diff --git a/backends/forward.go b/backends/forward.go
index b0f3ad9ccf..aeeef29716 100644
--- a/backends/forward.go
+++ b/backends/forward.go
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"github.com/docker/libswarm/beam"
 	"github.com/dotcloud/docker/engine"
-	"github.com/dotcloud/docker/runconfig"
 	"github.com/dotcloud/docker/utils"
 	"io"
 	"io/ioutil"
@@ -86,20 +85,10 @@ func (f *forwarder) ls(ctx *beam.Message) error {
 }
 
 func (f *forwarder) spawn(ctx *beam.Message) error {
-	if len(ctx.Args) < 1 {
-		return fmt.Errorf("forward: spawn takes at least 1 argument, got %d", len(ctx.Args))
+	if len(ctx.Args) != 1 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("forward: spawn takes exactly 1 argument, got %d", len(ctx.Args))
 	}
-	body, err := json.Marshal(&runconfig.Config{
-		Image:        ctx.Args[0],
-		Cmd:          ctx.Args[1:],
-		AttachStdin:  false,
-		AttachStdout: true,
-		AttachStderr: true,
-	})
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	resp, err := f.client.call("POST", "/containers/create", string(body))
+	resp, err := f.client.call("POST", "/containers/create", ctx.Args[0])
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/dockerclient/dockerclient.go b/dockerclient/dockerclient.go
index c0d250f37a..b2f7d67edb 100644
--- a/dockerclient/dockerclient.go
+++ b/dockerclient/dockerclient.go
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 package main
 
 import (
+	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"github.com/codegangsta/cli"
 	"github.com/docker/libswarm/backends"
 	"github.com/docker/libswarm/beam"
+	"github.com/dotcloud/docker/runconfig"
 	"log"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
@@ -85,7 +87,17 @@ func doCmd(instance *beam.Object, args []string) error {
 		if len(args) < 3 {
 			return fmt.Errorf("usage: run IMAGE COMMAND...")
 		}
-		container, err := instance.Spawn(args[1:]...)
+		containerJson, err := json.Marshal(&runconfig.Config{
+			Image:        args[1],
+			Cmd:          args[2:],
+			AttachStdin:  false,
+			AttachStdout: true,
+			AttachStderr: true,
+		})
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		container, err := instance.Spawn(string(containerJson))
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("spawn: %v", err)
 		}