diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 32795cfb4e..aee784915a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -25,7 +25,10 @@ go/cmd/berty-doctor/berty-doctor
 go/cmd/berty-integration/berty-integration
 go/cmd/betabot/betabot
 go/cmd/rdvp/rdvp
+
+# Various berty outputs
 betabot.store
+benchmark_result.json
 
 # Delve's binaries
 *__debug_bin
diff --git a/go/cmd/berty/daemon.go b/go/cmd/berty/daemon.go
index 0f8582f10d..0f2e37f4f1 100644
--- a/go/cmd/berty/daemon.go
+++ b/go/cmd/berty/daemon.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ func daemonCommand() *ffcli.Command {
 		manager.SetupLocalMessengerServerFlags(fs) // we want to configure a local messenger server
 		manager.SetupDefaultGRPCListenersFlags(fs)
 		manager.SetupMetricsFlags(fs)
+		manager.SetupInitTimeout(fs)
 		return fs, nil
 	}
 
diff --git a/go/cmd/berty/mini.go b/go/cmd/berty/mini.go
index d79ff06375..39168128a4 100644
--- a/go/cmd/berty/mini.go
+++ b/go/cmd/berty/mini.go
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ func miniCommand() *ffcli.Command {
 		manager.SetupLocalMessengerServerFlags(fs) // add flags to allow creating a full node in the same process
 		manager.SetupEmptyGRPCListenersFlags(fs)   // by default, we don't want to expose gRPC server for mini
 		manager.SetupRemoteNodeFlags(fs)           // mini can be run against an already running server
+		manager.SetupInitTimeout(fs)
 		return fs, nil
 	}
 
diff --git a/go/internal/initutil/datastore.go b/go/internal/initutil/datastore.go
index 0208dbe62a..3e59082d90 100644
--- a/go/internal/initutil/datastore.go
+++ b/go/internal/initutil/datastore.go
@@ -28,8 +28,8 @@ func (m *Manager) SetupDatastoreFlags(fs *flag.FlagSet) {
 }
 
 func (m *Manager) GetDatastoreDir() (string, error) {
-	m.mutex.Lock()
-	defer m.mutex.Unlock()
+	defer m.prepareForGetter()()
+
 	return m.getDatastoreDir()
 }
 
@@ -65,8 +65,8 @@ func (m *Manager) getDatastoreDir() (string, error) {
 }
 
 func (m *Manager) GetRootDatastore() (datastore.Batching, error) {
-	m.mutex.Lock()
-	defer m.mutex.Unlock()
+	defer m.prepareForGetter()()
+
 	return m.getRootDatastore()
 }
 
diff --git a/go/internal/initutil/ipfs.go b/go/internal/initutil/ipfs.go
index 1459734a69..7b64ce6211 100644
--- a/go/internal/initutil/ipfs.go
+++ b/go/internal/initutil/ipfs.go
@@ -80,8 +80,7 @@ func (m *Manager) SetupLocalIPFSFlags(fs *flag.FlagSet) {
 }
 
 func (m *Manager) GetLocalIPFS() (ipfsutil.ExtendedCoreAPI, *ipfs_core.IpfsNode, error) {
-	m.mutex.Lock()
-	defer m.mutex.Unlock()
+	defer m.prepareForGetter()()
 
 	return m.getLocalIPFS()
 }
@@ -202,7 +201,7 @@ func (m *Manager) getLocalIPFS() (ipfsutil.ExtendedCoreAPI, *ipfs_core.IpfsNode,
 
