diff --git a/codec/json/json.go b/codec/json/json.go
index 42de4a4d..5af47a07 100644
--- a/codec/json/json.go
+++ b/codec/json/json.go
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"io"
 
+	"github.com/golang/protobuf/jsonpb"
+	"github.com/golang/protobuf/proto"
 	"github.com/micro/go-micro/codec"
 )
 
@@ -22,6 +24,9 @@ func (c *Codec) ReadBody(b interface{}) error {
 	if b == nil {
 		return nil
 	}
+	if pb, ok := b.(proto.Message); ok {
+		return jsonpb.UnmarshalNext(c.Decoder, pb)
+	}
 	return c.Decoder.Decode(b)
 }
 
diff --git a/codec/json/marshaler.go b/codec/json/marshaler.go
index b9d0be28..a13e5f39 100644
--- a/codec/json/marshaler.go
+++ b/codec/json/marshaler.go
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@ package json
 
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
+
+	"github.com/golang/protobuf/jsonpb"
+	"github.com/golang/protobuf/proto"
 )
 
 type Marshaler struct{}
@@ -11,6 +14,9 @@ func (j Marshaler) Marshal(v interface{}) ([]byte, error) {
 }
 
 func (j Marshaler) Unmarshal(d []byte, v interface{}) error {
+	if pb, ok := v.(proto.Message); ok {
+		return jsonpb.UnmarshalString(string(d), pb)
+	}
 	return json.Unmarshal(d, v)
 }
 
diff --git a/codec/text/text.go b/codec/text/text.go
index f6f28859..da43da50 100644
--- a/codec/text/text.go
+++ b/codec/text/text.go
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ func (c *Codec) ReadBody(b interface{}) error {
 	}
 
 	switch b.(type) {
+	case *string:
+		v := b.(*string)
+		*v = string(buf)
 	case *[]byte:
 		v := b.(*[]byte)
 		*v = buf
@@ -51,6 +54,12 @@ func (c *Codec) Write(m *codec.Message, b interface{}) error {
 	case *[]byte:
 		ve := b.(*[]byte)
 		v = *ve
+	case *string:
+		ve := b.(*string)
+		v = []byte(*ve)
+	case string:
+		ve := b.(string)
+		v = []byte(ve)
 	case []byte:
 		v = b.([]byte)
 	default:
@@ -65,7 +74,7 @@ func (c *Codec) Close() error {
 }
 
 func (c *Codec) String() string {
-	return "bytes"
+	return "text"
 }
 
 func NewCodec(c io.ReadWriteCloser) codec.Codec {
diff --git a/registry/consul/watcher.go b/registry/consul/watcher.go
index 2fc81886..1bb9d5b7 100644
--- a/registry/consul/watcher.go
+++ b/registry/consul/watcher.go
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package consul
 
 import (
-	"errors"
 	"log"
 	"os"
 	"sync"
@@ -246,14 +245,16 @@ func (cw *consulWatcher) handle(idx uint64, data interface{}) {
 func (cw *consulWatcher) Next() (*registry.Result, error) {
 	select {
 	case <-cw.exit:
-		return nil, errors.New("result chan closed")
+		return nil, registry.ErrWatcherStopped
 	case r, ok := <-cw.next:
 		if !ok {
-			return nil, errors.New("result chan closed")
+			return nil, registry.ErrWatcherStopped
 		}
 		return r, nil
 	}
-	return nil, errors.New("result chan closed")
+	// NOTE: This is a dead code path: e.g. it will never be reached
+	// as we return in all previous code paths never leading to this return
+	return nil, registry.ErrWatcherStopped
 }
 
 func (cw *consulWatcher) Stop() {