sea_orm::DatabaseConnection, uri: &str, save: bool) -> reqwe
 			Some(apb::BaseType::Object(apb::ObjectType::Actor(_))) => {
 				model::user::Entity::insert(
 					model::user::Model::new(obj).unwrap().into_active_model()
-				).exec(db).await.unwrap();
+				).exec(ctx.db()).await.unwrap();
 			},
 			Some(apb::BaseType::Object(apb::ObjectType::Activity(_))) => {
 				model::activity::Entity::insert(
 					model::activity::Model::new(obj).unwrap().into_active_model()
-				).exec(db).await.unwrap();
+				).exec(ctx.db()).await.unwrap();
 			},
 			Some(apb::BaseType::Object(apb::ObjectType::Note)) => {
 				model::object::Entity::insert(
 					model::object::Model::new(obj).unwrap().into_active_model()
-				).exec(db).await.unwrap();
+				).exec(ctx.db()).await.unwrap();
 			},
 			Some(apb::BaseType::Object(t)) => tracing::warn!("not implemented: {:?}", t),
 			Some(apb::BaseType::Link(_)) => tracing::error!("fetched another link?"),
diff --git a/src/server/fetcher.rs b/src/server/fetcher.rs
index 17a2d0ad..bf960d62 100644
--- a/src/server/fetcher.rs
+++ b/src/server/fetcher.rs
@@ -122,3 +122,25 @@ impl Fetcher {
 		Ok(object_model)
 	}
 }
+
+#[axum::async_trait]
+pub trait Fetchable : Sync + Send {
+	async fn fetch(&mut self, ctx: &crate::server::Context) -> crate::Result<&mut Self>;
+}
+
+#[axum::async_trait]
+impl Fetchable for apb::Node<serde_json::Value> {
+	async fn fetch(&mut self, ctx: &crate::server::Context) -> crate::Result<&mut Self> {
+		if let apb::Node::Link(uri) = self {
+			let from = format!("{}{}", ctx.protocol(), ctx.base()); // TODO helper to avoid this?
+			let pkey = &ctx.app().private_key;
+			*self = Fetcher::request(Method::GET, uri.href(), None, &from, pkey, ctx.base())
+				.await?
+				.json::<serde_json::Value>()
+				.await?
+				.into();
+		}
+
+		Ok(self)
+	}
+}