diff --git a/beam/nop.go b/beam/nop.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9d3cabb392
--- /dev/null
+++ b/beam/nop.go
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+package beam
+
+import (
+	"github.com/docker/libchan"
+	"io"
+)
+
+type NopSender struct{}
+
+func (s NopSender) Send(msg *Message) (Receiver, error) {
+	return NopReceiver{}, nil
+}
+
+func (s NopSender) Close() error {
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (s NopSender) Unwrap() libchan.Sender {
+	return libchan.NopSender{}
+}
+
+type NopReceiver struct{}
+
+func (r NopReceiver) Receive(mode int) (*Message, error) {
+	return nil, io.EOF
+}
+
+func (r NopReceiver) Unwrap() libchan.Receiver {
+	return libchan.NopReceiver{}
+}
diff --git a/debug/debug.go b/debug/debug.go
index c287fc4bd8..4b57007f00 100644
--- a/debug/debug.go
+++ b/debug/debug.go
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ func (dbg *debug) catchall(msg *beam.Message) (err error) {
 		Args: msg.Args,
 		Att:  msg.Att,
 		Ret: &replyHandler{
-			out: msg.Ret,
+			Sender: msg.Ret,
 		},
 	}
 
@@ -93,16 +93,16 @@ func (dbg *debug) catchall(msg *beam.Message) (err error) {
 // We use a replyHandler to provide context for relaying the return channel
 // of the origin message.
 type replyHandler struct {
-	out beam.Sender
+	beam.Sender
 }
 
 // Send a message using the out channel
 func (rh *replyHandler) Send(msg *beam.Message) (receiver beam.Receiver, err error) {
 	log.Printf("[debug] <--- Downstream Message { Verb: %s, Args: %v }\n", msg.Verb, msg.Args)
-	return nil, forward(rh.out, msg)
+	return nil, forward(rh.Sender, msg)
 }
 
 func (rh *replyHandler) Close() (err error) {
 	// Since we don't allow the downstream handler to close the return channel, we do so here.
-	return rh.out.Close()
+	return rh.Sender.Close()
 }