diff --git a/piker/data/__init__.py b/piker/data/__init__.py
index 0559cbfb..8b3cc416 100644
--- a/piker/data/__init__.py
+++ b/piker/data/__init__.py
@@ -26,14 +26,22 @@ from contextlib import asynccontextmanager
 from importlib import import_module
 from types import ModuleType
 from typing import (
-    Dict, Any, Sequence, AsyncIterator, Optional
+    Dict, Any, Sequence,
+    AsyncIterator, Optional,
+    Callable, Awaitable
 )
 
+import trio
 import tractor
+from pydantic import BaseModel
 
 from ..brokers import get_brokermod
 from ..log import get_logger, get_console_log
-from .._daemon import spawn_brokerd, maybe_open_pikerd
+from .._daemon import (
+    spawn_brokerd,
+    maybe_open_pikerd,
+    maybe_spawn_brokerd,
+)
 from ._normalize import iterticks
 from ._sharedmem import (
     maybe_open_shm_array,
@@ -74,57 +82,97 @@ def get_ingestormod(name: str) -> ModuleType:
     return module
 
 
-@asynccontextmanager
-async def maybe_spawn_brokerd(
-    brokername: str,
-    loglevel: Optional[str] = None,
+# @dataclass
+class _FeedsCache(BaseModel):
+    """Data feeds manager.
 
-    # XXX: you should pretty much never want debug mode
-    # for data daemons when running in production.
-    debug_mode: bool = True,
-) -> tractor._portal.Portal:
-    """If no ``brokerd.{brokername}`` daemon-actor can be found,
-    spawn one in a local subactor and return a portal to it.
+    This is a brokerd side api used to manager persistent real-time
+    streams that can be allocated and left alive indefinitely.
 
     """
-    if loglevel:
-        get_console_log(loglevel)
+    brokername: str
+    nursery: trio.Nursery
+    tasks: Dict[str, trio.CancelScope] = {}
 
-    dname = f'brokerd.{brokername}'
-    async with tractor.find_actor(dname) as portal:
+    class Config:
+        arbitrary_types_allowed = True
 
-        # WTF: why doesn't this work?
-        if portal is not None:
-            yield portal
+    # tasks: Dict[str, trio.CancelScope] = field(default_factory=dict)
 
-        else:
-            # ask root ``pikerd`` daemon to spawn the daemon we need if
-            # pikerd is not live we now become the root of the
-            # process tree
-            async with maybe_open_pikerd(
-                loglevel=loglevel
-            ) as pikerd_portal:
+    async def start_feed(
+        symbol: str,
+        func: Callable[[int], Awaitable[None]],
+    ) -> None:
+        """Start a bg feed task and register a surrouding cancel scope
+        for it.
 
-                if pikerd_portal is None:
-                    # we are root so spawn brokerd directly in our tree
-                    # the root nursery is accessed through process global state
-                    await spawn_brokerd(brokername, loglevel=loglevel)
+        """
+        with trio.CancelCscope() as cs:
+            pass
 
-                else:
-                    await pikerd_portal.run(
-                        spawn_brokerd,
-                        brokername=brokername,
-                        loglevel=loglevel,
-                        debug_mode=debug_mode,
-                    )
+    async def cancel_all(self) -> None:
+        for name, cs in self.tasks.item():
+            log.debug(f'Cancelling cached feed for {name}')
+            cs.cancel()
+
+
+_feeds: _FeedsCache = None
+
+
+def get_feeds_manager(
+    brokername: str,
+    nursery: Optional[trio.Nursery] = None,
+) -> _FeedsCache:
+    """
+    Retreive data feeds manager from process global scope.
+
+    """
+
+    global _feeds
+
+    if nursery is not None:
+        assert _feeds is None, "Feeds manager is already setup?"
+
+        # this is initial setup by parent actor
+        _feeds = _FeedsCache(
+            brokername=brokername,
+            nursery=nursery,
+        )
+        assert not _feeds.tasks
+
+    assert _feeds.brokername == brokername, "Uhhh wtf"
+    return _feeds
+
+
+async def _setup_persistent_feeds(brokername:  str) -> None:
+    """Allocate a actor-wide service nursery in ``brokerd``
+    such that feeds can be run in the background persistently by
+    the broker backend as needed.
+
+    """
+    async with trio.open_nursery() as service_nursery:
+        _feeds = get_feeds_manager(brokername, service_nursery)
+
+        # we pin this task to keep the feeds manager active until the
+        # parent actor decides to tear it down
+        await trio.sleep_forever()
+
+
+@tractor.stream
+async def allocate_cached_feed(
+    ctx: tractor.Context,
+    symbol: str
+):
+    _feeds = get_feeds_manager(brokername, service_nursery)
+
+    # setup shared mem buffer
+    pass
 
-                async with tractor.wait_for_actor(dname) as portal:
-                    yield portal
 
 
 @dataclass
 class Feed:
-    """A data feed for client-side interaction with far-process
+    """A data feed for client-side interaction with far-process# }}}
     real-time data sources.
 
     This is an thin abstraction on top of ``tractor``'s portals for
@@ -279,6 +327,8 @@ async def open_feed(
             if opened:
                 assert data['is_shm_writer']
                 log.info("Started shared mem bar writer")
+            else:
+                s = attach_shm_array(shm_token)
 
         shm_token['dtype_descr'] = list(shm_token['dtype_descr'])
         assert shm_token == shm.token  # sanity