 		if m.Node.Protocol.RelayHack {
 			// Resolving addresses
-			pis, err := ipfsutil.ParseAndResolveRdvpMaddrs(m.GetContext(), m.initLogger, config.Config.P2P.RelayHack)
+			pis, err := ipfsutil.ParseAndResolveRdvpMaddrs(m.getContext(), m.initLogger, config.Config.P2P.RelayHack)
 			if err != nil {
 				return nil, nil, errcode.TODO.Wrap(err)
 			}
@@ -343,7 +342,7 @@ func (m *Manager) getLocalIPFS() (ipfsutil.ExtendedCoreAPI, *ipfs_core.IpfsNode,
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
-			m.Node.Protocol.pubsub, err = pubsub.NewGossipSub(m.GetContext(), h,
+			m.Node.Protocol.pubsub, err = pubsub.NewGossipSub(m.getContext(), h,
 				pubsub.WithMessageSigning(true),
 				pubsub.WithFloodPublish(true),
 				pubsub.WithDiscovery(m.Node.Protocol.discovery),
@@ -367,7 +366,7 @@ func (m *Manager) getLocalIPFS() (ipfsutil.ExtendedCoreAPI, *ipfs_core.IpfsNode,
 
 		ipfsDS := ipfsutil.NewNamespacedDatastore(rootDS, datastore.NewKey(bertyprotocol.NamespaceIPFSDatastore))
 
-		m.Node.Protocol.ipfsAPI, m.Node.Protocol.ipfsNode, err = ipfsutil.NewCoreAPIFromDatastore(m.GetContext(), ipfsDS, &opts)
+		m.Node.Protocol.ipfsAPI, m.Node.Protocol.ipfsNode, err = ipfsutil.NewCoreAPIFromDatastore(m.getContext(), ipfsDS, &opts)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, nil, errcode.TODO.Wrap(err)
 		}
@@ -378,18 +377,18 @@ func (m *Manager) getLocalIPFS() (ipfsutil.ExtendedCoreAPI, *ipfs_core.IpfsNode,
 			return nil, nil, errcode.TODO.Wrap(err)
 		}
 
-		m.Node.Protocol.ipfsAPI, m.Node.Protocol.ipfsNode, err = ipfsutil.NewCoreAPIFromRepo(m.GetContext(), repo, &opts)
+		m.Node.Protocol.ipfsAPI, m.Node.Protocol.ipfsNode, err = ipfsutil.NewCoreAPIFromRepo(m.getContext(), repo, &opts)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, nil, errcode.TODO.Wrap(err)
 		}
 	}
 
 	// PubSub
-	psapi := ipfsutil.NewPubSubAPI(m.GetContext(), logger.Named("ps"), m.Node.Protocol.discovery, m.Node.Protocol.pubsub)
+	psapi := ipfsutil.NewPubSubAPI(m.getContext(), logger.Named("ps"), m.Node.Protocol.discovery, m.Node.Protocol.pubsub)
 	m.Node.Protocol.ipfsAPI = ipfsutil.InjectPubSubCoreAPIExtendedAdaptater(m.Node.Protocol.ipfsAPI, psapi)
 
 	// enable conn logger
-	ipfsutil.EnableConnLogger(m.GetContext(), logger, m.Node.Protocol.ipfsNode.PeerHost)
+	ipfsutil.EnableConnLogger(m.getContext(), logger, m.Node.Protocol.ipfsNode.PeerHost)
 
 	// register metrics
 	if m.Metrics.Listener != "" {
@@ -436,7 +435,7 @@ func (m *Manager) getRdvpMaddrs() ([]*peer.AddrInfo, error) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	return ipfsutil.ParseAndResolveRdvpMaddrs(m.GetContext(), m.initLogger, addrs)
+	return ipfsutil.ParseAndResolveRdvpMaddrs(m.getContext(), m.initLogger, addrs)
 }
 
 func (m *Manager) getSwarmAddrs() []string {
diff --git a/go/internal/initutil/logger.go b/go/internal/initutil/logger.go
index f171e33f8b..c3c312cf1a 100644
--- a/go/internal/initutil/logger.go
+++ b/go/internal/initutil/logger.go
@@ -34,8 +34,8 @@ func (m *Manager) SetupLoggingFlags(fs *flag.FlagSet) {
 }
 
