diff --git a/lib/Rest/VppRequest.cpp b/lib/Rest/VppRequest.cpp
index 9e1db8c36a..6722374d68 100644
--- a/lib/Rest/VppRequest.cpp
+++ b/lib/Rest/VppRequest.cpp
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ std::unordered_map<std::string, std::string> const& VppRequest::headers()
   if (!_headers) {
     using namespace std;
     _headers = make_unique<unordered_map<string, string>>();
-    VPackSlice meta = _message.header().get("meta");
+    VPackSlice meta = _message.header().at(6);  // get meta
     for (auto const& it : VPackObjectIterator(meta)) {
       // must lower-case the header key
       _headers->emplace(StringUtils::tolower(it.key.copyString()),
@@ -106,11 +106,14 @@ void VppRequest::parseHeaderInformation() {
   using namespace std;
   auto vHeader = _message.header();
   try {
-    _databaseName = vHeader.get("database").copyString();
-    _requestPath = vHeader.get("request").copyString();
-    _type = meta::toEnum<RequestType>(vHeader.get("requestType").getInt());
+    TRI_ASSERT(vHeader.isArray());
+    // vHeader.at(0).getInt()  //version
+    // vHeader.at(1).getInt()  //type
+    _databaseName = vHeader.at(2).copyString();                 // database
+    _type = meta::toEnum<RequestType>(vHeader.at(3).getInt());  // request type
+    _requestPath = vHeader.at(4).copyString();  // request (path)
+    VPackSlice params = vHeader.at(5);          // parameter
 
-    VPackSlice params = vHeader.get("parameter");
     for (auto const& it : VPackObjectIterator(params)) {
       if (it.value.isArray()) {
         vector<string> tmp;
diff --git a/lib/Rest/VppResponse.cpp b/lib/Rest/VppResponse.cpp
index fa90e6e0ad..df4872896b 100644
--- a/lib/Rest/VppResponse.cpp
+++ b/lib/Rest/VppResponse.cpp
@@ -70,9 +70,9 @@ VPackMessageNoOwnBuffer VppResponse::prepareForNetwork() {
   // initalize builder with vpackbuffer. then we do not need to
   // steal the header and can avoid the shared pointer
   VPackBuilder builder;
-  builder.openObject();
+  builder.openArray();
   builder.add("version", VPackValue(int(1)));
-  builder.add("type", VPackValue(int(1)));  // 2 == response
+  builder.add("type", VPackValue(int(2)));  // 2 == response
   builder.add(
       "responseCode",
       VPackValue(static_cast<int>(meta::underlyingValue(_responseCode))));