diff --git a/scout-brain/lib/actions/token.js b/scout-brain/lib/actions/token.js
index f0629f73a06..1a5e02d2bb3 100644
--- a/scout-brain/lib/actions/token.js
+++ b/scout-brain/lib/actions/token.js
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ var jwt = require('jsonwebtoken');
 var boom = require('boom');
 var debug = require('debug')('scout-brain:token');
 var _ = require('underscore');
-var assert = require('assert');
 
 var getDeployment = require('./deployment').get;
 var createSession = require('./session').create;
@@ -26,6 +25,7 @@ function verify(token, fn) {
 }
 
 function mount(tokenData, ctx, next) {
+  debug('mounting token data');
   if (!tokenData.session_id) {
     return next(boom.badRequest('Bad token: missing session id'));
   }
@@ -57,23 +57,19 @@ function mount(tokenData, ctx, next) {
         'to `' + ctx.instance_id + '` but it is not in ' +
         'deployment `' + tokenData.deployment_id + '`'));
       }
+    }
 
-      debug('getting connection for session', tokenData.session_id);
-      getSession(tokenData.session_id, function(err, connection) {
-        if (err) return next(err);
-
-        ctx.mongo = connection;
-        return next();
-      });
+    debug('getting connection for session', tokenData.session_id);
+    getSession(tokenData.session_id, function(err, connection) {
+      if (err) return next(err);
 
-    } else {
-      getSession(tokenData.session_id, function(err, connection) {
-        if (err) return next(err);
+      if (!connection) {
+        return next(boom.forbidden('No session for this token.'));
+      }
 
-        ctx.mongo = connection;
-        return next();
-      });
-    }
+      ctx.mongo = connection;
+      return next();
+    });
   });
 }
 
diff --git a/scout-client/lib/client.js b/scout-client/lib/client.js
index 0ebbb47bc4f..55acf237bb6 100644
--- a/scout-client/lib/client.js
+++ b/scout-client/lib/client.js
@@ -124,8 +124,8 @@ Client.prototype.connect = function() {
     return this;
   }
   this.token = new Token(this.config)
-    .on('readable', this.onTokenReadable.bind(this))
-    .on('error', this.onTokenError.bind(this));
+    .on('data', this.onTokenReadable.bind(this))
+    .on('error', this.onError.bind(this));
   return this;
 };
 
@@ -558,7 +558,7 @@ Client.prototype.read = function(path, params, fn) {
 
   if (!this.readable) {
     debug('%s not readable.  queueing read', this._id, path, params);
-    return this.on('readable', this.read.bind(this, path, params, fn));
+    return this.once('readable', this.read.bind(this, path, params, fn));
   }
 
   if (typeof params === 'function') {
@@ -618,14 +618,14 @@ Client.prototype.ender = function(fn) {
  * @api private
  */
 Client.prototype.onTokenReadable = function() {
-  debug('token now readable');
-  this.readable = true;
-  this.context.set(this.token.session);
   if (!this.io) {
     this._initSocketio();
   }
-  this.emit('readable', this.token.session);
-  debug('emitted readable on client');
+  debug('authenticating with scout-server socket.io transport...');
+  this.io.emit('authenticate', {
+    token: this.token.toString()
+  });
+
 
   if (!this.original) {
     this.emit('change');
@@ -642,22 +642,10 @@ Client.prototype.onTokenReadable = function() {
   }
 };
 
-/**
- * We couldn't get a token.
- *
- * @api private
- */
-Client.prototype.onTokenError = function(err) {
-  debug('Could not get token.  Server not running?', err);
-  this.emit('error', err);
-};
-
 Client.prototype._initSocketio = function() {
   if (this.io) return;
 
-  this.io = socketio(this.config.scout, {
-    query: 'token=' + this.token.toString()
-  });
+  this.io = socketio(this.config.scout);
   this.io.on('reconnecting', this.emit.bind(this, 'reconnecting'))
     .on('reconnect', this.onReconnect.bind(this))
     .on('reconnect_attempt', this.emit.bind(this, 'reconnect_attempt'))
@@ -665,7 +653,16 @@ Client.prototype._initSocketio = function() {
     .on('disconnect', this.emit.bind(this, 'disconnect'));
   this.io.on('connect', function() {
     debug('connected to scout-server socket');
-  });
+    this.io.on('authenticated', function() {
+      debug('Success!  Now authenticated with scout-server socket.io transport');
+
+      this.readable = true;
+      this.context.set(this.token.session);
+      debug('now ready for use');
+      this.emit('readable', this.token.session);
+    }.bind(this));
+  }.bind(this));
+  this.io.on('error', this.onError.bind(this));
 };
 
