diff --git a/cmd/ipfs/daemon.go b/cmd/ipfs/daemon.go
index 9d2ca22696e8..976a791dc0f9 100644
--- a/cmd/ipfs/daemon.go
+++ b/cmd/ipfs/daemon.go
@@ -450,6 +450,7 @@ func serveHTTPApi(req *cmds.Request, cctx *oldcmds.Context) (<-chan error, error
 		defaultMux("/debug/pprof/"),
 		corehttp.MetricsScrapingOption("/debug/metrics/prometheus"),
 		corehttp.LogOption(),
+		corehttp.ProxyOption(),
 	}
 
 	if len(cfg.Gateway.RootRedirect) > 0 {
diff --git a/p2p/local.go b/p2p/local.go
index 381156691373..ba5acc3d729a 100644
--- a/p2p/local.go
+++ b/p2p/local.go
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ func (l *localListener) dial(ctx context.Context) (net.Stream, error) {
 	cctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, time.Second*30) //TODO: configurable?
 	defer cancel()
 
-	return l.p2p.peerHost.NewStream(cctx, l.peer, l.proto)
+	return l.p2p.PeerHost.NewStream(cctx, l.peer, l.proto)
 }
 
 func (l *localListener) acceptConns() {
diff --git a/p2p/p2p.go b/p2p/p2p.go
index 237c891e0ea6..15900d40d034 100644
--- a/p2p/p2p.go
+++ b/p2p/p2p.go
@@ -16,23 +16,23 @@ type P2P struct {
 	Streams        *StreamRegistry
 
 	identity  peer.ID
-	peerHost  p2phost.Host
+	PeerHost  p2phost.Host
 	peerstore pstore.Peerstore
 }
 
 // NewP2P creates new P2P struct
-func NewP2P(identity peer.ID, peerHost p2phost.Host, peerstore pstore.Peerstore) *P2P {
+func NewP2P(identity peer.ID, PeerHost p2phost.Host, peerstore pstore.Peerstore) *P2P {
 	return &P2P{
 		identity:  identity,
-		peerHost:  peerHost,
+		PeerHost:  PeerHost,
 		peerstore: peerstore,
 
 		ListenersLocal: newListenersLocal(),
-		ListenersP2P:   newListenersP2P(peerHost),
+		ListenersP2P:   newListenersP2P(PeerHost),
 
 		Streams: &StreamRegistry{
 			Streams:     map[uint64]*Stream{},
-			ConnManager: peerHost.ConnManager(),
+			ConnManager: PeerHost.ConnManager(),
 			conns:       map[peer.ID]int{},
 		},
 	}
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ func NewP2P(identity peer.ID, peerHost p2phost.Host, peerstore pstore.Peerstore)
 // CheckProtoExists checks whether a proto handler is registered to
 // mux handler
 func (p2p *P2P) CheckProtoExists(proto string) bool {
-	protos := p2p.peerHost.Mux().Protocols()
+	protos := p2p.PeerHost.Mux().Protocols()
 
 	for _, p := range protos {
 		if p != proto {
diff --git a/p2p/proxy.go b/p2p/proxy.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a247600920ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/p2p/proxy.go
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+package p2p
+
+import (
+	"bufio"
+	"fmt"
+	"net"
+	"net/http"
+	"strings"
+
+	core "github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/core"
+	protocol "gx/ipfs/QmZNkThpqfVXs9GNbexPrfBbXSLNYeKrE7jwFM2oqHbyqN/go-libp2p-protocol"
+	peer "gx/ipfs/QmbNepETomvmXfz1X5pHNFD2QuPqnqi47dTd94QJWSorQ3/go-libp2p-peer"
+)
+
+func ProxyOption() ServeOption {
+	return func(ipfsNode *core.IpfsNode, _ net.Listener, mux *http.ServeMux) (*http.ServeMux, error) {
+		mux.HandleFunc("/proxy/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, request *http.Request) {
+			// parse request
+			parsedRequest, err := parseRequest(request)
+			if err != nil {
+				handleError(w, "Failed to parse request", err, 400)
+				return
+			}
+
+			// open connect to peer
+			stream, err := ipfsNode.P2P.PeerHost.NewStream(ipfsNode.Context(), parsedRequest.target, protocol.ID("/x/"+parsedRequest.name))
+			if err != nil {
+				msg := fmt.Sprintf("Failed to open stream '%v' to target peer '%v'", parsedRequest.name, parsedRequest.target)
+				handleError(w, msg, err, 500)
+				return
+			}
+
+			// send request to peer
+			proxyReq, err := http.NewRequest(request.Method, parsedRequest.httpPath, request.Body)
+
+			if err != nil {
+				handleError(w, "Failed to format proxy request", err, 500)
+				return
+			}
+
+			proxyReq.Write(stream)
+
+			s := bufio.NewReader(stream)
+			proxyResponse, err := http.ReadResponse(s, proxyReq)
+			defer func() { proxyResponse.Body.Close() }()
+			if err != nil {
+				msg := fmt.Sprintf("Failed to send request to stream '%v' to peer '%v'", parsedRequest.name, parsedRequest.target)
+				handleError(w, msg, err, 500)
+				return
+			}
+			// send client response
+			proxyResponse.Write(w)
+		})
+		return mux, nil
+	}
+}
+
+type proxyRequest struct {
+	target   peer.ID
+	name     string
+	httpPath string // path to send to the proxy-host
+}
+
+// from the url path parse the peer-ID, name and http path
+// /http/$peer_id/$name/$http_path
+func parseRequest(request *http.Request) (*proxyRequest, error) {
+	path := request.URL.Path
+
+	split := strings.SplitN(path, "/", 6)
+	if split[2] != "http" {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Invalid proxy request protocol '%s'", path)
+	}
+
+	if len(split) < 6 {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Invalid request path '%s'", path)
+	}
+
+	peerID, err := peer.IDB58Decode(split[3])
+
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	return &proxyRequest{peerID, split[4], split[5]}, nil
+}
+
+// log error and send response to client
+func handleError(w http.ResponseWriter, msg string, err error, code int) {
+	w.WriteHeader(code)
+	fmt.Fprintf(w, "%s: %s\n", msg, err)
+	log.Warningf("server error: %s: %s", err)
+}
diff --git a/p2p/proxy_test.go b/p2p/proxy_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b818ce707738
--- /dev/null
+++ b/p2p/proxy_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+package p2p
+
+import (
+	"github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/thirdparty/assert"
+	"net/http"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestParseRequest(t *testing.T) {
+	url := "http://localhost:5001/proxy/http/QmT8JtU54XSmC38xSb1XHFSMm775VuTeajg7LWWWTAwzxT/test-name/path/to/index.txt"
+	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", url, strings.NewReader(""))
+
+	parsed, err := parseRequest(req)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Error(err)
+	}
+	assert.True(parsed.httpPath == "path/to/index.txt", t, "proxy request path")
+	assert.True(parsed.name == "test-name", t, "proxy request name")
+	assert.True(parsed.target.Pretty() == "QmT8JtU54XSmC38xSb1XHFSMm775VuTeajg7LWWWTAwzxT", t, "proxy request peer-id")
+}