diff --git a/examples/g-counter/g_counter.go b/examples/g-counter/g_counter.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..51d7d3b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/g-counter/g_counter.go
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"sort"
+)
+
+type gcounter struct {
+	id     int
+	counts map[int]int
+}
+
+func (c gcounter) incr() { c.counts[c.id]++ }
+
+func (c gcounter) total() int {
+	var n int
+	for _, count := range c.counts {
+		n += count
+	}
+	return n
+}
+
+func (c gcounter) merge(other gcounter) {
+	for id, count := range other.counts {
+		if c.[id] < count {
+			c.[id] = count
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+type pair [2]int
+
+func (c gcounter) MarshalJSON() ([]byte, error) {
+	pairs := make([]pair, 0, len(c.counts))
+	for id, count := range c.counts {
+		pairs = append(pairs, pair{id, count})
+	}
+	sort.Slice(pairs, func(i, j int) bool { return pairs[i][0] < pairs[j][0] })
+	return json.Marshal(pairs)
+}
+
+func (c *gcounter) UnmarshalJSON(b []byte) error {
+	pairs := make([]pair, 0, len(c.counts))
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(b, &pairs); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+}
diff --git a/examples/g-counter/g_counter_test.go b/examples/g-counter/g_counter_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bdb752a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/g-counter/g_counter_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestGCounterJSON(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("marshal", func(t *testing.T) {
+		type test struct {
+			counter gcounter
+			expect  string
+		}
+
+		tests := []test{
+			{
+				gcounter{1, map[int]int{1: 5, 3: 8}},
+				`[[1,5],[3,8]]`,
+			},
+			{
+				gcounter{8, map[int]int{3: 10, 7: 16, 12: 9, 2: 37}},
+				`[[2,37],[3,10],[7,16],[12,9]]`,
+			},
+		}
+
+		for _, test := range tests {
+			b, err := json.Marshal(test.counter)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Errorf("marshal failed: %s", err)
+				continue
+			}
+			s := string(b)
+			if s != test.expect {
+				t.Errorf("expected json: %s received: %s", test.expect, s)
+			}
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("unmarshal", func(t *testing.T) {
+		type test struct {
+			in     string
+			expect gcounter
+		}
+
+		tests := []test{
+			{
+				`[[1,5],[3,8]]`,
+				gcounter{1, map[int]int{1: 5, 3: 8}},
+			},
+			{
+				`[[2,37],[3,10],[7,16],[12,9]]`,
+				gcounter{8, map[int]int{3: 10, 7: 16, 12: 9, 2: 37}},
+			},
+		}
+
+		for _, test := range tests {
+			var c gcounter
+			if err := json.Unmarshal(test.in, &c); err != nil {
+				t.Errorf("unmarshal failed: %s", err)
+				continue
+			}
+
+			for id, count := range c.counts {
+				n := test.expect.counts[id]
+				if n != count {
+					t.Errorf("mismatched counts for id %d: expected %d, saw %d", id, count, n)
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	})
+}
diff --git a/examples/g-counter/main.go b/examples/g-counter/main.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..06ab7d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/g-counter/main.go
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+package main
diff --git a/examples/g-counter/server.go b/examples/g-counter/server.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..37130b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/g-counter/server.go
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"net/http"
+	"sync"
+)
+
+type response struct {
+	OK   bool `json:"ok"`
+	Hits int  `json:"hits"`
+}
+
+// server implements a clustered http hit-counter server. Each path is given a
+// g-counter, and every node in the cluster acts as a read-write replica.
+type server struct {
+	sync.Mutex
+
+	// my own id
+	id int
+
+	// a mapping of peer servers id -> addr
+	peers map[int]string
+
+	// distributed counts
+	counters map[string]gcounter
+}
+
+func (s *server) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+	switch r.URL.Path {
+	case "/join":
+		s.join(w, r)
+	case "/sync":
+		s.sync(w, r)
+	default:
+		s.countHit(w, r)
+	}
+}
+
+func (s *server) countHit(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+	hits := s.hit(r.URL.Path)
+
+	fmt.Printf("% 8d %s\n", hits, r.URL.Path)
+
+	w.Header().Add("Content-Type", "application/json")
+	json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(response{OK: true, Hits: hits})
+}
+
+func (s *server) join(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+	var body struct {
+		Addr string `json:"addr"`
+	}
+}
+
+func (s *server) sync(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+}
+
+func (s *server) hit(path string) int {
+	s.Lock()
+	defer s.Unlock()
+
+	if s.counters == nil {
+		s.counters = map[string]gcounter{
+			gcounter{s.id, map[int]int{id: 1}},
+		}
+		return 1
+	}
+
+	c, ok := s.counters[path]
+	if !ok {
+		s.counters[path] = gcounter{s.id, map[int]int{id: 1}}
+		return 1
+	}
+
+	c.incr()
+	return c.total()
+}
diff --git a/examples/hit-counter/server_test.go b/examples/hit-counter/server_test.go
index 5204482..c8ac477 100644
--- a/examples/hit-counter/server_test.go
+++ b/examples/hit-counter/server_test.go
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ func TestServer(t *testing.T) {
 		return node
 	}
 
-	runParallel := func(node *tea.Tree, tests list) {
+	runSiblings := func(node *tea.Tree, tests list) {
 		for i := 0; i < len(tests); i++ {
 			node.Child(&tests[i])
 		}
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ func TestServer(t *testing.T) {
 		{path: "/users/bob", expect: 2},
 	})
 
-	runParallel(root, list{
+	runSiblings(root, list{
 		{path: "/users/alice", expect: 1},
 		{path: "/users/alice", expect: 1},
 		{path: "/users/alice", expect: 1},