diff --git a/examples/hello2/hello2.zig b/examples/hello2/hello2.zig
index a4821a2..75afaf0 100644
--- a/examples/hello2/hello2.zig
+++ b/examples/hello2/hello2.zig
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@ fn on_request(r: zap.SimpleRequest) void {
     const qm = if (r.query) |_| "?" else "";
     const qq = r.query orelse "";
 
+    // curl -H "special-header: hello" http://localhost:3000
+    if (r.getHeader("special-header")) |clstr| {
+        std.debug.print(">> Special Header: {s}\n", .{clstr});
+    } else {
+        std.debug.print(">> Special Header: <unknown>\n", .{});
+    }
     std.debug.print(">> {s} {s}{s}{s}\n", .{ m, p, qm, qq });
 
     if (r.body) |the_body| {
@@ -41,6 +47,6 @@ pub fn main() !void {
     // start worker threads
     zap.start(.{
         .threads = 2,
-        .workers = 2,
+        .workers = 1,
     });
 }
diff --git a/src/fio.zig b/src/fio.zig
index 98b63f0..6e68c55 100644
--- a/src/fio.zig
+++ b/src/fio.zig
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ pub extern fn http_send_body(h: [*c]http_s, data: ?*anyopaque, length: usize) c_
 
 pub extern fn fiobj_hash_new() FIOBJ;
 pub extern fn fiobj_hash_set(hash: FIOBJ, key: FIOBJ, obj: FIOBJ) c_int;
+pub extern fn fiobj_hash_get(hash: FIOBJ, key: FIOBJ) FIOBJ;
 pub extern fn fiobj_ary_push(ary: FIOBJ, obj: FIOBJ) void;
 pub extern fn fiobj_float_new(num: f64) FIOBJ;
 pub extern fn fiobj_num_new_bignum(num: isize) FIOBJ;
diff --git a/src/util.zig b/src/util.zig
index 6e4b5aa..01fc9cc 100644
--- a/src/util.zig
+++ b/src/util.zig
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ const fio = @import("fio.zig");
 pub fn fio2str(o: fio.FIOBJ) ?[]const u8 {
     if (o == 0) return null;
     const x: fio.fio_str_info_s = fio.fiobj_obj2cstr(o);
+    if (x.data == 0)
+        return null; // TODO: should we return an error? Actually, looking at fiobj_obj2cstr, this is unreachable
     return std.mem.span(x.data);
 }
 
diff --git a/src/zap.zig b/src/zap.zig
index f6505f3..3d62f70 100644
--- a/src/zap.zig
+++ b/src/zap.zig
@@ -123,6 +123,12 @@ pub const SimpleRequest = struct {
         if (ret == -1) return error.HttpSetContentType;
     }
 
+    pub fn getHeader(self: *const Self, name: []const u8) ?[]const u8 {
+        const hname = fio.fiobj_str_new(util.toCharPtr(name), name.len);
+        defer fio.fiobj_free_wrapped(hname);
+        return util.fio2str(fio.fiobj_hash_get(self.h.*.headers, hname));
+    }
+
     pub fn setHeader(self: *const Self, name: []const u8, value: []const u8) HttpError!void {
         const hname: fio.fio_str_info_s = .{
             .data = util.toCharPtr(name),