diff --git a/lib/CRUDCollection.js b/lib/CRUDCollection.js
index f5571f9..fedb3d5 100644
--- a/lib/CRUDCollection.js
+++ b/lib/CRUDCollection.js
@@ -18,12 +18,14 @@ var CRUDCollection = function(options){
     delete options.updateSchema; // if there's no update(), we ignore any updateSchema
   }
 
-  var outputList = function(req, res, list, listOptions){
-    var collection = res.collection(list, listOptions);
+  var outputList = function (req, res, list, listOptions) {
+    var key = (listOptions) ? listOptions.key : null;
+    var objectKey = (key && listOptions.listAsKeyedObject) ? key : null;
+    var collection = res.collection(list, objectKey);
     if (req.app.autoLink){
       collection = collection.linkEach('self', function(item, name){
-        if (!!listOptions){
-          return req.uri.child(item[listOptions.key]);  // allow 'listOptions' to provide another key to link on.
+        if (key){
+          return req.uri.child(item[key].toString());  // allow 'listOptions' to provide another key to link on.
         } else {
           return req.uri.child(name);
         }
diff --git a/test/CRUDCollection.js b/test/CRUDCollection.js
index 8df94be..0f7b42f 100644
--- a/test/CRUDCollection.js
+++ b/test/CRUDCollection.js
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ var hottap = require('hottap').hottap;
 var request = require('request');
 var jobNumber = process.env.TRAVIS_JOB_NUMBER || '0.0';
 var port = 8000 + parseInt(jobNumber.split(".")[1], 10);
+var hyperjson = require('hyperjson-connect');
 
 describe("CRUDCollection", function(){
     it ("sets fetch on wildcard if fetch is defined", function(){
@@ -167,6 +168,85 @@ describe("CRUDCollection", function(){
       };
       module.handler.GET(req, res);
     });
+
+    it ("creates object by key", function (done) {
+      var module = new CRUDCollection({
+                    list : function(req, res, cb){
+                      cb(null, [{"id": "0", value: "zero"}, {"id": "1", value: "one"}, {"id": "2", value: "two"}], {key : "id", listAsKeyedObject: true}); 
+                    }
+                   });
+      var req = {
+          app : {
+            autoLink : true
+          },
+          uri : urlgrey('http://localhost:8080/'),
+          headers: {}
+        };
+      var res = {
+          setHeader: function () {},
+          end: function (body) {
+
+            body.toString().should.equal('{"_items":{"0":{"id":"0","value":"zero","_links":{"self":{"href":"http://localhost:8080/0"}}},"1":{"id":"1","value":"one","_links":{"self":{"href":"http://localhost:8080/1"}}},"2":{"id":"2","value":"two","_links":{"self":{"href":"http://localhost:8080/2"}}}}}')
+            console.log(body);
+            done();
+          }
+        };
+      hyperjson()(req, res, function () {});
+      module.handler.GET(req, res);
+    });
+
+    it ("only use the key to create links", function (done) {
+      var module = new CRUDCollection({
+                    list : function(req, res, cb){
+                      cb(null, [{"id": "0", value: "zero"}, {"id": "1", value: "one"}, {"id": "2", value: "two"}], {key : "id"}); 
+                    }
+                   });
+      var req = {
+          app : {
+            autoLink : true
+          },
+          uri : urlgrey('http://localhost:8080/'),
+          headers: {}
+        };
+      var res = {
+          setHeader: function () {},
+          end: function (body) {
+
+            body.toString().should.equal('{"_items":[{"id":"0","value":"zero","_links":{"self":{"href":"http://localhost:8080/0"}}},{"id":"1","value":"one","_links":{"self":{"href":"http://localhost:8080/1"}}},{"id":"2","value":"two","_links":{"self":{"href":"http://localhost:8080/2"}}}]}')
+            console.log(body);
+            done();
+          }
+        };
+      hyperjson()(req, res, function () {});
+      module.handler.GET(req, res);
+    });
+
+    it ("should create links when values for key are falsy (ex: 0)", function (done) {
+      var module = new CRUDCollection({
+                    list : function(req, res, cb){
+                      cb(null, [{"id": 0, value: "zero"}], {key : "id"}); 
+                    }
+                   });
+      var req = {
+          app : {
+            autoLink : true
+          },
+          uri : urlgrey('http://localhost:8080/'),
+          headers: {}
+        };
+      var res = {
+          setHeader: function () {},
+          end: function (body) {
+
+            body.toString().should.equal('{"_items":[{"id":0,"value":"zero","_links":{"self":{"href":"http://localhost:8080/0"}}}]}')
+            console.log(body);
+            done();
+          }
+        };
+      hyperjson()(req, res, function () {});
+      module.handler.GET(req, res);
+    });
+
     it ("returns a 500 if the callback gets an error", function(done){
       var module = new CRUDCollection({
                                     list : function(req, res, cb){ cb("some error!"); }