diff --git a/db/setup.js b/db/setup.js
index 4ad9d81..eda76ac 100644
--- a/db/setup.js
+++ b/db/setup.js
@@ -2,14 +2,20 @@ const utils = require('../utils')
 const crypto = require('crypto')
 
 module.exports = async function dbSetup (db, domain) {
+    // inbox
     await db.collection('streams').createIndex({
         _target: 1,
         _id: -1,
     })
+    // outbox
     await db.collection('streams').createIndex({
         actor: 1,
         _id: -1,
     })
+    // object lookup
+    await db.collection('objects').createIndex({
+        id: 1
+    })
     const dummyUser = await utils.createLocalActor('dummy', 'Person')
     await db.collection('objects').findOneAndReplace(
         {preferredUsername: 'dummy'},
diff --git a/routes/user.js b/routes/user.js
index 6f6b9e8..11e9ba2 100644
--- a/routes/user.js
+++ b/routes/user.js
@@ -10,15 +10,8 @@ router.get('/:name', async function (req, res) {
     return res.status(400).send('Bad request.');
   }
   else {
-    let objs = req.app.get('objs');
     let db = req.app.get('db')
-    const id = utils.userNameToIRI(name)
-    console.log(`looking up '${id}'`)
-    const user = await db.collection('objects')
-      .find({type: 'Person', id: id})
-      .limit(1)
-      .project({_id: 0, _meta: 0})
-      .next()
+    const user = await utils.getOrCreateActor(name, db)
     if (user) {
       return res.json(toJSONLD(user))
     }
@@ -26,33 +19,28 @@ router.get('/:name', async function (req, res) {
   }
 });
 
-// router.get('/:name/followers', function (req, res) {
-//   let name = req.params.name;
-//   if (!name) {
-//     return res.status(400).send('Bad request.');
-//   }
-//   else {
-//     let db = req.app.get('db');
-//     let domain = req.app.get('domain');
-//     let result = db.prepare('select followers from accounts where name = ?').get(`${name}@${domain}`);
-//     console.log(result);
-//     result.followers = result.followers || '[]';
-//     let followers = JSON.parse(result.followers);
-//     let followersCollection = {
-//       "type":"OrderedCollection",
-//       "totalItems":followers.length,
-//       "id":`https://${domain}/u/${name}/followers`,
-//       "first": {
-//         "type":"OrderedCollectionPage",
-//         "totalItems":followers.length,
-//         "partOf":`https://${domain}/u/${name}/followers`,
-//         "orderedItems": followers,
-//         "id":`https://${domain}/u/${name}/followers?page=1`
-//       },
-//       "@context":["https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams"]
-//     };
-//     res.json(toJSONLD(followersCollection));
-//   }
-// });
+router.get('/:name/followers', function (req, res) {
+  let name = req.params.name;
+  if (!name) {
+    return res.status(400).send('Bad request.');
+  }
+  const db = req.app.get('db')
+  db.collection('streams')
+    .find({
+      type: 'Follow',
+      _target: name,
+      'object.id': utils.usernameToIRI(name)
+    })
+    .project({_id: 0, actor: 1})
+    .toArray()
+    .then(follows => {
+      const followers = follows.map(utils.actorFromActivity)
+      return res.json(utils.arrayToCollection(followers))
+    })
+    .catch(err => {
+      console.log(err)
+      return res.status(500).send()
+    })
+});
 
 module.exports = router;
diff --git a/routes/webfinger.js b/routes/webfinger.js
index df88066..977cd57 100644
--- a/routes/webfinger.js
+++ b/routes/webfinger.js
@@ -13,12 +13,7 @@ router.get('/', function (req, res) {
     return res.status(400).send('Requested user is not from this domain')
   }
   let db = req.app.get('db');
-  const userId = utils.userNameToIRI(acct[1]);
-  db.collection('objects')
-    .find({id: userId})
-    .limit(1)
-    .project({_id: 0})
-    .next()
+  utils.getOrCreateActor(acct[1], db)
     .then(result => {
       if (!result) {
         return res.status(404).send(`${acct[1]}@${acct[2]} not found`)
@@ -29,7 +24,7 @@ router.get('/', function (req, res) {
           {
             'rel': 'self',
             'type': 'application/activity+json',
-            'href': userId
+            'href': result.id
           }
         ]
       }
diff --git a/utils/index.js b/utils/index.js
index 9554752..78041b5 100644
--- a/utils/index.js
+++ b/utils/index.js
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 const crypto = require('crypto')
 const {promisify} = require('util')
 const {ASContext} = require('./consts')
-module.exports.validators = require('./validators');
 const config = require('../config.json')
 
+module.exports.validators = require('./validators');
+
 function isObject(value) {
     return value && typeof value === 'object' && value.constructor === Object
 }
@@ -34,13 +35,13 @@ module.exports.arrayToCollection = function (arr, ordered) {
     }
 }
 
-function userNameToIRI (user) {
+function usernameToIRI (user) {
     return `https://${config.DOMAIN}/u/${user}`
 }
-module.exports.userNameToIRI = userNameToIRI
+module.exports.usernameToIRI = usernameToIRI
 
 const generateKeyPairPromise = promisify(crypto.generateKeyPair)
-module.exports.createLocalActor = function (name, type) {
+function createLocalActor (name, type) {
     return generateKeyPairPromise('rsa', {
         modulusLength: 4096,
         publicKeyEncoding: {
@@ -54,7 +55,7 @@ module.exports.createLocalActor = function (name, type) {
             passphrase: config.KEYPASS
         }
     }).then(pair => {
-        const actorBase = userNameToIRI(name);
+        const actorBase = usernameToIRI(name);
         return {
             _meta: {
                 privateKey: pair.privateKey,
@@ -81,3 +82,35 @@ module.exports.createLocalActor = function (name, type) {
         }
     })
 }
+module.exports.createLocalActor = createLocalActor
+
+async function getOrCreateActor(preferredUsername, db) {
+    const id = usernameToIRI(preferredUsername)
+    let user = await db.collection('objects')
+    .find({id: id})
+    .limit(1)
+    .project({_id: 0, _meta: 0})
+    .next()
+    if (user) {
+        return user
+    }
+    // auto create groups whenever an unknown actor is referenced
+    user = await createLocalActor(preferredUsername, 'Group')
+    await db.collection('objects').insertOne(user)
+    // only executed on success
+    delete user._meta
+    delete user._id
+    return user
+}
+module.exports.getOrCreateActor = getOrCreateActor
+
+function actorFromActivity (activity) {
+    if (Object.prototype.toString.call(activity.actor) === '[object String]') {
+        return activity.actor
+      }
+      if (activity.actor.type === 'Link') {
+        return activity.actor.href
+      }
+      return activity.actor.id
+}
+module.exports.actorFromActivity = actorFromActivity
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/utils/validators.js b/utils/validators.js
index be3670e..30fb976 100644
--- a/utils/validators.js
+++ b/utils/validators.js
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ module.exports.outboxActivity = function outboxActivity (req, res, next) {
         if (!validateObject(req.body)) {
             return res.status(400).send('Invalid activity')
         }
-        const newID = ObjectId()
+        const newID = new ObjectId()
         req.body = {
             _id: newID,
             '@context': ASContext,