diff --git a/JetHerald/Controllers/HeartbeatController.cs b/JetHerald/Controllers/HeartbeatController.cs
index 8ee707f..a63a490 100644
--- a/JetHerald/Controllers/HeartbeatController.cs
+++ b/JetHerald/Controllers/HeartbeatController.cs
@@ -1,7 +1,12 @@
 using System;
+using System.IO;
 using System.Runtime.Serialization;
+using System.Text;
+using System.Text.Json;
+using System.Text.Json.Serialization;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ModelBinding;
 
 namespace JetHerald.Controllers
 {
@@ -17,9 +22,41 @@ namespace JetHerald.Controllers
             Db = db;
         }
 
+        // tfw when you need to manually parse body and query
         [Route("api/heartbeat")]
         [HttpPost]
-        public async Task<IActionResult> Heartbeat([FromBody] HeartbeatArgs args)
+        public async Task<IActionResult> Heartbeat()
+        {
+            var q = Request.Query;
+            if (q.ContainsKey("Topic")
+             && q.ContainsKey("ExpiryTimeout")
+             && q.ContainsKey("WriteToken"))
+            {
+                HeartbeatArgs args = new();
+                args.Topic = q["Topic"];
+                args.WriteToken = q["WriteToken"];
+                if (!int.TryParse(q["ExpiryTimeout"], out args.ExpiryTimeout))
+                {
+                    return BadRequest();
+                }
+                return await DoHeartbeat(args);
+            }
+
+            try
+            {
+                var args = await JsonSerializer.DeserializeAsync<HeartbeatArgs>(HttpContext.Request.Body, new JsonSerializerOptions()
+                {
+                    IncludeFields = true
+                });
+                return await DoHeartbeat(args);
+            }
+            catch (JsonException)
+            {
+                return BadRequest();
+            }
+        }
+
+        private async Task<IActionResult> DoHeartbeat(HeartbeatArgs args)
         {
             var t = await Db.GetTopic(args.Topic);
             if (t == null)
@@ -35,12 +72,11 @@ namespace JetHerald.Controllers
             return new OkResult();
         }
 
-        [DataContract]
         public class HeartbeatArgs
         {
-            [DataMember] public string Topic { get; set; }
-            [DataMember] public int ExpiryTimeout { get; set; }
-            [DataMember] public string WriteToken { get; set; }
+            [JsonPropertyName("Topic")] public string Topic;
+            [JsonPropertyName("ExpiryTimeout")] public int ExpiryTimeout;
+            [JsonPropertyName("WriteToken")] public string WriteToken;
         }
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file