 func (m *Manager) GetLogger() (*zap.Logger, error) {
-	m.mutex.Lock()
-	defer m.mutex.Unlock()
+	defer m.prepareForGetter()()
+
 	return m.getLogger()
 }
 
diff --git a/go/internal/initutil/manager.go b/go/internal/initutil/manager.go
index 2ec0793931..c456c06e59 100644
--- a/go/internal/initutil/manager.go
+++ b/go/internal/initutil/manager.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package initutil
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"flag"
 	"fmt"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
@@ -123,6 +124,7 @@ type Manager struct {
 			listeners         []grpcutil.Listener
 		} `json:"GRPC,omitempty"`
 	} `json:"Node,omitempty"`
+	InitTimeout time.Duration `json:"InitTimeout,omitempty"`
 
 	// internal
 	ctx        context.Context
@@ -180,6 +182,12 @@ func (m *Manager) applyDefaults() {
 }
 
 func (m *Manager) GetContext() context.Context {
+	m.mutex.Lock()
+	defer m.mutex.Unlock()
+	return m.getContext()
+}
+
+func (m *Manager) getContext() context.Context {
 	if m.ctx == nil {
 		m.ctx, m.ctxCancel = context.WithCancel(context.Background())
 	}
@@ -188,8 +196,8 @@ func (m *Manager) GetContext() context.Context {
 
 func (m *Manager) RunWorkers() error {
 	m.workers.Add(func() error {
-		<-m.GetContext().Done()
-		return m.GetContext().Err()
+		<-m.getContext().Done()
+		return m.getContext().Err()
 	}, func(error) {
 		m.ctxCancel()
 	})
@@ -267,3 +275,31 @@ func (m *Manager) AdvancedHelp() string {
 	tw.Flush()
 	return strings.TrimSpace(b.String())
 }
+
+func (m *Manager) SetupInitTimeout(fs *flag.FlagSet) {
+	fs.DurationVar(&m.InitTimeout, "node.init-timeout", time.Minute, "maximum time allowed for the initialization")
+}
+
+// prepareForGetter prepare locks and ctx timeouts for an external getter.
+// it returns a cleanup and should be defered.
+func (m *Manager) prepareForGetter() func() {
+	m.mutex.Lock()
+	if m.InitTimeout > 0 {
+		finishChan := make(chan struct{})
+		ticker := time.NewTimer(m.InitTimeout)
+		go func() {
+			select {
+			case <-finishChan:
+			case <-m.ctx.Done():
+			case <-ticker.C:
+				m.ctxCancel()
+			}
+		}()
+		return func() {
+			close(finishChan)
+			ticker.Stop()
+			m.mutex.Unlock()
+		}
+	}
+	return m.mutex.Unlock
+}
diff --git a/go/internal/initutil/metrics.go b/go/internal/initutil/metrics.go
index 9ce84de6b1..2e25e0f9d9 100644
--- a/go/internal/initutil/metrics.go
+++ b/go/internal/initutil/metrics.go
@@ -18,8 +18,7 @@ func (m *Manager) SetupMetricsFlags(fs *flag.FlagSet) {
 }
 
 func (m *Manager) GetMetricsRegistry() (*prometheus.Registry, error) {
-	m.mutex.Lock()
-	defer m.mutex.Unlock()
+	defer m.prepareForGetter()()
 
 	return m.getMetricsRegistry()
 }
diff --git a/go/internal/initutil/node.go b/go/internal/initutil/node.go
index f5ad0e46f5..950d814f87 100644
--- a/go/internal/initutil/node.go
+++ b/go/internal/initutil/node.go
@@ -123,10 +123,10 @@ func (m *Manager) applyPreset() error {
 }
 
 func (m *Manager) GetLocalProtocolServer() (bertyprotocol.Service, error) {
-	m.mutex.Lock()
-	defer m.mutex.Unlock()
-	if m.GetContext().Err() != nil {
-		return nil, m.GetContext().Err()
+	defer m.prepareForGetter()()
+
+	if m.getContext().Err() != nil {
+		return nil, m.getContext().Err()
 	}
 	return m.getLocalProtocolServer()
 }
@@ -194,14 +194,14 @@ func (m *Manager) getLocalProtocolServer() (bertyprotocol.Service, error) {
 			OrbitDB:        odb,
 		}
 
