diff --git a/project.clj b/project.clj
index d0ac83ab26ed9..db982ea4083b9 100644
--- a/project.clj
+++ b/project.clj
@@ -76,7 +76,8 @@
                  [postgresql "9.3-1102.jdbc41"]                       ; Postgres driver
                  [io.crate/crate-jdbc "2.1.6"]                        ; Crate JDBC driver
                  [prismatic/schema "1.1.5"]                           ; Data schema declaration and validation library
-                 [ring/ring-jetty-adapter "1.5.1"]                    ; Ring adapter using Jetty webserver (used to run a Ring server for unit tests)
+                 [ring/ring-core "1.6.0"]
+                 [ring/ring-jetty-adapter "1.6.0"]                    ; Ring adapter using Jetty webserver (used to run a Ring server for unit tests)
                  [ring/ring-json "0.4.0"]                             ; Ring middleware for reading/writing JSON automatically
                  [stencil "0.5.0"]                                    ; Mustache templates for Clojure
                  [toucan "1.0.3"                                      ; Model layer, hydration, and DB utilities
diff --git a/src/metabase/api/card.clj b/src/metabase/api/card.clj
index 5863d4ebf813d..12541c5dd35ff 100644
--- a/src/metabase/api/card.clj
+++ b/src/metabase/api/card.clj
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
             [compojure.core :refer [DELETE GET POST PUT]]
             [metabase
              [events :as events]
+             [middleware :as middleware]
              [public-settings :as public-settings]
              [query-processor :as qp]
              [util :as u]]
@@ -12,6 +13,7 @@
              [common :as api]
              [dataset :as dataset-api]
              [label :as label-api]]
+            [metabase.api.common.internal :refer [route-fn-name]]
             [metabase.models
              [card :as card :refer [Card]]
              [card-favorite :refer [CardFavorite]]
@@ -467,5 +469,5 @@
   (api/check-embedding-enabled)
   (db/select [Card :name :id], :enable_embedding true, :archived false))
 
-
-(api/define-routes)
+(api/define-routes
+  (middleware/streaming-json-response (route-fn-name 'POST "/:card-id/query")))
diff --git a/src/metabase/api/common.clj b/src/metabase/api/common.clj
index 0e18189aa8075..4b8514c881880 100644
--- a/src/metabase/api/common.clj
+++ b/src/metabase/api/common.clj
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@
                                                            (s/replace #"^metabase\." "")
                                                            (s/replace #"\." "/"))
                                                        (u/pprint-to-str (concat api-routes additional-routes))))
-       ~@api-routes ~@additional-routes)))
+       ~@additional-routes ~@api-routes)))
 
 
 ;;; ------------------------------------------------------------ PERMISSIONS CHECKING HELPER FNS ------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/src/metabase/api/dataset.clj b/src/metabase/api/dataset.clj
index 548e15d97b830..7666d83e7fd55 100644
--- a/src/metabase/api/dataset.clj
+++ b/src/metabase/api/dataset.clj
@@ -6,9 +6,11 @@
             [compojure.core :refer [POST]]
             [dk.ative.docjure.spreadsheet :as spreadsheet]
             [metabase
+             [middleware :as middleware]
              [query-processor :as qp]
              [util :as u]]
             [metabase.api.common :as api]
+            [metabase.api.common.internal :refer [route-fn-name]]
             [metabase.models
              [database :refer [Database]]
              [query :as query]]
@@ -124,5 +126,5 @@
       (qp/dataset-query (dissoc query :constraints)
         {:executed-by api/*current-user-id*, :context (export-format->context export-format)}))))
 
-
-(api/define-routes)
+(api/define-routes
+  (middleware/streaming-json-response (route-fn-name 'POST "/")))
diff --git a/src/metabase/core.clj b/src/metabase/core.clj
index c36cfe2750630..16cc4c3c09a13 100644
--- a/src/metabase/core.clj
+++ b/src/metabase/core.clj
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
 
 (def ^:private app
   "The primary entry point to the Ring HTTP server."
-  (-> routes/routes
+  (-> #'routes/routes                    ; the #' is to allow tests to redefine endpoints
       mb-middleware/log-api-call
       mb-middleware/add-security-headers ; Add HTTP headers to API responses to prevent them from being cached
       (wrap-json-body                    ; extracts json POST body and makes it avaliable on request
diff --git a/src/metabase/middleware.clj b/src/metabase/middleware.clj
index a521f291aeee1..5e2467e44bff7 100644
--- a/src/metabase/middleware.clj
+++ b/src/metabase/middleware.clj
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 (ns metabase.middleware
   "Metabase-specific middleware functions & configuration."
-  (:require [cheshire.generate :refer [add-encoder encode-nil encode-str]]
+  (:require [cheshire
+             [core :as json]
+             [generate :refer [add-encoder encode-nil encode-str]]]
+            [clojure.core.async :as async]
+            [clojure.java.io :as io]
             [clojure.tools.logging :as log]
             [metabase
              [config :as config]
@@ -15,10 +19,13 @@
              [setting :refer [defsetting]]
              [user :as user :refer [User]]]
             monger.json
+            [ring.core.protocols :as protocols]
+            [ring.util.response :as response]
             [toucan
              [db :as db]
              [models :as models]])
-  (:import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonGenerator))
+  (:import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonGenerator
+           java.io.OutputStream))
 
