diff --git a/core/coreapi/dag.go b/core/coreapi/dag.go
index de796bd4dc9..c5d59bc1395 100644
--- a/core/coreapi/dag.go
+++ b/core/coreapi/dag.go
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ type DagAPI struct {
 	*caopts.DagOptions
 }
 
-func (api *DagAPI) Put(ctx context.Context, src io.Reader, opts ...caopts.DagPutOption) ([]coreiface.Node, error) {
+func (api *DagAPI) Put(ctx context.Context, src io.Reader, opts ...caopts.DagPutOption) (coreiface.Path, error) {
 	settings, err := caopts.DagPutOptions(opts...)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -38,16 +38,12 @@ func (api *DagAPI) Put(ctx context.Context, src io.Reader, opts ...caopts.DagPut
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("no node returned from ParseInputs")
 	}
 
-	out := make([]coreiface.Node, len(nds))
-	for n, nd := range nds {
-		_, err := api.node.DAG.Add(nd)
-		if err != nil {
-			return nil, err
-		}
-		out[n] = nd
+	_, err = api.node.DAG.Add(nds[0])
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	return out, nil
+	return ParseCid(nds[0].Cid()), nil
 }
 
 func (api *DagAPI) Get(ctx context.Context, path coreiface.Path) (coreiface.Node, error) {
diff --git a/core/coreapi/dag_test.go b/core/coreapi/dag_test.go
index b528afbaa15..43ddc26e6b8 100644
--- a/core/coreapi/dag_test.go
+++ b/core/coreapi/dag_test.go
@@ -33,8 +33,8 @@ func TestPut(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Error(err)
 	}
 
-	if res[0].Cid().String() != "zdpuAqckYF3ToF3gcJNxPZXmnmGuXd3gxHCXhq81HGxBejEvv" {
-		t.Errorf("got wrong cid: %s", res[0].Cid().String())
+	if res.Cid().String() != "zdpuAqckYF3ToF3gcJNxPZXmnmGuXd3gxHCXhq81HGxBejEvv" {
+		t.Errorf("got wrong cid: %s", res.Cid().String())
 	}
 }
 
@@ -50,8 +50,8 @@ func TestPutWithHash(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Error(err)
 	}
 
-	if res[0].Cid().String() != "z5hRLNd2sv4z1c" {
-		t.Errorf("got wrong cid: %s", res[0].Cid().String())
+	if res.Cid().String() != "z5hRLNd2sv4z1c" {
+		t.Errorf("got wrong cid: %s", res.Cid().String())
 	}
 }
 
@@ -67,12 +67,12 @@ func TestPath(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Error(err)
 	}
 
-	res, err := api.Dag().Put(ctx, strings.NewReader(`{"lnk": {"/": "`+sub[0].Cid().String()+`"}}`))
+	res, err := api.Dag().Put(ctx, strings.NewReader(`{"lnk": {"/": "`+sub.Cid().String()+`"}}`))
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Error(err)
 	}
 
-	p, err := coreapi.ParsePath(path.Join(res[0].Cid().String(), "lnk"))
+	p, err := coreapi.ParsePath(path.Join(res.Cid().String(), "lnk"))
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Error(err)
 	}
@@ -82,8 +82,8 @@ func TestPath(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Error(err)
 	}
 
-	if nd.Cid().String() != sub[0].Cid().String() {
-		t.Errorf("got unexpected cid %s, expected %s", nd.Cid().String(), sub[0].Cid().String())
+	if nd.Cid().String() != sub.Cid().String() {
+		t.Errorf("got unexpected cid %s, expected %s", nd.Cid().String(), sub.Cid().String())
 	}
 }
 
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ func TestTree(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Error(err)
 	}
 
-	lst := res[0].Tree("", -1)
+	lst := res.Tree("", -1)
 	if len(lst) != len(treeExpected) {
 		t.Errorf("tree length of %d doesn't match expected %d", len(lst), len(treeExpected))
 	}
diff --git a/core/coreapi/interface/interface.go b/core/coreapi/interface/interface.go
index f43700e9cb7..e51888e6012 100644
--- a/core/coreapi/interface/interface.go
+++ b/core/coreapi/interface/interface.go
@@ -61,8 +61,9 @@ type UnixfsAPI interface {
 // DagAPI specifies the interface to IPLD
 type DagAPI interface {
 	// Put inserts data using specified format and input encoding.
-	// If format is not specified (nil), default dag-cbor/sha256 is used
-	Put(ctx context.Context, src io.Reader, opts ...options.DagPutOption) ([]Node, error)
+	// Unless used with WithCodec or WithHash, the defaults "dag-cbor" and
+	// "sha256" are used.
+	Put(ctx context.Context, src io.Reader, opts ...options.DagPutOption) (Path, error)
 
 	// WithInputEnc is an option for Put which specifies the input encoding of the
 	// data. Default is "json", most formats/codecs support "raw"