diff --git a/api/api.go b/api/api.go
index f72a7199c..9689fa530 100644
--- a/api/api.go
+++ b/api/api.go
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ import (
 
 var log = golog.Logger("qriapi")
 
+// LocalHostIP is the IP address for localhost
+const LocalHostIP = "127.0.0.1"
+
 func init() {
 	// We don't use the log package, and the net/rpc package spits out some complaints b/c
 	// a few methods don't conform to the proper signature (comment this out & run 'qri connect' to see errors)
@@ -127,7 +130,7 @@ func (s *Server) ServeRPC() {
 		return
 	}
 
-	listener, err := net.Listen("tcp", fmt.Sprintf(":%d", s.cfg.RPC.Port))
+	listener, err := net.Listen("tcp", fmt.Sprintf("%s:%d", LocalHostIP, s.cfg.RPC.Port))
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Infof("RPC listen on port %d error: %s", s.cfg.RPC.Port, err)
 		return
diff --git a/api/transports.go b/api/transports.go
index e6ad0ae51..f3f6c4d62 100644
--- a/api/transports.go
+++ b/api/transports.go
@@ -16,7 +16,11 @@ import (
 // that should work just fine on the raw internet (ie not behind a proxy like nginx etc)
 // it'll also redirect http traffic to it's https route counterpart if port 80 is open
 func StartServer(c *config.API, s *http.Server) error {
-	s.Addr = fmt.Sprintf(fmt.Sprintf(":%d", c.Port))
+	if c.ServeRemoteTraffic {
+		s.Addr = fmt.Sprintf(":%d", c.Port)
+	} else {
+		s.Addr = fmt.Sprintf("%s:%d", LocalHostIP, c.Port)
+	}
 	if !c.Enabled || c.Port == 0 {
 		return nil
 	}
diff --git a/config/api.go b/config/api.go
index fbb14b01d..0fb6c5d07 100644
--- a/config/api.go
+++ b/config/api.go
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ type API struct {
 	ProxyForceHTTPS bool `json:"proxyforcehttps"`
 	// support CORS signing from a list of origins
 	AllowedOrigins []string `json:"allowedorigins"`
+	// whether to allow requests from addresses other than localhost
+	ServeRemoteTraffic bool `json:"serveremotetraffic"`
 }
 
 // Validate validates all fields of api returning all errors found.