 /**
@@ -689,11 +686,12 @@ Client.prototype.onUnload = function() {
  * @param {Error} err
  * @api private
  */
-Client.prototype.onTokenError = function(err) {
-  this.dead = err;
-  if (err >= 500) {
-    this.dead.message += ' (scout-server dead at ' + this.config.scout + '?)';
+Client.prototype.onError = function(err) {
+  if (err.message === 'Origin is not allowed by Access-Control-Allow-Origin') {
+    err.message = 'scout-server not running at ' + this.config.scout + '?';
   }
+  // @todo: Exponential back-off to retry connecting.
+  this.dead = err;
   this.emit('error', err);
 };
 
@@ -701,8 +699,6 @@ Client.prototype.onReconnect = function() {
   debug('reconnected.  getting new token');
   this.token = new Token(this.config)
     .on('readable', function() {
-      this.readable = true;
-      this.context.set(this.token.session);
       this._initSocketio();
     }.bind(this))
     .on('error', this.emit.bind(this, 'error'));
@@ -736,7 +732,7 @@ Client.prototype.createReadStream = function(_id, data) {
         return debug('proxy already transferred');
       }
     });
-    this.on('readable', function() {
+    this.once('readable', function() {
       debug('client readable');
       var src = client.createReadStream(_id, data);
       src.on('data', proxy.emit.bind(proxy, 'data'));
@@ -752,6 +748,10 @@ Client.prototype.createReadStream = function(_id, data) {
     data = data || {};
     var stream = ss.createStream(this.io);
     ss(this.io).emit(_id, stream, data);
-    return stream.pipe(EJSON.createParseStream());
+
+    var parser = EJSON.createParseStream();
+    var res = stream.pipe(parser);
+    stream.on('error', res.emit.bind(res, 'error'));
+    return res;
   }
 };
diff --git a/scout-client/lib/token.js b/scout-client/lib/token.js
index bbc9bcce5ee..d2da80bac75 100644
--- a/scout-client/lib/token.js
+++ b/scout-client/lib/token.js
@@ -11,18 +11,11 @@ function Token(config) {
   this.config = config;
   this.expirationRedLine = 15 * 1000;
   this.session = {};
-  this.readable = false;
 
   process.nextTick(function() {
-    this.bake(function(err, res) {
+    this.bake(function(err) {
       if (err) return this.emit('error', err);
-
-      this.session = res;
       this.schedule();
-
-      this.readable = true;
-      debug('emit readable!');
-      this.emit('readable');
     }.bind(this));
   }.bind(this));
 }
@@ -47,12 +40,12 @@ Token.prototype.close = function(fn) {
   clearTimeout(this.refreshTimeout);
   debug('closing token');
   request.del(this.config.scout + '/api/v1/token')
-  .set('Accept', 'application/json')
-  .set('Authorization', 'Bearer ' + this.session.token)
-  .end(function(err, res) {
-    debug('response from token close');
-    fn(err, res);
-  });
+    .set('Accept', 'application/json')
+    .set('Authorization', 'Bearer ' + this.session.token)
+    .end(function(err, res) {
+      debug('response from token close');
+      fn(err, res);
+    });
 };
 
 Token.prototype.bake = function(done) {
@@ -60,8 +53,9 @@ Token.prototype.bake = function(done) {
     seed: this.config.seed
   };
 
-  if (this.config.timeout)
+  if (this.config.timeout) {
     payload.timeout = this.config.timeout;
+  }
 
