diff --git a/client/tx/tx.go b/client/tx/tx.go
index 5ea3d1995a..98d72b84d7 100644
--- a/client/tx/tx.go
+++ b/client/tx/tx.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package tx
 
 import (
 	"encoding/hex"
+	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
@@ -56,8 +57,7 @@ func queryTx(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	cdc := app.MakeTxCodec()
-	output, err := cdc.MarshalJSON(info)
+	output, err := json.MarshalIndent(info, "", "  ")
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -67,19 +67,16 @@ func queryTx(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 }
 
 func formatTxResult(res *ctypes.ResultTx) (txInfo, error) {
-	height := res.Height
-	result := res.TxResult
 	// TODO: verify the proof if requested
-
 	tx, err := parseTx(res.Tx)
 	if err != nil {
 		return txInfo{}, err
 	}
 
 	info := txInfo{
-		Height: height,
+		Height: res.Height,
 		Tx:     tx,
-		Result: result,
+		Result: res.TxResult,
 	}
 	return info, nil
 }
diff --git a/tests/check_basecli.sh b/tests/check_basecli.sh
index e21cb897c4..b470ea218a 100755
--- a/tests/check_basecli.sh
+++ b/tests/check_basecli.sh
@@ -54,5 +54,8 @@ echo; echo "Empty account got some cash"
 echo; echo "View tx"
 ./build/basecli tx $HASH
 
-# shutdown
+# shutdown, but add a sleep if you want to manually run some cli scripts
+# against this server before it goes away
+# sleep 120
 kill $PID_SERVER
+
diff --git a/types/signature.go b/types/signature.go
index 7fecc5fe96..5bca2f6069 100644
--- a/types/signature.go
+++ b/types/signature.go
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import crypto "github.com/tendermint/go-crypto"
 
 // Standard Signature
 type StdSignature struct {
-	crypto.PubKey // optional
-	crypto.Signature
-	Sequence int64
+	crypto.PubKey    `json:"pub_key"` // optional
+	crypto.Signature `json:"signature"`
+	Sequence         int64 `json:"sequence"`
 }
diff --git a/types/tx_msg.go b/types/tx_msg.go
index 8763075b8b..1a7f63f938 100644
--- a/types/tx_msg.go
+++ b/types/tx_msg.go
@@ -52,8 +52,8 @@ var _ Tx = (*StdTx)(nil)
 // StdTx is a standard way to wrap a Msg with Signatures.
 // NOTE: the first signature is the FeePayer (Signatures must not be nil).
 type StdTx struct {
-	Msg
-	Signatures []StdSignature
+	Msg        `json:"msg"`
+	Signatures []StdSignature `json:"signatures"`
 }
 
 func NewStdTx(msg Msg, sigs []StdSignature) StdTx {