diff --git a/app/src/main/index.js b/app/src/main/index.js
index 5e58a6200e..e89004a095 100644
--- a/app/src/main/index.js
+++ b/app/src/main/index.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-'use strict'
+    'use strict'
 
 let { app, BrowserWindow, Menu } = require('electron')
 let fs = require('fs-extra')
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ let event = require('event-to-promise')
 let toml = require('toml')
 let pkg = require('../../../package.json')
 let rmdir = require('../helpers/rmdir.js')
+let mockServer = require('./mockServer.js')
 
 let shuttingDown = false
 let mainWindow
@@ -404,9 +405,12 @@ async function main () {
     await initBaseserver(chainId, baseserverHome, nodeIP)
   }
 
-  log('starting baseserver')
+  log('starting gaia server')
   baseserverProcess = await startBaseserver(baseserverHome)
-  log('baseserver ready')
+  log('gaia server ready')
+
+  // start mock API server on port 8999
+  mockServer(8999)
 }
 module.exports = Object.assign(
   main()
diff --git a/app/src/main/mockServer.js b/app/src/main/mockServer.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..16c878ec8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/src/main/mockServer.js
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+let express = require('express')
+let proxy = require('express-http-proxy')
+let randomBytes = require('crypto').pseudoRandomBytes
+
+let randomPubkey = () => ({
+  type: 'ed25519',
+  data: randomBytes(32).toString('hex')
+})
+
+module.exports = function (port = 8999) {
+  let app = express()
+
+  // delegation mock API
+  let candidates = new Array(205).fill(0).map(randomPubkey)
+  app.get('/query/stake/candidate', (req, res) => {
+    res.json({
+      height: 10000,
+      data: candidates
+    })
+  })
+  app.get('/query/stake/candidate/:pubkey', (req, res) => {
+    res.json({
+      height: 10000,
+      data: {
+        pubkey: randomPubkey(),
+        owner: {
+          chain: 'gaia-1',
+          app: 'sig',
+          address: randomBytes(20).toString('hex')
+        },
+        shares: Math.floor(Math.random() * 1e7),
+        voting_power: Math.floor(Math.random() * 1e5),
+        description: 'This is a fake candidate description.'
+      }
+    })
+  })
+
+  // proxy everything else to light client
+  app.use(proxy('http://localhost:8998'))
+
+  app.listen(port)
+}
diff --git a/app/src/renderer/node.js b/app/src/renderer/node.js
index c52694712e..5ea6db26c7 100644
--- a/app/src/renderer/node.js
+++ b/app/src/renderer/node.js
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@ const RpcClient = require('tendermint')
 let sleep = (ms) => new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, ms))
 
 module.exports = async function (nodeIP) {
-  let rest = RestClient()
+  // TODO: once we're done with the mock API server, switch this from port 8999 to 8998
+  let rest = RestClient('http://localhost:8999')
   let rpc = RpcClient(`ws://${nodeIP}`)
   // TODO: handle disconnect, try to reconnect
   // TODO: eventually, get all data from light-client connection instead of RPC
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 168cfdc7ea..769cafc516 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -61,6 +61,8 @@
     "eslint-plugin-html": "^2.0.0",
     "eslint-plugin-promise": "^3.4.0",
     "eslint-plugin-standard": "^2.0.1",
+    "express": "^4.16.2",
+    "express-http-proxy": "^1.1.0",
     "extract-text-webpack-plugin": "^2.0.0-beta.4",
     "fast-future": "^1.0.2",
     "file-loader": "^0.9.0",
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 0b5b7bd13a..6eb7d8cbb8 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -2045,7 +2045,7 @@ de-indent@^1.0.2:
   version "1.0.2"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/de-indent/-/de-indent-1.0.2.tgz#b2038e846dc33baa5796128d0804b455b8c1e21d"
 
-debug@*, debug@^3.1.0:
+debug@*, debug@^3.0.1, debug@^3.1.0:
   version "3.1.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/debug/-/debug-3.1.0.tgz#5bb5a0672628b64149566ba16819e61518c67261"
   dependencies:
@@ -2585,7 +2585,7 @@ es6-map@^0.1.3:
     es6-symbol "~3.1.1"
     event-emitter "~0.3.5"
 
-es6-promise@^4.0.5:
+es6-promise@^4.0.5, es6-promise@^4.1.1:
   version "4.1.1"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/es6-promise/-/es6-promise-4.1.1.tgz#8811e90915d9a0dba36274f0b242dbda78f9c92a"
 
@@ -2874,7 +2874,15 @@ expect@^21.2.1:
     jest-message-util "^21.2.1"
     jest-regex-util "^21.2.0"
 
-express@^4.13.3:
+express-http-proxy@^1.1.0:
+  version "1.1.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/express-http-proxy/-/express-http-proxy-1.1.0.tgz#b533842add15b7021d78d248c80b53578a7b6ba0"
+  dependencies:
+    debug "^3.0.1"
+    es6-promise "^4.1.1"
+    raw-body "^2.3.0"
+
+express@^4.13.3, express@^4.16.2:
   version "4.16.2"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/express/-/express-4.16.2.tgz#e35c6dfe2d64b7dca0a5cd4f21781be3299e076c"
   dependencies:
@@ -6546,7 +6554,7 @@ range-parser@^1.0.3, range-parser@~1.2.0:
   version "1.2.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/range-parser/-/range-parser-1.2.0.tgz#f49be6b487894ddc40dcc94a322f611092e00d5e"
 
-raw-body@2.3.2:
+raw-body@2.3.2, raw-body@^2.3.0:
   version "2.3.2"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/raw-body/-/raw-body-2.3.2.tgz#bcd60c77d3eb93cde0050295c3f379389bc88f89"
   dependencies: