diff --git a/lib/fs-storage.js b/lib/fs-storage.js
index bfb417d9d..62fd77973 100644
--- a/lib/fs-storage.js
+++ b/lib/fs-storage.js
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ function make_directories(dest, cb) {
 	});
 }
 
-function write_file(dest, data, cb) {
+function write(dest, data, cb) {
 	var safe_write = function(cb) {
 		fs.writeFile(dest, data, cb);
 	}
@@ -34,14 +34,14 @@ function write_file(dest, data, cb) {
 function create(name, contents, callback) {
 	fs.exists(name, function(exists) {
 		if (exists) return callback(new Error({code: 'EEXISTS'}));
-		write_file(name, contents, callback);
+		write(name, contents, callback);
 	});
 }
 
 function update(name, contents, callback) {
 	fs.exists(name, function(exists) {
 		if (!exists) return callback(new Error({code: 'ENOENT'}));
-		write_file(name, contents, callback);
+		write(name, contents, callback);
 	});
 }
 
@@ -86,5 +86,13 @@ Storage.prototype.update_json = function(name, value, cb) {
 	update(this.path + '/' + name, JSON.stringify(value), cb);
 }
 
+Storage.prototype.write = function(name, value, cb) {
+	write(this.path + '/' + name, value, cb);
+}
+
+Storage.prototype.write_json = function(name, value, cb) {
+	write(this.path + '/' + name, JSON.stringify(value), cb);
+}
+
 module.exports = Storage;
 
diff --git a/lib/index.js b/lib/index.js
index 73f3e824a..5175eb306 100644
--- a/lib/index.js
+++ b/lib/index.js
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ module.exports = function(config_hash) {
 	app.get('/:package/:version?', can('access'), function(req, res, next) {
 		storage.get_package(req.params.package, function(err, info) {
 			if (err) return next(err);
+			info = utils.filter_tarball_urls(info, req, config);
 
 			// XXX: in some cases npm calls for /:package and for some cases 
 			// for /:package/:version - should investigate that
diff --git a/lib/st-local.js b/lib/st-local.js
index b84034c39..46185cb33 100644
--- a/lib/st-local.js
+++ b/lib/st-local.js
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+var semver = require('semver');
 var fs_storage = require('./fs-storage');
 var UError = require('./error').UserError;
 var info_file = 'package.json';
@@ -10,8 +11,17 @@ function Storage(config) {
 	return this;
 }
 
+// returns the minimal package file
+function get_boilerplate(name) {
+	return {
+		name: name,
+		versions: {},
+		'dist-tags': {},
+	};
+}
+
 Storage.prototype.add_package = function(name, metadata, callback) {
-	this.storage.create_json(name + '/' + info_file, metadata, function(err) {
+	this.storage.create_json(name + '/' + info_file, get_boilerplace(name), function(err) {
 		if (err && err.code === 'EEXISTS') {
 			return callback(new UError({
 				status: 409,
@@ -22,10 +32,59 @@ Storage.prototype.add_package = function(name, metadata, callback) {
 	});
 }
 
-Storage.prototype.add_version = function(name, version, metadata, tag, callback) {
+Storage.prototype._read_create_package = function(name, callback) {
 	var self = this;
 	self.storage.read_json(name + '/' + info_file, function(err, data) {
 		// TODO: race condition
+		if (err) {
+			if (err.code === 'ENOENT') {
+				// if package doesn't exist, we create it here
+				data = get_boilerplate(name);
+			} else {
+				return callback(err);
+			}
+		}
+		callback(null, data);
+	});
+}
+
+// synchronize remote package info with the local one
+// TODO: readfile called twice
+Storage.prototype.update_versions = function(name, newdata, callback) {
+	var self = this;
+	self._read_create_package(name, function(err, data) {
+		if (err) return callback(err);
+
+		var change = false;
+		for (var ver in newdata.versions) {
+			if (data.versions[ver] == null) {
+				change = true;
+				data.versions[ver] = newdata.versions[ver];
+			}
+		}
+		for (var tag in newdata['dist-tags']) {
+			// if tag is updated to reference latter version, that's fine
+			var need_change = 
+				(data['dist-tags'][tag] == null) ||
+				(!semver.gt(newdata['dist-tags'], data['dist-tags'][tag]));
+
+			if (need_change) {
+				change = true;
+				data['dist-tags'][tag] = newdata['dist-tags'][tag];
+			}
+		}
+		
+		if (change) {
+			self.storage.write_json(name + '/' + info_file, data, callback);
+		} else {
+			callback();
+		}
+	});
+}
+
+Storage.prototype.add_version = function(name, version, metadata, tag, callback) {
+	var self = this;
+	self._read_create_package(name, function(err, data) {
 		if (err) return callback(err);
 
 		if (data.versions[version] != null) {
diff --git a/lib/storage.js b/lib/storage.js
index ea0647af0..fae4e3c78 100644
--- a/lib/storage.js
+++ b/lib/storage.js
@@ -67,10 +67,27 @@ Storage.prototype.add_tarball = function(name, filename, stream, callback) {
 }
 
 Storage.prototype.get_tarball = function(name, filename, callback) {
-	this.local.get_tarball(name, filename, callback);
+	// if someone requesting tarball, it means that we should already have some
+	// information about it, so fetching package info is unnecessary
+
+	// trying local first
+	this.local.get_tarball(name, filename, function(err, results) {
+		if (err && err.status !== 404) return callback(err);
+		if (!err && results != null) return callback(err, results);
+
+
+return callback(err, results);
+/*TODO:// local reported 404
+		this.local.get_package(name, function(err, info) {
+			if (err) return callback(err);
+
+			
+		});*/
+	});
 }
 
 Storage.prototype.get_package = function(name, callback) {
+	var self = this;
 	var uplinks = [this.local];
 	for (var i in this.uplinks) {
 		if (this.config.allow_proxy(name, i)) {
@@ -124,6 +141,8 @@ Storage.prototype.get_package = function(name, callback) {
 			}));
 		}
 		callback(null, result);
+
+		self.local.update_versions(name, result, function(){});
 	});
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/utils.js b/lib/utils.js
index 8f5c6f4a0..2c3f7d9dd 100644
--- a/lib/utils.js
+++ b/lib/utils.js
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 var assert = require('assert');
+var URL = require('url');
 
 // from normalize-package-data/lib/fixer.js
 module.exports.validate_name = function(name) {
@@ -35,3 +36,35 @@ module.exports.validate_metadata = function(object, name) {
 	return object;
 }
 
+module.exports.filter_tarball_urls = function(pkg, req, config) {
+	function filter(_url) {
+		if (!req.headers.host) return _url;
+
+		var url = URL.parse(_url);
+		if (config.url_prefix != null) {
+			var result = config.url_prefix.replace(/\/$/, '');
+		} else {
+			var result = req.protocol + '://' + req.headers.host;
+		}
+
+		path = url.path.replace(/^\//, '').split('/');
+		if (path.length >= 3 && path[path.length-2] === '-') {
+			result += '/' + path[path.length-3]; // package name
+			result += '/' + path[path.length-2]; // "-"
+			result += '/' + path[path.length-1]; // tarball name
+			return result;
+		} else {
+			// weird url, just return it
+			return _url;
+		}
+	}
+
+	for (var ver in pkg.versions) {
+		if (pkg.versions[ver].dist != null
+		&&  pkg.versions[ver].dist.tarball != null) {
+			pkg.versions[ver].dist.tarball = filter(pkg.versions[ver].dist.tarball);
+		}
+	}
+	return pkg;
+}
+