diff --git a/transport/stdio.lisp b/transport/stdio.lisp
index 6cbac43..d69d7cf 100644
--- a/transport/stdio.lisp
+++ b/transport/stdio.lisp
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
                 #:connection
                 #:connection-socket)
   (:import-from #:yason)
+  (:import-from #:babel)
   (:import-from #:bordeaux-threads
                 #:make-thread
                 #:destroy-thread)
@@ -60,14 +61,15 @@
     connection))
 
 (defmethod send-message-using-transport ((transport stdio-transport) connection message)
-  (let ((json (with-output-to-string (s)
-                (yason:encode message s)))
+  (let ((json (babel:string-to-octets
+               (with-output-to-string (s)
+                 (yason:encode message s))))
         (stream (connection-socket connection)))
-    (format stream "Content-Length: ~A~C~C~:*~:*~C~C~A"
+    (format stream "Content-Length: ~A~C~C~:*~:*~C~C"
             (length json)
             #\Return
-            #\Newline
-            json)
+            #\Newline)
+    (write-sequence json stream)
     (force-output stream)))
 
 (defmethod receive-message-using-transport ((transport stdio-transport) connection)
@@ -75,8 +77,14 @@
          (headers (read-headers stream))
          (length (ignore-errors (parse-integer (gethash "content-length" headers)))))
     (when length
-      (let ((body (make-string length)))
-        (read-sequence body (stdio-transport-input transport))
+      (let ((body
+              (with-output-to-string (out)
+                (loop
+                  :for c := (read-char stream)
+                  :do (write-char c out)
+                      (decf length (babel:string-size-in-octets (string c)))
+                      (when (<= length 0)
+                        (return))))))
         (parse-message body)))))
 
 ;; character stream