diff --git a/sarracenia/config.py b/sarracenia/config.py
index ab9a62837..b4ec9126b 100755
--- a/sarracenia/config.py
+++ b/sarracenia/config.py
@@ -1360,7 +1360,7 @@ def _parse_binding(self, subtopic_string):
                 subtopic = subtopic_string.split('/')
             
         if hasattr(self, 'exchange') and hasattr(self, 'topicPrefix'):
-            self.bindings.append((self.exchange, self.topicPrefix, subtopic))
+            self.bindings.append((self.broker, self.exchange, self.topicPrefix, subtopic))
 
     def _parse_v2plugin(self, entryPoint, value):
         """
@@ -1998,7 +1998,7 @@ def finalize(self, component=None, config=None):
 
 
         if (self.bindings == [] and hasattr(self, 'exchange')):
-            self.bindings = [(self.exchange, self.topicPrefix, [ '#' ])]
+            self.bindings = [(self.broker, self.exchange, self.topicPrefix, [ '#' ])]
 
         if hasattr(self, 'documentRoot') and (self.documentRoot is not None):
             path = os.path.expanduser(os.path.abspath(self.documentRoot))
@@ -2433,7 +2433,7 @@ def __call__(self, parser, namespace, values, option_string):
                    topicPrefix = namespace.topicPrefix.split('/')
 
             namespace.bindings.append(
-                (namespace.exchange, topicPrefix, values))
+                (namespace.broker, namespace.exchange, topicPrefix, values))
 
     def parse_args(self, isPost=False):
         """
diff --git a/sarracenia/credentials.py b/sarracenia/credentials.py
index e51f402a7..140fc46b5 100755
--- a/sarracenia/credentials.py
+++ b/sarracenia/credentials.py
@@ -104,25 +104,10 @@ def __init__(self, urlstr=None):
         self.azure_credentials = None
         self.implicit_ftps = False
 
-    def __str__(self):
+    def __str__(self) -> str:
         """Returns attributes of the Credential object as a readable string.
         """
-
-        s = ''
-        if False:
-            s += self.url.geturl()
-        else:
-            s += self.url.scheme + '://'
-            if self.url.username:
-                s += self.url.username
-            #if self.url.password:
-            #   s += ':' + self.url.password
-            if self.url.hostname:
-                s += '@' + self.url.hostname
-            if self.url.port:
-                s += ':' + str(self.url.port)
-            if self.url.path:
-                s += self.url.path
+        s = self.geturl()
 
         s += " %s" % self.ssh_keyfile
         s += " %s" % self.passive
@@ -139,6 +124,24 @@ def __str__(self):
 
         return s
 
+    def geturl(self) -> str:
+        if not hasattr(self,'url'):
+            return ''
+
+        s=''
+        s += self.url.scheme + '://'
+        if self.url.username:
+            s += self.url.username
+        #if self.url.password:
+        #   s += ':' + self.url.password
+        if self.url.hostname:
+            s += '@' + self.url.hostname
+        if self.url.port:
+            s += ':' + str(self.url.port)
+        if self.url.path:
+            s += self.url.path
+        return s
+
 
 class CredentialDB:
     """Parses, stores and manages Credential objects.
@@ -242,6 +245,8 @@ def get(self, urlstr):
             k=urlstr
         return False, self.credentials[k]
 
+
+
     def has(self, urlstr):
         """Return ``True`` if the Credential matching the urlstr is already in the CredentialDB.
         
diff --git a/sarracenia/examples/flow_api_consumer.py b/sarracenia/examples/flow_api_consumer.py
index 107443b23..9e7c1794b 100644
--- a/sarracenia/examples/flow_api_consumer.py
+++ b/sarracenia/examples/flow_api_consumer.py
@@ -12,9 +12,10 @@
 cfg.component = 'subscribe'
 cfg.config = 'flow_demo'
 cfg.action = 'hoho'
-cfg.bindings = [('xpublic', ['v02', 'post'],
+cfg.bindings = [( 'xpublic', ['v02', 'post'],
                  ['*', 'WXO-DD', 'observations', 'swob-ml', '#'])]
 cfg.queueName = 'q_anonymous.subscriber_test2'
+#cfg.debug = True
 cfg.download = True
 cfg.batch = 1
 cfg.messageCountMax = 5
diff --git a/sarracenia/flowcb/gather/message.py b/sarracenia/flowcb/gather/message.py
index f6fcea4bb..38b94cfa8 100755
--- a/sarracenia/flowcb/gather/message.py
+++ b/sarracenia/flowcb/gather/message.py
@@ -23,10 +23,26 @@ def __init__(self, options) -> None:
         self.od = sarracenia.moth.default_options
         self.od.update(self.o.dictify())
 
