diff --git a/src/Simplex/Messaging/Protocol.hs b/src/Simplex/Messaging/Protocol.hs
index 9cdaaaaad..11b586f4b 100644
--- a/src/Simplex/Messaging/Protocol.hs
+++ b/src/Simplex/Messaging/Protocol.hs
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ where
 
 import Control.Applicative (optional, (<|>))
 import Control.Monad.Except
-import Data.Aeson (ToJSON (..))
+import Data.Aeson (FromJSON (..), ToJSON (..))
 import qualified Data.Aeson as J
 import Data.Attoparsec.ByteString.Char8 (Parser)
 import qualified Data.Attoparsec.ByteString.Char8 as A
@@ -724,6 +724,9 @@ instance ProtocolTypeI p => ToJSON (ProtoServerWithAuth p) where
   toJSON = strToJSON
   toEncoding = strToJEncoding
 
+instance ProtocolTypeI p => FromJSON (ProtoServerWithAuth p) where
+  parseJSON = strParseJSON "ProtoServerWithAuth"
+
 noAuthSrv :: ProtocolServer p -> ProtoServerWithAuth p
 noAuthSrv srv = ProtoServerWithAuth srv Nothing