-		m.Node.Protocol.server, err = bertyprotocol.New(m.GetContext(), opts)
+		m.Node.Protocol.server, err = bertyprotocol.New(m.getContext(), opts)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, errcode.TODO.Wrap(err)
 		}
 
 		// register grpc service
 		bertyprotocol.RegisterProtocolServiceServer(grpcServer, m.Node.Protocol.server)
-		if err := bertyprotocol.RegisterProtocolServiceHandlerServer(m.GetContext(), gatewayMux, m.Node.Protocol.server); err != nil {
+		if err := bertyprotocol.RegisterProtocolServiceHandlerServer(m.getContext(), gatewayMux, m.Node.Protocol.server); err != nil {
 			return nil, errcode.TODO.Wrap(err)
 		}
 	}
@@ -211,8 +211,8 @@ func (m *Manager) getLocalProtocolServer() (bertyprotocol.Service, error) {
 }
 
 func (m *Manager) GetGRPCClientConn() (*grpc.ClientConn, error) {
-	m.mutex.Lock()
-	defer m.mutex.Unlock()
+	defer m.prepareForGetter()()
+
 	return m.getGRPCClientConn()
 }
 
@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ func (m *Manager) getGRPCClientConn() (*grpc.ClientConn, error) {
 		grpcServer := grpc.NewServer(serverOpts...)
 
 		// buffer-based client conn
-		bl := grpcutil.NewBufListener(m.GetContext(), 256*1024)
+		bl := grpcutil.NewBufListener(m.getContext(), 256*1024)
 		cc, err := bl.NewClientConn(clientOpts...)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, errcode.TODO.Wrap(err)
@@ -292,8 +292,8 @@ func (m *Manager) getGRPCClientConn() (*grpc.ClientConn, error) {
 }
 
 func (m *Manager) GetMessengerClient() (bertymessenger.MessengerServiceClient, error) {
-	m.mutex.Lock()
-	defer m.mutex.Unlock()
+	defer m.prepareForGetter()()
+
 	return m.getMessengerClient()
 }
 
@@ -311,8 +311,8 @@ func (m *Manager) SetLifecycleManager(manager *lifecycle.Manager) {
 }
 
 func (m *Manager) GetLifecycleManager() *lifecycle.Manager {
-	m.mutex.Lock()
-	defer m.mutex.Unlock()
+	defer m.prepareForGetter()()
+
 	return m.getLifecycleManager()
 }
 
@@ -341,8 +341,8 @@ func (m *Manager) getMessengerClient() (bertymessenger.MessengerServiceClient, e
 }
 
 func (m *Manager) GetProtocolClient() (bertyprotocol.ProtocolServiceClient, error) {
-	m.mutex.Lock()
-	defer m.mutex.Unlock()
+	defer m.prepareForGetter()()
+
 	return m.getProtocolClient()
 }
 
@@ -362,8 +362,8 @@ func (m *Manager) getProtocolClient() (bertyprotocol.ProtocolServiceClient, erro
 }
 
 func (m *Manager) GetGRPCServer() (*grpc.Server, *grpcgw.ServeMux, error) {
-	m.mutex.Lock()
-	defer m.mutex.Unlock()
+	defer m.prepareForGetter()()
+
 	return m.getGRPCServer()
 }
 
