diff --git a/src/clang_cursor.cc b/src/clang_cursor.cc
index 097f473e2..7be73be17 100644
--- a/src/clang_cursor.cc
+++ b/src/clang_cursor.cc
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ std::string ClangCursor::get_type_description() const {
   return ::ToString(clang_getTypeSpelling(type));
 }
 
-NtString ClangCursor::get_comments() const {
+std::string ClangCursor::get_comments() const {
   CXSourceRange range = clang_Cursor_getCommentRange(cx_cursor);
   if (clang_Range_isNull(range))
     return {};
@@ -290,7 +290,7 @@ NtString ClangCursor::get_comments() const {
     ret.pop_back();
   if (ret.empty())
     return {};
-  return static_cast<std::string_view>(ret);
+  return ret;
 }
 
 std::string ClangCursor::ToString() const {
diff --git a/src/clang_cursor.h b/src/clang_cursor.h
index 7b53b2758..a89caf4ef 100644
--- a/src/clang_cursor.h
+++ b/src/clang_cursor.h
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 #pragma once
 
-#include "nt_string.h"
 #include "position.h"
 
 #include <clang-c/Index.h>
@@ -86,7 +85,7 @@ class ClangCursor {
   bool is_valid_kind() const;
 
   std::string get_type_description() const;
-  NtString get_comments() const;
+  std::string get_comments() const;
 
   std::string ToString() const;
 
diff --git a/src/indexer.h b/src/indexer.h
index d72afbefd..5f19f971d 100644
--- a/src/indexer.h
+++ b/src/indexer.h
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@
 #include "language.h"
 #include "lsp.h"
 #include "maybe.h"
-#include "nt_string.h"
 #include "performance.h"
 #include "position.h"
 #include "project.h"
@@ -147,8 +146,8 @@ template <typename F>
 struct TypeDefDefinitionData {
   // General metadata.
   std::string detailed_name;
-  NtString hover;
-  NtString comments;
+  std::string hover;
+  std::string comments;
 
   // While a class/type can technically have a separate declaration/definition,
   // it doesn't really happen in practice. The declaration never contains
@@ -246,8 +245,8 @@ template <typename F>
 struct FuncDefDefinitionData {
   // General metadata.
   std::string detailed_name;
-  NtString hover;
-  NtString comments;
+  std::string hover;
+  std::string comments;
   Maybe<Use> spell;
   Maybe<Use> extent;
 
@@ -351,8 +350,8 @@ template <typename F>
 struct VarDefDefinitionData {
   // General metadata.
   std::string detailed_name;
-  NtString hover;
-  NtString comments;
+  std::string hover;
+  std::string comments;
   // TODO: definitions should be a list of ranges, since there can be more
   //       than one - when??
   Maybe<Use> spell;
diff --git a/src/messages/cquery_member_hierarchy.cc b/src/messages/cquery_member_hierarchy.cc
index c28fda8bc..78e23a0b0 100644
--- a/src/messages/cquery_member_hierarchy.cc
+++ b/src/messages/cquery_member_hierarchy.cc
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ struct Out_CqueryMemberHierarchy
     : public lsOutMessage<Out_CqueryMemberHierarchy> {
   struct Entry {
     QueryTypeId id;
-    std::string_view name;
+    std::string name;
     std::string fieldName;
     lsLocation location;
     // For unexpanded nodes, this is an upper bound because some entities may be
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ bool Expand(MessageHandler* m,
   if (detailed_name)
     entry->name = def->detailed_name;
   else
-    entry->name = def->ShortName();
+    entry->name = def->ShortName().to_string();
   std::unordered_set<Usr> seen;
   if (levels > 0) {
     std::vector<const QueryType*> stack;
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ struct Handler_CqueryMemberHierarchy
     Out_CqueryMemberHierarchy::Entry entry;
     // Not type, |id| is invalid.
     if (detailed_name)
-      entry.name = def->DetailedName(false);
+      entry.name = def->DetailedName(false).to_string();
     else
       entry.name = std::string(def->ShortName());
     if (def->spell) {
diff --git a/src/nt_string.h b/src/nt_string.h
deleted file mode 100644
index 4083535ef..000000000
--- a/src/nt_string.h
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,43 +0,0 @@
-#pragma once
-
-#include <string_view.h>
-
-#include <string.h>
-#include <memory>
-#include <string>
-#include <utility>
-
-// Nullable null-terminated string, which is null if default constructed,
-// but non-null if assigned.
-// This is used in Query{Func,Type,Var}::def to reduce memory footprint.
-class NtString {
-  using size_type = std::string::size_type;
-  std::unique_ptr<char[]> str;
-
- public:
-  NtString() = default;
-  NtString(NtString&& o) = default;
-  NtString(const NtString& o) { *this = o; }
-  NtString(std::string_view sv) { *this = sv; }
-
-  const char* c_str() const { return str.get(); }
-  operator std::string_view() const {
-    if (c_str())
-      return c_str();
-    return {};
-  }
-  bool empty() const { return !str || *c_str() == '\0'; }
-
-  void operator=(std::string_view sv) {
-    str = std::unique_ptr<char[]>(new char[sv.size() + 1]);
-    memcpy(str.get(), sv.data(), sv.size());
-    str.get()[sv.size()] = '\0';
-  }
-  void operator=(const NtString& o) {
-    *this = static_cast<std::string_view>(o);
-  }
-  bool operator==(const NtString& o) const {
-    return str && o.str ? strcmp(c_str(), o.c_str()) == 0
-                        : c_str() == o.c_str();
-  }
-};
diff --git a/src/serializer.cc b/src/serializer.cc
index a2df7abbf..c1a8b4dd6 100644
--- a/src/serializer.cc
+++ b/src/serializer.cc
@@ -132,16 +132,6 @@ void Reflect(Writer& visitor, std::string_view& data) {
     visitor.String(&data[0], (rapidjson::SizeType)data.size());
 }
 
-void Reflect(Reader& visitor, NtString& value) {
-  if (!visitor.IsString())
-    throw std::invalid_argument("std::string");
-  value = visitor.GetString();
-}
-void Reflect(Writer& visitor, NtString& value) {
-  const char* s = value.c_str();
-  visitor.String(s ? s : "");
-}
-
 void Reflect(Reader& visitor, JsonNull& value) {
   visitor.GetNull();
 }
diff --git a/src/serializer.h b/src/serializer.h
index 3378d5f61..8f54b28ff 100644
--- a/src/serializer.h
+++ b/src/serializer.h
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 #pragma once
 
 #include "maybe.h"
-#include "nt_string.h"
 #include "port.h"
 
 #include <macro_map.h>
@@ -179,9 +178,6 @@ void Reflect(Writer& visitor, std::string& value);
 void Reflect(Reader& visitor, std::string_view& view);
 void Reflect(Writer& visitor, std::string_view& view);
 
-void Reflect(Reader& visitor, NtString& value);
-void Reflect(Writer& visitor, NtString& value);
-
 void Reflect(Reader& visitor, JsonNull& value);
 void Reflect(Writer& visitor, JsonNull& value);