   if (this.config.auth) {
     Object.keys(this.config.auth).map(function(name) {
@@ -73,36 +67,43 @@ Token.prototype.bake = function(done) {
   }
   debug('getting token for', this.config.seed, payload);
   request.post(this.config.scout + '/api/v1/token')
-  .send(payload)
-  .set('Accept', 'application/json')
-  .end(function(err, res) {
-    if (err) return done(err);
-
-    if (!err && res.status >= 400) {
-      err = new Error(res.body ? res.body.message : res.text);
-      err.code = res.status;
-      Error.captureStackTrace(err, Token.prototype.bake);
-      return done(err);
-    }
-
-    if (!res.body.expires_at || !res.body.created_at) {
-      return done(new Error('Malformed response.  Missing expires_at or created_at'));
-    }
-
-    if (new Date(res.body.expires_at) - Date.now() < (1 * 60 * 1000)) {
-      return done(new Error('Got an expires that is less than a minute from now.'));
-    }
-
-    done(null, res.body);
-  }.bind(this));
+    .send(payload)
+    .set('Accept', 'application/json')
+    .end(function(err, res) {
+      if (err) {
+        if (res && res.body) {
+          err.message += ': ' + res.body.message;
+        }
+        console.error('Error getting token:', err);
+        return done(err);
+      }
+
+      if (!err && res.status >= 400) {
+        err = new Error(res.body ? res.body.message : res.text);
+        err.code = res.status;
+        Error.captureStackTrace(err, Token.prototype.bake);
+        return done(err);
+      }
+
+      if (!res.body.expires_at || !res.body.created_at) {
+        return done(new Error('Malformed response.  Missing expires_at or created_at'));
+      }
+
+      if (new Date(res.body.expires_at) - Date.now() < (1 * 60 * 1000)) {
+        return done(new Error('Got an expires that is less than a minute from now.'));
+      }
+
+      this.session = res.body;
+      this.emit('data', this.session);
+
+      done(null, res.body);
+    }.bind(this));
 };
 
 Token.prototype.refresh = function() {
-  this.bake(function(err, res) {
+  this.bake(function(err) {
     if (err) return this.emit('error', err);
-    if (!res) return this.emit('error', new Error('Empty response with no error'));
 
-    this.session = res;
     debug('token refreshed successfully');
     return this.schedule();
   }.bind(this));
@@ -114,5 +115,6 @@ Token.prototype.schedule = function() {
     return this;
   }
   var ms = (new Date(this.session.expires_at) - Date.now()) - this.expirationRedLine;
+  debug('scheduling token refresh %dms from now', ms);
   this.refreshTimeout = setTimeout(this.refresh.bind(this), ms);
 };
diff --git a/scout-server/lib/index.js b/scout-server/lib/index.js
index b1ad9261aec..5bb7069c785 100644
--- a/scout-server/lib/index.js
+++ b/scout-server/lib/index.js
@@ -14,29 +14,30 @@ var urldecode = require('body-parser').urlencoded({
 app.server = require('http').createServer(app);
 app.config = require('mongoscope-config');
 
-if (process.env.NODE_ENV = 'development') {
-  app.use(require('connect-livereload')({
-    port: 35729,
-    include: ['./']
-  }));
-  var livereload = require('tiny-lr')();
-  var watch = require('watch');
-
-  livereload.listen(35729, '127.0.0.1');
-
-  watch.watchTree(__dirname + '/../', {
-    filter: function(filename) {
-      return !(/node_modules/.test(filename));
-    },
-    ignoreDotFiles: true
-  }, function(files) {
-      livereload.changed({
-        body: {
-          files: files
-        }
-      });
-    });
-}
+// @todo: this should be moved to scout-electron now.
+// if (process.env.NODE_ENV = 'development') {
+//   app.use(require('connect-livereload')({
+//     port: 35729,
+//     include: ['./']
+//   }));
+//   var livereload = require('tiny-lr')();
+//   var watch = require('watch');
+
+//   livereload.listen(35729, '127.0.0.1');
+
+//   watch.watchTree(__dirname + '/../', {
+//     filter: function(filename) {
+//       return !(/node_modules/.test(filename));
+//     },
+//     ignoreDotFiles: true
+//   }, function(files) {
+//       livereload.changed({
+//         body: {
+//           files: files
+//         }
+//       });
+//     });
+// }
 
 
 app.use(require('./middleware/watch-event-loop-blocking'));
diff --git a/scout-server/lib/io.js b/scout-server/lib/io.js
index c3b98121d91..b64bdfbae0f 100644
--- a/scout-server/lib/io.js
+++ b/scout-server/lib/io.js
@@ -18,12 +18,16 @@ var _idToDocument = require('./streams/id-to-document');
 var EJSON = require('mongodb-extended-json');
 var typedParams = require('./middleware/typed-params');
 