-        if hasattr(self.o, 'broker') and self.o.broker:
-            self.consumer = sarracenia.moth.Moth.subFactory(self.od)
-        else:
+        if not hasattr(self.o, 'broker') or not self.o.broker:
             logger.critical('missing required broker specification')
+            return
+
+        if not hasattr(self.o, 'bindings') or not self.o.bindings:
+            logger.critical('missing required bindings (exchange,subtopic) for broker')
+            return
+
+        self.brokers=[]
+        for binding in self.o.bindings:
+            if len(binding) >= 4 and binding[0] not in self.brokers:
+               self.brokers.append(binding[0])
+
+        if len(self.brokers) == 0:
+            self.brokers=[ self.o.broker ]
+
+        self.consumers={}
+        for broker in self.brokers:
+            self.od['broker']=broker
+            self.consumers[broker] = sarracenia.moth.Moth.subFactory(self.od)
 
     def gather(self, messageCountMax) -> list:
         """
@@ -34,43 +50,69 @@ def gather(self, messageCountMax) -> list:
               True ... you can gather from other sources. and:
               a list of messages obtained from this source.
         """
-        if hasattr(self,'consumer') and hasattr(self.consumer,'newMessages'):
-            return (True, self.consumer.newMessages())
-        else:
-            logger.warning( f'not connected. Trying to connect to {self.o.broker}')
-            self.consumer = sarracenia.moth.Moth.subFactory(self.od)
+        new_messages=[]
+        if not hasattr(self,'consumers'):
             return (True, [])
 
+        for broker in self.brokers:
+            if broker in self.consumers and hasattr(self.consumers[broker],'newMessages'):
+                new_messages.extend(self.consumers[broker].newMessages())
+            else:
+                logger.warning( f'not connected. Trying to connect to {broker}')
+                self.od['broker']=broker
+                self.consumers[broker] = sarracenia.moth.Moth.subFactory(self.od)
+
+        return (True, new_messages)
+
     def ack(self, mlist) -> None:
 
-        if not hasattr(self,'consumer'):
+        if not hasattr(self,'consumers'):
             return
 
         for m in mlist:
+            if not 'broker' in m:
+                logger.error( f"cannot ack, missing broker in {m}" )
+                continue
+
+            if not m['broker'] in self.consumers:
+                logger.error( f"cannot ack, no consumer for {m['broker'].geturl()}" )
+                continue
+
             # messages being re-downloaded should not be re-acked, but they won't have an ack_id (see issue #466)
-            self.consumer.ack(m)
+            if hasattr(self.consumers[m['broker']],'ack'):
+                 self.consumers[m['broker']].ack(m)
+            else:
+                logger.error( f"cannot ack" )
 
     def metricsReport(self) -> dict:
-        if hasattr(self,'consumer') and hasattr(self.consumer,'metricsReport'):
-           return self.consumer.metricsReport()
-        else:
+
+        if not hasattr(self,'consumers'):
            return {}
 
+        metrics={}
+        for broker in self.brokers:
+           if hasattr(self.consumers[broker],'metricsReport'):
+               metrics[broker.geturl()] = self.consumers[broker].metricsReport()
+        return metrics 
+
     def on_housekeeping(self) -> None:
 
-        if not hasattr(self,'consumer'):
+        if not hasattr(self,'consumers'):
             return
 
-        if hasattr(self.consumer, 'metricsReport'):
-            m = self.consumer.metricsReport()
-            average = (m['rxByteCount'] /
-                   m['rxGoodCount'] if m['rxGoodCount'] != 0 else 0)
-            logger.info( f"messages: good: {m['rxGoodCount']} bad: {m['rxBadCount']} " +\
-               f"bytes: {naturalSize(m['rxByteCount'])} " +\
+        m = self.metricsReport()
+        for broker in self.brokers:
+            burl=broker.geturl()
+            average = (m[burl]['rxByteCount'] /
+                   m[burl]['rxGoodCount'] if m[burl]['rxGoodCount'] != 0 else 0)
+            logger.info( f"{burl} messages: good: {m[burl]['rxGoodCount']} bad: {m[burl]['rxBadCount']} " +\
+               f"bytes: {naturalSize(m[burl]['rxByteCount'])} " +\
                f"average: {naturalSize(average)}" )
-            self.consumer.metricsReset()
+            self.consumers[broker].metricsReset()
 
     def on_stop(self) -> None:
-        if hasattr(self,'consumer') and hasattr(self.consumer, 'close'):
-            self.consumer.close()
+        if hasattr(self,'consumers'): 
+            for broker in self.brokers:
+                 if hasattr(self.consumers[broker], 'close'):
+                     self.consumers[broker].close()
         logger.info('closing')
diff --git a/sarracenia/flowcb/retry.py b/sarracenia/flowcb/retry.py
index ca4bef880..a868f5025 100755
--- a/sarracenia/flowcb/retry.py
+++ b/sarracenia/flowcb/retry.py
@@ -113,6 +113,15 @@ def after_accept(self, worklist) -> None:
         if len(mlist) > 0:
             worklist.incoming.extend(mlist)
 
