diff --git a/libmxclient/mxclientlib.go b/libmxclient/mxclientlib.go
index 50005fd..e66dc40 100644
--- a/libmxclient/mxclientlib.go
+++ b/libmxclient/mxclientlib.go
@@ -124,7 +124,10 @@ cli tools
 //export cli_discoverhs
 func cli_discoverhs(id *C.char) *C.char {
 	mxid := C.GoString(id)
-	result := mxutils.DiscoverHS(mxid)
+	result, err := mxutils.DiscoverHS(mxid)
+	if err != nil {
+		return C.CString(fmt.Sprintf("ERR: %v", err))
+	}
 	return C.CString(result)
 }
 
diff --git a/libmxclient/mxutils/utils.go b/libmxclient/mxutils/utils.go
index 77a8ce3..4869528 100644
--- a/libmxclient/mxutils/utils.go
+++ b/libmxclient/mxutils/utils.go
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@ import (
 	"maunium.net/go/mautrix/id"
 )
 
-func DiscoverHS(ids string) string {
+// DiscoverHS try to discover the homeserver url from the given string.
+func DiscoverHS(ids string) (string, error) {
 
 	var domainname string
 
@@ -30,17 +31,17 @@ func DiscoverHS(ids string) string {
 
 	wk, err := mautrix.DiscoverClientAPI(context.Background(), domainname)
 	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Sprintf("ERR: %v", err)
+		return "", err
 	}
 	if wk == nil {
-		return fmt.Sprintf("No well-known. hs from input: %s", domainname)
+		return domainname, nil
 	}
 
 	j, err := json.Marshal(wk)
 	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Sprintf("ERR: %v", err)
+		return "", err
 	}
-	return string(j)
+	return string(j), nil
 }
 
 func MkToken(ids string, pw string) string {
diff --git a/smal/src/pymxutils/mxutils/discoverhs.py b/smal/src/pymxutils/mxutils/discoverhs.py
index a422cf7..e9af657 100644
--- a/smal/src/pymxutils/mxutils/discoverhs.py
+++ b/smal/src/pymxutils/mxutils/discoverhs.py
@@ -7,8 +7,11 @@ import json
 
 
 @click.command()
+@click.option(
+    "--json", "show_json", is_flag=True, help="show json as returned from server."
+)
 @click.argument("domain", metavar="string")
-def discoverhs(domain):
+def discoverhs(domain, show_json):
     """Attempts to discover the homeserver from the given string"""
     mxid = domain.encode(encoding="utf-8")
 
@@ -18,5 +21,8 @@ def discoverhs(domain):
     if result.startswith("ERR:"):
         print(result)
         sys.exit(1)
-    result_dict = json.loads(result)
-    print(result_dict["m.homeserver"]["base_url"])
+    if show_json:
+        print(result)
+    else:
+        result_dict = json.loads(result)
+        print(result_dict["m.homeserver"]["base_url"])