diff --git a/.idea/codeStyles/Project.xml b/.idea/codeStyles/Project.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index 2bf5e0cf..00000000
--- a/.idea/codeStyles/Project.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
-<component name="ProjectCodeStyleConfiguration">
-  <code_scheme name="Project" version="173">
-    <option name="LINE_SEPARATOR" value="&#10;" />
-    <JavaCodeStyleSettings>
-      <option name="GENERATE_FINAL_LOCALS" value="true" />
-      <option name="GENERATE_FINAL_PARAMETERS" value="true" />
-      <option name="JD_P_AT_EMPTY_LINES" value="false" />
-    </JavaCodeStyleSettings>
-    <XML>
-      <option name="XML_LEGACY_SETTINGS_IMPORTED" value="true" />
-    </XML>
-    <codeStyleSettings language="JAVA">
-      <option name="KEEP_BLANK_LINES_IN_DECLARATIONS" value="1" />
-      <option name="KEEP_BLANK_LINES_IN_CODE" value="1" />
-      <option name="KEEP_BLANK_LINES_BEFORE_RBRACE" value="1" />
-      <option name="BLANK_LINES_AFTER_CLASS_HEADER" value="1" />
-    </codeStyleSettings>
-  </code_scheme>
-</component>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.idea/codeStyles/codeStyleConfig.xml b/.idea/codeStyles/codeStyleConfig.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index 79ee123c..00000000
--- a/.idea/codeStyles/codeStyleConfig.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-<component name="ProjectCodeStyleConfiguration">
-  <state>
-    <option name="USE_PER_PROJECT_SETTINGS" value="true" />
-  </state>
-</component>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 13fd298e..2eec9728 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@ apply plugin: 'java'
 apply plugin: 'application'
 apply plugin: 'eclipse'
 
-sourceCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_1_7
-targetCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_1_7
+sourceCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
+targetCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
 
 mainClassName = 'org.asamk.signal.Main'
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/asamk/signal/JsonSendableMessage.java b/src/main/java/org/asamk/signal/JsonSendableMessage.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..43f2f553
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/org/asamk/signal/JsonSendableMessage.java
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+package org.asamk.signal;
+
+import java.util.Base64;
+import java.util.LinkedList;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
+
+public class JsonSendableMessage {
+    public String getMessage() {
+        return message;
+    }
+
+    public List<String> getAttachments() {
+        return attachments;
+    }
+
+    String message;
+
+    public void setAttachments(List<String> attachments) {
+        if ( attachments == null ) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        this.attachments = attachments.stream()
+                .map(i -> new String(Base64.getDecoder().decode(i)))
+                .collect(Collectors.toList());
+    }
+
+    List<String> attachments;
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/asamk/signal/commands/SendCommand.java b/src/main/java/org/asamk/signal/commands/SendCommand.java
index 176c2d92..e226e9fc 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/asamk/signal/commands/SendCommand.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/asamk/signal/commands/SendCommand.java
@@ -1,13 +1,12 @@
 package org.asamk.signal.commands;
 
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
 import net.sourceforge.argparse4j.impl.Arguments;
 import net.sourceforge.argparse4j.inf.Namespace;
 import net.sourceforge.argparse4j.inf.Subparser;
+import netscape.javascript.JSException;
 import org.asamk.Signal;
-import org.asamk.signal.AttachmentInvalidException;
-import org.asamk.signal.GroupIdFormatException;
-import org.asamk.signal.GroupNotFoundException;
-import org.asamk.signal.NotAGroupMemberException;
+import org.asamk.signal.*;
 import org.asamk.signal.util.IOUtils;
 import org.asamk.signal.util.Util;
 import org.freedesktop.dbus.exceptions.DBusExecutionException;
@@ -16,6 +15,7 @@ import org.whispersystems.signalservice.api.push.exceptions.EncapsulatedExceptio
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.charset.Charset;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
 
 import static org.asamk.signal.util.ErrorUtils.*;
@@ -87,6 +87,15 @@ public class SendCommand implements DbusCommand {
             if (attachments == null) {
                 attachments = new ArrayList<>();
             }
+
+            // check to see if message is a JSON
+            // { "messageText": "string", "attachments": [ "base64" ] }
+            if (messageText.startsWith("{")) {
+                JsonSendableMessage result = new ObjectMapper().readValue(messageText, JsonSendableMessage.class);
+                messageText = result.getMessage();
+                attachments = result.getAttachments();
+            }
+
             if (ns.getString("group") != null) {
                 byte[] groupId = Util.decodeGroupId(ns.getString("group"));
                 signal.sendGroupMessage(messageText, attachments, groupId);
@@ -119,6 +128,10 @@ public class SendCommand implements DbusCommand {
         } catch (GroupIdFormatException e) {
             handleGroupIdFormatException(e);
             return 1;
+        } catch (JSException e) {
+            // not sure how to deal with this.
+            e.printStackTrace();
+            return 3;
         }
     }
 }