+    def clean_messages(self,worklist):
+        for m in worklist.failed:
+            # json cannot serialize Credential... so just remove it prior to storing it.
+            if 'broker' in m:
+                del m['broker']
+            if 'ack_id' in m:
+                logger.error( f"putting unacked message {m.getIDStr()} in retry, will never be acked." )
+                del m['ack_id']
+
     def after_work(self, worklist) -> None:
         """
         Messages in `worklist.failed` should be put in the download retry queue. If there are only a few new
@@ -123,6 +132,7 @@ def after_work(self, worklist) -> None:
 
         if len(worklist.failed) != 0:
             logger.debug( f"putting {len(worklist.failed)} messages into {self.download_retry_name}"  )
+            self.clean_messages(worklist)
             self.download_retry.put(worklist.failed)
             worklist.failed = []
 
@@ -151,6 +161,7 @@ def after_post(self, worklist) -> None:
         if not features['retry']['present'] :
             return
 
+        self.clean_messages(worklist)
         self.post_retry.put(worklist.failed)
         worklist.failed=[]
 
diff --git a/sarracenia/moth/amqp.py b/sarracenia/moth/amqp.py
index 2c9429a67..a6b536adc 100755
--- a/sarracenia/moth/amqp.py
+++ b/sarracenia/moth/amqp.py
@@ -112,8 +112,6 @@ def _msgRawToDict(self, raw_msg) -> sarracenia.Message:
                     logger.info('had no delivery info')
                 logger.info('raw message end')
 
-
-
             if type(body) is bytes:
                 try:
                     body = raw_msg.body.decode("utf8")
@@ -142,9 +140,10 @@ def _msgRawToDict(self, raw_msg) -> sarracenia.Message:
             msg.deriveSource( self.o )
             msg.deriveTopics( self.o, topic )
 
+            msg['broker'] = self.o['broker']
             msg['ack_id'] = raw_msg.delivery_info['delivery_tag']
             msg['local_offset'] = 0
-            msg['_deleteOnPost'] |= set( ['ack_id', 'exchange', 'local_offset', 'subtopic'])
+            msg['_deleteOnPost'] |= set( ['ack_id', 'broker', 'exchange', 'local_offset', 'subtopic'])
             if not msg.validate():
                 if hasattr(self,'channel'):
                     self.channel.basic_ack(msg['ack_id'])
@@ -359,7 +358,17 @@ def getSetup(self) -> None:
 
                 if self.o['queueBind'] and self.o['queueName']:
                     for tup in self.o['bindings']:
-                        exchange, prefix, subtopic = tup
+                        if len(tup) == 4:
+                            broker, exchange, prefix, subtopic = tup
+                        elif len(tup) == 3:
+                            exchange, prefix, subtopic = tup
+                            broker = self.o['broker']
+                        else:
+                            logger.critical( f"binding \"{tup}\" should be a list of tuples ( broker, exchange, prefix, subtopic )" )
+                            continue
+                        logger.critical( f"{broker=} {self.o['broker']=} ")
+                        if broker != self.o['broker']:
+                            continue
                         topic = '.'.join(prefix + subtopic)
                         if self.o['dry_run']:
                             logger.info('binding (dry run) %s with %s to %s (as: %s)' % \
diff --git a/sarracenia/moth/mqtt.py b/sarracenia/moth/mqtt.py
index d107a46a3..9fe30af19 100755
--- a/sarracenia/moth/mqtt.py
+++ b/sarracenia/moth/mqtt.py
@@ -213,8 +213,16 @@ def __sub_on_connect(client, userdata, flags, reason_code, properties=None):
             if 'topic' in userdata.o:
                 subj=userdata.o['topic']
             else:
-                exchange, prefix, subtopic = binding_tuple
-                logger.info( f"tuple: {exchange} {prefix} {subtopic}")
+                if len(binding_tuple) == 4:
+                    broker, exchange, prefix, subtopic = binding_tuple
+                elif len(binding_tuple) == 3:
+                    exchange, prefix, subtopic = binding_tuple
+                    broker = userdata.o['broker']
+                else:
+                    logger.critical( f"invalid binding: \"{binding_tuple}\" should be a tuple containing ( broker, exchange, topicPrefix, subtopic )" )
+                    continue
+ 
+                logger.info( f"tuple: {broker} {exchange} {prefix} {subtopic}")
 
                 subj = '/'.join(['$share', userdata.o['queueName'], exchange] +
                                 prefix + subtopic)
@@ -590,10 +598,11 @@ def _msgDecode(self, mqttMessage) -> sarracenia.Message:
         message.deriveSource( self.o )
         message.deriveTopics( self.o, topic=mqttMessage.topic, separator='/' )
 
+        message['broker'] = self.o['broker']
         message['ack_id'] = mqttMessage.mid
         message['qos'] = mqttMessage.qos
         message['local_offset'] = 0
-        message['_deleteOnPost'] |= set( ['exchange', 'local_offset', 'ack_id', 'qos' ])
+        message['_deleteOnPost'] |= set( ['ack_id', 'broker', 'exchange', 'local_offset', 'qos' ])
 
         self.metrics['rxLast'] = sarracenia.nowstr()
         if message.validate():