diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 7cfbd37..97d7975 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -18,6 +18,11 @@
       <version>4.13.1</version>
       <scope>test</scope>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>com.google.code.gson</groupId>
+      <artifactId>gson</artifactId>
+      <version>2.8.9</version>
+    </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>com.amazonaws</groupId>
       <artifactId>amazon-kinesis-producer</artifactId>
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/warnermedia/kplserver/KinesisEventPublisher.java b/src/main/java/com/warnermedia/kplserver/KinesisEventPublisher.java
index 5131bd2..bbb5a37 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/warnermedia/kplserver/KinesisEventPublisher.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/warnermedia/kplserver/KinesisEventPublisher.java
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.FutureCallback;
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.Futures;
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.ListenableFuture;
+import com.google.gson.Gson;
+import com.google.gson.JsonSyntaxException;
 import org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
@@ -46,6 +48,25 @@ public void runOnce(String line) throws Exception {
 
     ByteBuffer data = ByteBuffer.wrap(finalLine.getBytes(java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
 
+    // Need to serialize this to an object to get the key.
+    String hashKey;
+
+    Gson gson = new Gson();
+    try {
+      MinimalKey minimal = gson.fromJson(line, MinimalKey.class);
+      if (minimal.kdsHashKey != null) {
+        hashKey = minimal.kdsHashKey;
+        log.debug("Using passed in hash key");
+      } else {
+        hashKey = randomExplicitHashKey();
+        log.debug("Using random hash key");
+      }
+    }
+    catch (JsonSyntaxException e) {
+      hashKey = randomExplicitHashKey();
+      log.debug("Using random hash key");
+    }
+
     //This is a measure of the backpressure in the system, which should be checked before putting more records,
     //to avoid exhausting system resources.
     while (kinesis.getOutstandingRecordsCount() > 1e4) {
@@ -53,7 +74,7 @@ public void runOnce(String line) throws Exception {
       Thread.sleep(500);
     }
 
-    UserRecord userRecord = new UserRecord(stream, " ", randomExplicitHashKey(), data);
+    UserRecord userRecord = new UserRecord(stream, " ", hashKey, data);
     ListenableFuture<UserRecordResult> f = kinesis.addUserRecord(userRecord);
 
     Futures.addCallback(f, new FutureCallback<UserRecordResult>() {
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/warnermedia/kplserver/MinimalKey.java b/src/main/java/com/warnermedia/kplserver/MinimalKey.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..29ee105
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/warnermedia/kplserver/MinimalKey.java
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+package com.warnermedia.kplserver;
+
+public class MinimalKey {
+  String kdsHashKey = null;
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/warnermedia/kplserver/TestClientJSONKey.java b/src/main/java/com/warnermedia/kplserver/TestClientJSONKey.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..03ec08c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/warnermedia/kplserver/TestClientJSONKey.java
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+package com.warnermedia.kplserver;
+
+import com.google.gson.Gson;
+
+import java.io.*;
+import java.net.Socket;
+
+
+public class TestClientJSONKey {
+  public static class TestWithKey {
+    String kdsHashKey;
+    String testa;
+  }
+
+  public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception, IOException, ClassNotFoundException, InterruptedException {
+
+    System.out.println("starting client");
+
+    // establish socket connection to server
+    Socket socket = new Socket("127.0.0.1", 3000);
+    OutputStreamWriter out = new OutputStreamWriter(socket.getOutputStream(), "UTF-8");
+
+    System.out.println("Sending request to Socket Server");
+
+    TestWithKey tst = new TestWithKey();
+    tst.kdsHashKey = "mykey";
+    tst.testa ="hello";
+
+    Gson gson = new Gson();
+    String jsonResult = gson.toJson(tst);
+    String jsonFinal = jsonResult + "\n";
+
+    out.write(jsonFinal);
+    out.flush();
+    Thread.sleep(100);
+
+    socket.close();
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/warnermedia/kplserver/TestClientJSONNoKey.java b/src/main/java/com/warnermedia/kplserver/TestClientJSONNoKey.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5629f61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/warnermedia/kplserver/TestClientJSONNoKey.java
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+package com.warnermedia.kplserver;
+
+import com.google.gson.Gson;
+
+import java.io.*;
+import java.net.Socket;
+
+
+public class TestClientJSONNoKey {
+  public static class TestWithNoKey {
+    String testa;
+  }
+
+  public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception, IOException, ClassNotFoundException, InterruptedException {
+
+    System.out.println("starting client");
+
+    // establish socket connection to server
+    Socket socket = new Socket("127.0.0.1", 3000);
+    OutputStreamWriter out = new OutputStreamWriter(socket.getOutputStream(), "UTF-8");
+
+    System.out.println("Sending request to Socket Server");
+
+    TestWithNoKey tst = new TestWithNoKey();
+    tst.testa ="hello";
+
+    Gson gson = new Gson();
+    String jsonResult = gson.toJson(tst);
+    String jsonFinal = jsonResult + "\n";
+
+    out.write(jsonFinal);
+    out.flush();
+    Thread.sleep(100);
+
+    socket.close();
+  }
+}