diff --git a/iroh/Cargo.toml b/iroh/Cargo.toml
index efcc76476f..2a8e8cc665 100644
--- a/iroh/Cargo.toml
+++ b/iroh/Cargo.toml
@@ -209,6 +209,10 @@ required-features = ["examples"]
 name = "echo"
 required-features = ["examples"]
 
+[[example]]
+name = "echo-no-router"
+required-features = ["examples"]
+
 [[example]]
 name = "transfer"
 required-features = ["examples"]
diff --git a/iroh/examples/echo-no-router.rs b/iroh/examples/echo-no-router.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..66b76e491a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/iroh/examples/echo-no-router.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+//! Very basic example showing how to implement a basic echo protocol,
+//! without using the `Router` API. (For the router version, check out the echo.rs example.)
+//!
+//! The echo protocol echos any data sent to it in the first stream.
+//!
+//! ## Running the Example
+//!
+//!     cargo run --example echo-no-router --features=examples
+
+use anyhow::Result;
+use iroh::{Endpoint, NodeAddr};
+
+/// Each protocol is identified by its ALPN string.
+///
+/// The ALPN, or application-layer protocol negotiation, is exchanged in the connection handshake,
+/// and the connection is aborted unless both nodes pass the same bytestring.
+const ALPN: &[u8] = b"iroh-example/echo/0";
+
+#[tokio::main]
+async fn main() -> Result<()> {
+    let endpoint = start_accept_side().await?;
+    let node_addr = endpoint.node_addr().await?;
+
+    connect_side(node_addr).await?;
+
+    // This makes sure the endpoint is closed properly and connections close gracefully
+    // and will indirectly close the tasks spawned by `start_accept_side`.
+    endpoint.close().await;
+
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+async fn connect_side(addr: NodeAddr) -> Result<()> {
+    let endpoint = Endpoint::builder().discovery_n0().bind().await?;
+
+    // Open a connection to the accepting node
+    let conn = endpoint.connect(addr, ALPN).await?;
+
+    // Open a bidirectional QUIC stream
+    let (mut send, mut recv) = conn.open_bi().await?;
+
+    // Send some data to be echoed
+    send.write_all(b"Hello, world!").await?;
+
+    // Signal the end of data for this particular stream
+    send.finish()?;
+
+    // Receive the echo, but limit reading up to maximum 1000 bytes
+    let response = recv.read_to_end(1000).await?;
+    assert_eq!(&response, b"Hello, world!");
+
+    // Explicitly close the whole connection.
+    conn.close(0u32.into(), b"bye!");
+
+    // The above call only queues a close message to be sent (see how it's not async!).
+    // We need to actually call this to make sure this message is sent out.
+    endpoint.close().await;
+    // If we don't call this, but continue using the endpoint, then the queued
+    // close call will eventually be picked up and sent.
+    // But always try to wait for endpoint.close().await to go through before dropping
+    // the endpoint to ensure any queued messages are sent through and connections are
+    // closed gracefully.
+
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+async fn start_accept_side() -> Result<Endpoint> {
+    let endpoint = Endpoint::builder()
+        .discovery_n0()
+        // The accept side needs to opt-in to the protocols it accepts,
+        // as any connection attempts that can't be found with a matching ALPN
+        // will be rejected.
+        .alpns(vec![ALPN.to_vec()])
+        .bind()
+        .await?;
+
+    // spawn a task so that `start_accept_side` returns immediately and we can continue in main().
+    tokio::spawn({
+        let endpoint = endpoint.clone();
+        async move {
+            // This task won't leak, because we call `endpoint.close()` in `main()`,
+            // which causes `endpoint.accept().await` to return `None`.
+            // In a more serious environment, we recommend avoiding `tokio::spawn` and use either a `TaskTracker` or
+            // `JoinSet` instead to make sure you're not accidentally leaking tasks.
+            while let Some(incoming) = endpoint.accept().await {
+                // spawn a task for each incoming connection, so we can serve multiple connections asynchronously
+                tokio::spawn(async move {
+                    let connection = incoming.await?;
+
+                    // We can get the remote's node id from the connection.
+                    let node_id = connection.remote_node_id()?;
+                    println!("accepted connection from {node_id}");
+
+                    // Our protocol is a simple request-response protocol, so we expect the
+                    // connecting peer to open a single bi-directional stream.
+                    let (mut send, mut recv) = connection.accept_bi().await?;
+
+                    // Echo any bytes received back directly.
+                    // This will keep copying until the sender signals the end of data on the stream.
+                    let bytes_sent = tokio::io::copy(&mut recv, &mut send).await?;
+                    println!("Copied over {bytes_sent} byte(s)");
+
+                    // By calling `finish` on the send stream we signal that we will not send anything
+                    // further, which makes the receive stream on the other end terminate.
+                    send.finish()?;
+
+                    // Wait until the remote closes the connection, which it does once it
+                    // received the response.
+                    connection.closed().await;
+
+                    anyhow::Ok(())
+                });
+            }
+
+            anyhow::Ok(())
+        }
+    });
+
+    Ok(endpoint)
+}
diff --git a/iroh/examples/echo.rs b/iroh/examples/echo.rs
index b0a5d28d49..310d2c6a33 100644
--- a/iroh/examples/echo.rs
+++ b/iroh/examples/echo.rs
@@ -22,11 +22,12 @@ const ALPN: &[u8] = b"iroh-example/echo/0";
 
 #[tokio::main]
 async fn main() -> Result<()> {
-    let router = accept_side().await?;
+    let router = start_accept_side().await?;
     let node_addr = router.endpoint().node_addr().await?;
 
     connect_side(node_addr).await?;
 
+    // This makes sure the endpoint in the router is closed properly and connections close gracefully
     router.shutdown().await?;
 
     Ok(())
@@ -44,19 +45,28 @@ async fn connect_side(addr: NodeAddr) -> Result<()> {
     // Send some data to be echoed
     send.write_all(b"Hello, world!").await?;
 
-    // Signal the end of transfer.
+    // Signal the end of data for this particular stream
     send.finish()?;
 
-    // Receive the echo
+    // Receive the echo, but limit reading up to maximum 1000 bytes
     let response = recv.read_to_end(1000).await?;
     assert_eq!(&response, b"Hello, world!");
 
+    // Explicitly close the whole connection.
     conn.close(0u32.into(), b"bye!");
 
+    // The above call only queues a close message to be sent (see how it's not async!).
+    // We need to actually call this to make sure this message is sent out.
+    endpoint.close().await;
+    // If we don't call this, but continue using the endpoint, we then the queued
+    // close call will eventually be picked up and sent.
+    // But always try to wait for endpoint.close().await to go through before dropping
+    // the endpoint to ensure any queued messages are sent through and connections are
+    // closed gracefully.
     Ok(())
 }
 
-async fn accept_side() -> Result<Router> {
+async fn start_accept_side() -> Result<Router> {
     let endpoint = Endpoint::builder().discovery_n0().bind().await?;
 
     // Build our protocol handler and add our protocol, identified by its ALPN, and spawn the node.
@@ -85,6 +95,7 @@ impl ProtocolHandler for Echo {
             let (mut send, mut recv) = connection.accept_bi().await?;
 
             // Echo any bytes received back directly.
+            // This will keep copying until the sender signals the end of data on the stream.
             let bytes_sent = tokio::io::copy(&mut recv, &mut send).await?;
             println!("Copied over {bytes_sent} byte(s)");