-io.use(require('socketio-jwt').authorize({
+
+io.on('connection', require('socketio-jwt').authorize({
   secret: config.get('token:secret').toString('utf-8'),
-  handshake: true
-}));
+  timeout: 15000
+})).on('authenticated', function(socket) {
+  debug('authenticated with token data', socket.decoded_token);
+});
 
 function prepare(socket, req, done) {
+  debug('preparing socket.io request');
   req.params = _.extend({
     ns: req.ns,
     size: req.size,
@@ -35,10 +39,7 @@ function prepare(socket, req, done) {
 
     var tasks = {};
     tasks.token = function(next) {
-      brain.loadToken(socket.decoded_token, req, function() {
-        debug('load token returned', arguments);
-        next();
-      });
+      brain.loadToken(socket.decoded_token, req, next);
     };
 
     if (req.params.ns) {
@@ -55,8 +56,8 @@ function prepare(socket, req, done) {
         done();
       });
     }
-
     async.series(tasks, function(err) {
+      debug('socket.io request now prepared');
       if (err) return done(err);
       done();
     });
@@ -65,7 +66,9 @@ function prepare(socket, req, done) {
 
 io.on('connection', function(socket) {
   ss(socket).on('collection:sample', function(stream, req) {
-    prepare(socket, req, function() {
+    prepare(socket, req, function(err) {
+      if (err) return stream.emit('error', err);
+
       debug('collection:sample got req %j', Object.keys(req));
       var db = req.mongo.db(req.params.database_name);
       createSampleStream(db, req.params.collection_name, {
@@ -79,5 +82,4 @@ io.on('connection', function(socket) {
         .pipe(stream);
     });
   });
-  debug('token data %j', socket.decoded_token);
 });
diff --git a/scout-server/lib/middleware/mongodb-boom.js b/scout-server/lib/middleware/mongodb-boom.js
index 197fe8d6f91..6931062f28c 100644
--- a/scout-server/lib/middleware/mongodb-boom.js
+++ b/scout-server/lib/middleware/mongodb-boom.js
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ function decodeDriverError(err, msg, fn) {
     err = boom.badRequest(msg);
   } else if (/(target namespace exists|already exists)/.test(err.message)) {
     return boom.conflict('Collection already exists');
+  } else if (/server .* sockets closed/.test(msg)) {
+    err = boom.serverTimeout('Too many connections to MongoDB');
   } else {
     // Have a case where we're not properly validating invalid
     // replicaset commands on a deployment with no replicaset.else if (/valid replicaset|No primary found in set/.test(msg)) {
diff --git a/scout-ui/src/home/index.js b/scout-ui/src/home/index.js
index 4e0294d8b2e..a53dbd43f63 100644
--- a/scout-ui/src/home/index.js
+++ b/scout-ui/src/home/index.js
@@ -25,9 +25,14 @@ var CollectionView = AmpersandView.extend({
     app.statusbar.watch(this, this.schema);
 
     this.schema.ns = this.model._id;
+    this.listenTo(this.schema, 'error', this.onError);
     this.schema.fetch();
   },
   template: require('./collection.jade'),
+  onError: function(schema, err) {
+    // @todo: Figure out a good way to handle this (server is probably crashed).
+    console.error('Error getting schema: ', err);
+  },
   subviews: {
     fields: {
       waitFor: 'schema.fields',
diff --git a/scout-ui/src/models/index.js b/scout-ui/src/models/index.js
index a6d1e9a0d73..441db8719b5 100644
--- a/scout-ui/src/models/index.js
+++ b/scout-ui/src/models/index.js
@@ -17,6 +17,14 @@ window.scout = client;
 
 var wrapError = require('./wrap-error');
 
+/**
+ * Catch-all for any client errors so we just log them instead of
+ * stopping the app.
+ */
+client.on('error', function(err) {
+  console.error(err);
+});
+
 var SampledSchema = Schema.extend({
   fetch: function(options) {
     options = _.defaults((options || {}), {
@@ -28,7 +36,7 @@ var SampledSchema = Schema.extend({
     wrapError(this, options);
 
     var model = this;
-    var detect = this.stream()
+    var parser = this.stream()
       .on('error', function(err) {
         options.error(err, 'error', err.message);
       })
@@ -40,7 +48,9 @@ var SampledSchema = Schema.extend({
 
     model.trigger('request', model, {}, options);
     process.nextTick(function() {
-      client.sample(model.ns, options).pipe(detect);
+      client.sample(model.ns, options)
+        .on('error', parser.emit.bind(parser, 'error'))
+        .pipe(parser);
     });
   }
 });