 ;;; # ------------------------------------------------------------ UTIL FNS ------------------------------------------------------------
 
@@ -354,3 +361,75 @@
            (handler request))
          (catch Throwable e
            {:status 400, :body (.getMessage e)}))))
+
+;;; ------------------------------------------------------------ EXCEPTION HANDLING ------------------------------------------------------------
+
+(def ^:private ^:const streaming-response-keep-alive-interval-ms
+  "Interval between sending newline characters to keep Heroku from terminating
+   requests like queries that take a long time to complete."
+  (* 1 1000))
+
+;; Handle ring response maps that contain a core.async chan in the :body key:
+;;
+;; {:status 200
+;;  :body (async/chan)}
+;;
+;; and send each string sent to that queue back to the browser as it arrives
+;; this avoids output buffering in the default stream handling which was not sending
+;; any responses until ~5k characters where in the queue.
+(extend-protocol protocols/StreamableResponseBody
+  clojure.core.async.impl.channels.ManyToManyChannel
+  (write-body-to-stream [output-queue _ ^OutputStream output-stream]
+    (log/debug (u/format-color 'green "starting streaming request"))
+    (with-open [out (io/writer output-stream)]
+      (loop [chunk (async/<!! output-queue)]
+        (when-not (= chunk ::EOF)
+          (.write out (str chunk))
+          (try
+            (.flush out)
+            (catch org.eclipse.jetty.io.EofException e
+              (log/info (u/format-color 'yellow "connection closed, canceling request %s" (type e)))
+              (async/close! output-queue)
+              (throw e)))
+          (recur (async/<!! output-queue)))))))
+
+(defn streaming-json-response
+  "This midelware assumes handlers fail early or return success
+   Run the handler in a future and send newlines to keep the connection open
+   and help detect when the browser is no longer listening for the response.
+   Waits for one second to see if the handler responds immediately, If it does
+   then there is no need to stream the response and it is sent back directly.
+   In cases where it takes longer than a second, assume the eventual result will
+   be a success and start sending newlines to keep the connection open."
+  [handler]
+  (fn [request]
+    (let [response            (future (handler request))
+          optimistic-response (deref response streaming-response-keep-alive-interval-ms ::no-immediate-response)]
+      (if (= optimistic-response ::no-immediate-response)
+        ;; if we didn't get a normal response in the first poling interval assume it's going to be slow
+        ;; and start sending keepalive packets.
+        (let [output (async/chan 1)]
+          ;; the output channel will be closed by the adapter when the incoming connection is closed.
+          (future
+            (loop []
+              (Thread/sleep streaming-response-keep-alive-interval-ms)
+              (when-not (realized? response)
+                (log/debug (u/format-color 'blue "Response not ready, writing one byte & sleeping..."))
+                ;; a newline padding character is used because it forces output flushing in jetty.
+                ;; if sending this character fails because the connection is closed, the chan will then close.
+                ;; Newlines are no-ops when reading JSON which this depends upon.
+                (when-not (async/>!! output "\n")
+                  (log/info (u/format-color 'yellow "canceled request %s" (future-cancel response)))
+                  (future-cancel response)) ;; try our best to kill the thread running the query.
+                (recur))))
+          (future
+            (try
+              ;; This is the part where we make this assume it's a JSON response we are sending.
+              (async/>!! output (json/encode (:body @response)))
+              (finally
+                (async/>!! output ::EOF)
+                (async/close! response))))
+          ;; here we assume a successful response will be written to the output channel.
+          (assoc (response/response output)
+            :content-type "applicaton/json"))
+          optimistic-response))))
diff --git a/test/metabase/middleware_test.clj b/test/metabase/middleware_test.clj
index e67b97392181b..90175af670f6a 100644
--- a/test/metabase/middleware_test.clj
+++ b/test/metabase/middleware_test.clj
@@ -1,13 +1,20 @@
 (ns metabase.middleware-test
   (:require [cheshire.core :as json]
+            [clojure.core.async :as async]
+            [clojure.java.io :as io]
+            [clojure.tools.logging :as log]
+            [compojure.core :refer [GET]]
             [expectations :refer :all]
             [metabase
-             [middleware :refer :all]
+             [config :as config]
+             [middleware :as middleware :refer :all]
+             [routes :as routes]
              [util :as u]]
             [metabase.api.common :refer [*current-user* *current-user-id*]]
             [metabase.models.session :refer [Session]]
             [metabase.test.data.users :refer :all]
             [ring.mock.request :as mock]
+            [ring.util.response :as resp]
             [toucan.db :as db]))
 