@@ -472,8 +472,8 @@ func (m *Manager) GetGRPCListeners() []grpcutil.Listener {
 }
 
 func (m *Manager) GetMessengerDB() (*gorm.DB, error) {
-	m.mutex.Lock()
-	defer m.mutex.Unlock()
+	defer m.prepareForGetter()()
+
 	return m.getMessengerDB()
 }
 
@@ -556,8 +556,8 @@ func (m *Manager) restoreMessengerDataFromExport() error {
 }
 
 func (m *Manager) GetLocalMessengerServer() (bertymessenger.MessengerServiceServer, error) {
-	m.mutex.Lock()
-	defer m.mutex.Unlock()
+	defer m.prepareForGetter()()
+
 	return m.getLocalMessengerServer()
 }
 
@@ -602,7 +602,7 @@ func (m *Manager) getLocalMessengerServer() (bertymessenger.MessengerServiceServ
 	}
 
 	// protocol client
-	protocolClient, err := bertyprotocol.NewClient(m.GetContext(), protocolServer, nil, nil) // FIXME: setup tracing
+	protocolClient, err := bertyprotocol.NewClient(m.getContext(), protocolServer, nil, nil) // FIXME: setup tracing
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, errcode.TODO.Wrap(err)
 	}
@@ -626,7 +626,7 @@ func (m *Manager) getLocalMessengerServer() (bertymessenger.MessengerServiceServ
 
 	// register grpc service
 	bertymessenger.RegisterMessengerServiceServer(grpcServer, messengerServer)
-	if err := bertymessenger.RegisterMessengerServiceHandlerServer(m.GetContext(), gatewayMux, messengerServer); err != nil {
+	if err := bertymessenger.RegisterMessengerServiceHandlerServer(m.getContext(), gatewayMux, messengerServer); err != nil {
 		return nil, errcode.TODO.Wrap(err)
 	}
 
diff --git a/go/internal/initutil/notification.go b/go/internal/initutil/notification.go
index b140c7865b..89079d94f6 100644
--- a/go/internal/initutil/notification.go
+++ b/go/internal/initutil/notification.go
@@ -27,8 +27,8 @@ func (m *Manager) SetNotificationManager(manager notification.Manager) {
 }
 
 func (m *Manager) GetNotificationManager() (notification.Manager, error) {
-	m.mutex.Lock()
-	defer m.mutex.Unlock()
+	defer m.prepareForGetter()()
+
 	return m.getNotificationManager()
 }
 
diff --git a/go/internal/initutil/orbitdb.go b/go/internal/initutil/orbitdb.go
index f512959bc0..4a92f5445b 100644
--- a/go/internal/initutil/orbitdb.go
+++ b/go/internal/initutil/orbitdb.go
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ func (m *Manager) getOrbitDB() (*bertyprotocol.BertyOrbitDB, error) {
 	}
 
 	if node.PubSub != nil {
-		self, err := ipfs.Key().Self(m.GetContext())
+		self, err := ipfs.Key().Self(m.getContext())
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, errcode.TODO.Wrap(err)
 		}
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ func (m *Manager) getOrbitDB() (*bertyprotocol.BertyOrbitDB, error) {
 		opts.PubSub = pubsubraw.NewPubSub(node.PubSub, self.ID(), opts.Logger, nil)
 	}
 
-	odb, err := bertyprotocol.NewBertyOrbitDB(m.GetContext(), ipfs, opts)
+	odb, err := bertyprotocol.NewBertyOrbitDB(m.getContext(), ipfs, opts)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, errcode.TODO.Wrap(err)
 	}
@@ -81,8 +81,7 @@ func (m *Manager) getOrbitDB() (*bertyprotocol.BertyOrbitDB, error) {
 }
 
 func (m *Manager) GetOrbitDB() (*bertyprotocol.BertyOrbitDB, error) {
-	m.mutex.Lock()
-	defer m.mutex.Unlock()
+	defer m.prepareForGetter()()
 
 	return m.getOrbitDB()
 }