diff --git a/src/connector.c b/src/connector.c
index d4505347..9d7ecfde 100644
--- a/src/connector.c
+++ b/src/connector.c
@@ -1224,17 +1224,11 @@ out:
 	return ret;
 }
 
-static void client_message_processor(ckpool_t *ckp, char *buf)
+static void client_message_processor(ckpool_t *ckp, json_t *json_msg)
 {
-	json_t *json_msg = json_loads(buf, 0, NULL);
 	int64_t client_id;
 	char *msg;
 
-	if (unlikely(!json_msg)) {
-		LOGWARNING("Invalid json message in process_client_msg: %s", buf);
-		goto out;
-	}
-
 	/* Extract the client id from the json message and remove its entry */
 	client_id = json_integer_value(json_object_get(json_msg, "client_id"));
 	json_object_del(json_msg, "client_id");
@@ -1246,8 +1240,13 @@ static void client_message_processor(ckpool_t *ckp, char *buf)
 	msg = json_dumps(json_msg, JSON_EOL | JSON_COMPACT);
 	send_client(ckp->cdata, client_id, msg);
 	json_decref(json_msg);
-out:
-	free(buf);
+}
+
+void connector_add_message(ckpool_t *ckp, json_t *val)
+{
+	cdata_t *cdata = ckp->cdata;
+
+	ckmsgq_add(cdata->cmpq, val);
 }
 
 /* Send the passthrough the terminate node.method */
@@ -1358,10 +1357,7 @@ retry:
 	LOGDEBUG("Connector received message: %s", buf);
 	/* The bulk of the messages will be json messages to send to clients
 	 * so look for them first. */
-	if (likely(buf[0] == '{')) {
-		ckmsgq_add(cdata->cmpq, buf);
-		umsg->buf = NULL;
-	} else if (cmdmatch(buf, "upstream=")) {
+	if (cmdmatch(buf, "upstream=")) {
 		char *msg = strdup(buf + 9);
 
 		LOGDEBUG("Upstreaming %s", msg);
diff --git a/src/connector.h b/src/connector.h
index e113211e..6a3be5f1 100644
--- a/src/connector.h
+++ b/src/connector.h
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 #ifndef CONNECTOR_H
 #define CONNECTOR_H
 
+void connector_add_message(ckpool_t *ckp, json_t *val);
 void *connector(void *arg);
 
 #endif /* CONNECTOR_H */
diff --git a/src/stratifier.c b/src/stratifier.c
index ab12aff2..7c7cabe7 100644
--- a/src/stratifier.c
+++ b/src/stratifier.c
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 #include "stratifier.h"
 #include "uthash.h"
 #include "utlist.h"
+#include "connector.h"
 
 #define MIN1	60
 #define MIN5	300
@@ -6582,8 +6583,6 @@ void stratifier_add_recv(ckpool_t *ckp, json_t *val)
 
 static void ssend_process(ckpool_t *ckp, smsg_t *msg)
 {
-	char *s;
-
 	if (unlikely(!msg->json_msg)) {
 		LOGERR("Sent null json msg to stratum_sender");
 		free(msg);
@@ -6593,10 +6592,9 @@ static void ssend_process(ckpool_t *ckp, smsg_t *msg)
 	/* Add client_id to the json message and send it to the
 	 * connector process to be delivered */
 	json_object_set_new_nocheck(msg->json_msg, "client_id", json_integer(msg->client_id));
-	s = json_dumps(msg->json_msg, JSON_COMPACT);
-	send_proc(ckp->connector, s);
-	free(s);
-	free_smsg(msg);
+	connector_add_message(ckp, msg->json_msg);
+	/* The connector will free msg->json_msg */
+	free(msg);
 }
 
 static void discard_json_params(json_params_t *jp)
diff --git a/src/stratifier.h b/src/stratifier.h
index 6b66a201..5bdf9fda 100644
--- a/src/stratifier.h
+++ b/src/stratifier.h
@@ -10,8 +10,6 @@
 #ifndef STRATIFIER_H
 #define STRATIFIER_H
 
-#include "ckpool.h"
-
 void stratifier_add_recv(ckpool_t *ckp, json_t *val);
 void *stratifier(void *arg);