 ;;  ===========================  TEST wrap-session-id middleware  ===========================
@@ -176,3 +183,95 @@
 (expect "{\"my-bytes\":\"0xC42360D7\"}"
         (json/generate-string {:my-bytes (byte-array [196 35  96 215  8 106 108 248 183 215 244 143  17 160 53 186
                                                       213 30 116  25 87  31 123 172 207 108  47 107 191 215 76  92])}))
+;;; stuff here
+
+(defn- streaming-fast-success [_]
+  (resp/response {:success true}))
+
+(defn- streaming-fast-failure [_]
+  (throw (Exception. "immediate failure")))
+
+(defn- streaming-slow-success [_]
+  (Thread/sleep 7000)
+  (resp/response {:success true}))
+
+(defn- streaming-slow-failure [_]
+  (Thread/sleep 7000)
+  (throw (Exception. "delayed failure")))
+
+(defn- test-streaming-endpoint [handler]
+  (let [path (str handler)]
+    (with-redefs [metabase.routes/routes (compojure.core/routes
+                                          (GET (str "/" path) [] (middleware/streaming-json-response
+                                                                  handler)))]
+      (let  [connection (async/chan 1000)
+             reader (io/input-stream (str "http://localhost:" (config/config-int :mb-jetty-port) "/" path))]
+        (async/go-loop [next-char (.read reader)]
+          (if (pos? next-char)
+            (do
+              (async/>! connection (char next-char))
+              (recur (.read reader)))
+            (async/close! connection)))
+        (let [_ (Thread/sleep 1500)
+              first-second (async/poll! connection)
+              _ (Thread/sleep 1000)
+              second-second (async/poll! connection)
+              eventually (apply str (async/<!! (async/into [] connection)))]
+          [first-second second-second eventually])))))
+
+
+;;slow success
+(expect
+  [\newline \newline "\n\n\n{\"success\":true}"]
+  (test-streaming-endpoint streaming-slow-success))
+
+;; immediate success should have no padding
+(expect
+  [\{ \" "success\":true}"]
+  (test-streaming-endpoint streaming-fast-success))
+
+;; we know delayed failures (exception thrown) will just drop the connection
+(expect
+  [\newline \newline "\n\n\n"]
+  (test-streaming-endpoint streaming-slow-failure))
+
+;; immediate failures (where an exception is thown will return a 500
+(expect
+  #"Server returned HTTP response code: 500 for URL:.*"
+  (try
+    (test-streaming-endpoint streaming-fast-failure)
+    (catch java.io.IOException e
+      (.getMessage e))))
+
+;; test that handler is killed when connection closes
+(def test-slow-handler-state (atom :unset))
+
+(defn- test-slow-handler [_]
+  (log/debug (u/format-color 'yellow "starting test-slow-handler"))
+  (Thread/sleep 7000)  ;; this is somewhat long to make sure the keepalive polling has time to kill it.
+  (reset! test-slow-handler-state :ran-to-compleation)
+  (log/debug (u/format-color 'yellow "finished test-slow-handler"))
+  (resp/response {:success true}))
+
+(defn- start-and-maybe-kill-test-request [kill?]
+  (reset! test-slow-handler-state :initial-state)
+  (let [path "test-slow-handler"]
+    (with-redefs [metabase.routes/routes (compojure.core/routes
+                                          (GET (str "/" path) [] (middleware/streaming-json-response
+                                                                  test-slow-handler)))]
+      (let  [reader (io/input-stream (str "http://localhost:" (config/config-int :mb-jetty-port) "/" path))]
+        (Thread/sleep 1500)
+        (when kill?
+          (.close reader))
+        (Thread/sleep 10000)))) ;; this is long enough to ensure that the handler has run to completion if it was not killed.
+  @test-slow-handler-state)
+
+;; In this first test we will close the connection before the test handler gets to change the state
+(expect
+  :initial-state
+  (start-and-maybe-kill-test-request true))
+
+;; and to make sure this test actually works, run the same test again and let it change the state.
+(expect
+  :ran-to-compleation
+  (start-and-maybe-kill-test-request false))