diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 97f17e1bf2..89580e7954 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
     "form-data": "^1.0.0-rc3",
     "gulp": "^3.9.1",
     "idb-plus-blob-store": "^1.1.2",
-    "interface-ipfs-core": "^0.2.2",
+    "interface-ipfs-core": "^0.3.0",
     "left-pad": "^1.1.0",
     "lodash": "^4.11.2",
     "mocha": "^2.5.1",
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@
     "glob": "^7.0.3",
     "hapi": "^13.4.1",
     "ipfs-bitswap": "^0.4.1",
-    "ipfs-api": "^5.0.1",
+    "ipfs-api": "^6.0.1",
     "ipfs-block": "^0.3.0",
     "ipfs-block-service": "^0.4.0",
     "ipfs-merkle-dag": "^0.6.0",
diff --git a/src/cli/commands/files/cat.js b/src/cli/commands/files/cat.js
index dfb8c175f0..ff87a82a69 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands/files/cat.js
+++ b/src/cli/commands/files/cat.js
@@ -31,13 +31,11 @@ module.exports = Command.extend({
         })
         return
       }
-      ipfs.files.cat(path, (err, res) => {
+      ipfs.files.cat(path, (err, file) => {
         if (err) {
           throw (err)
         }
-        res.on('data', (data) => {
-          data.content.pipe(process.stdout)
-        })
+        file.pipe(process.stdout)
       })
     })
   }
diff --git a/src/core/index.js b/src/core/index.js
index e6d1d3be32..4ac3b388d0 100644
--- a/src/core/index.js
+++ b/src/core/index.js
@@ -57,5 +57,6 @@ function IPFS (repoInstance) {
   this.object = object(this)
   this.libp2p = libp2p(this)
   this.files = files(this)
+  this.cat = files(this).cat // Alias for js-ipfs-api cat
   this.bitswap = bitswap(this)
 }
diff --git a/src/core/ipfs/files.js b/src/core/ipfs/files.js
index 298eb14219..0184147d57 100644
--- a/src/core/ipfs/files.js
+++ b/src/core/ipfs/files.js
@@ -100,20 +100,26 @@ module.exports = function files (self) {
       i.end()
     }),
 
-    cat: (hash, callback) => {
+    cat: promisify((hash, callback) => {
+      if (typeof hash === 'function') {
+        return callback(new Error('You must supply a multihash'))
+      }
       self._dagS.get(hash, (err, fetchedNode) => {
         if (err) {
-          return callback(err, null)
+          return callback(err)
         }
         const data = UnixFS.unmarshal(fetchedNode.data)
         if (data.type === 'directory') {
-          callback('This dag node is a directory', null)
+          callback(new Error('This dag node is a directory'))
         } else {
           const exportStream = Exporter(hash, self._dagS)
-          callback(null, exportStream)
+          exportStream.once('data', (object) => {
+            callback(null, object.content)
+          })
         }
       })
-    },
+    }),
+
     get: (hash, callback) => {
       var exportFile = Exporter(hash, self._dagS)
       callback(null, exportFile)
diff --git a/src/http-api/resources/files.js b/src/http-api/resources/files.js
index 3ebe82f5b1..f4b8f14dd2 100644
--- a/src/http-api/resources/files.js
+++ b/src/http-api/resources/files.js
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ exports.cat = {
         }).code(500)
       }
       stream.on('data', (data) => {
-        return reply(data.content)
+        return reply(data)
       })
     })
   }