diff --git a/alfred_merge.py b/alfred_merge.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..aa623b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/alfred_merge.py
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+import subprocess
+import json
+
+from collections import MutableMapping
+
+def rec_merge(d1, d2):
+    '''
+    Update two dicts of dicts recursively, 
+    if either mapping has leaves that are non-dicts, 
+    the second's leaf overwrites the first's.
+    '''
+    for k, v in d1.items(): # in Python 2, use .iteritems()!
+        if k in d2:
+            # this next check is the only difference!
+            if all(isinstance(e, MutableMapping) for e in (v, d2[k])):
+                d2[k] = rec_merge(v, d2[k])
+            # we could further check types and merge as appropriate here.
+    d3 = d1.copy()
+    d3.update(d2)
+    return d3
+
+
+class alfred_merge:
+  def __init__(self,request_data_type_1 = 158, request_data_type_2 = 159):
+    self.request_data_type_1 = request_data_type_1
+    self.request_data_type_2 = request_data_type_2
+
+  def aliases(self):
+    output = subprocess.check_output(["/usr/local/sbin/alfred-json","-z", "-r",str(self.request_data_type_1),"-f","json"])
+    alfred_data_1 = json.loads(output.decode("utf-8"))
+    output = subprocess.check_output(["/usr/local/sbin/alfred-json","-z", "-r",str(self.request_data_type_2),"-f","json"])
+    alfred_data_2 = json.loads(output.decode("utf-8"))
+    
+    return json.dumps(rec_merge(alfred_data_1, alfred_data_2))
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+  ad = alfred_merge()
+  al = ad.aliases()
+  print(al)
+
diff --git a/backend.py b/backend.py
index 3ea2f5d..b2f38b7 100755
--- a/backend.py
+++ b/backend.py
@@ -84,9 +84,9 @@ def main(params):
     # integrate static aliases data
     for aliases in params['aliases']:
         with open(aliases, 'r') as f:
-            nodeinfo = validate_nodeinfos(json.load(f))
-            nodes.import_nodeinfo(nodedb['nodes'], nodeinfo,
-                                  now, assume_online=False)
+#           nodeinfo = validate_nodeinfos(json.load(f))
+            nodes.import_nodeinfo(nodedb['nodes'], json.load(f),
+                                  now, assume_online=False, statics=True)
 
     nodes.reset_statistics(nodedb['nodes'])
     for alfred in alfred_instances:
@@ -157,7 +157,6 @@ def main(params):
         rrd.update_database(nodedb['nodes'])
         rrd.update_images()
 
-
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
 
diff --git a/lib/nodelist.py b/lib/nodelist.py
index 15aea63..a931dcf 100644
--- a/lib/nodelist.py
+++ b/lib/nodelist.py
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ def export_nodelist(now, nodedb):
         node_out["status"] = dict()
         node_out["status"]["online"] = node["flags"]["online"]
 
+        if "firstseen" in node:
+            node_out["status"]["firstcontact"] = node["firstseen"]
+
         if "lastseen" in node:
             node_out["status"]["lastcontact"] = node["lastseen"]
 
diff --git a/lib/nodes.py b/lib/nodes.py
index 3c0fa2f..f517438 100644
--- a/lib/nodes.py
+++ b/lib/nodes.py
@@ -56,12 +56,23 @@ def mark_online(node, now):
     node['flags']['online'] = True
 
 
-def import_nodeinfo(nodes, nodeinfos, now, assume_online=False):
+def overrideFields(dest, src, fields):
+    for field in fields:
+        if field in src:
+            dest[field] = src[field]
+        else:
+            dest.pop(field, None)
+
+
+def import_nodeinfo(nodes, nodeinfos, now, assume_online=False, statics=False):
     for nodeinfo in filter(lambda d: 'node_id' in d, nodeinfos):
-        node = nodes.setdefault(nodeinfo['node_id'], {'flags': dict()})
-        node['nodeinfo'] = nodeinfo
-        node['flags']['online'] = False
-        node['flags']['gateway'] = False
+        node = nodes.setdefault(nodeinfo['node_id'], {'flags': {'online': False, 'gateway': False}})
+
+        if statics:
+            node['nodeinfo'] = node.setdefault('nodeinfo', {})
+            overrideFields(node['nodeinfo'], nodeinfo, ['hostname', 'location', 'node_id'])
+        else:
+            node['nodeinfo'] = nodeinfo
 
         if assume_online:
             mark_online(node, now)