diff --git a/kcl/kcl.go b/kcl/kcl.go
index 5dbc3a7..399a7c2 100644
--- a/kcl/kcl.go
+++ b/kcl/kcl.go
@@ -21,22 +21,12 @@ type Checkpointer interface {
 	Shutdown()
 }
 
-type CheckpointError struct {
-	e string
-}
-
-func (ce CheckpointError) Error() string {
-	return ce.e
-}
-
 type ioHandler struct {
 	inputFile  io.Reader
 	outputFile io.Writer
 	errorFile  io.Writer
 }
 
-//func newIOHandler(inputFile io.Reader, outputFile io.Writer, errorFile io.)
-
 func (i ioHandler) writeLine(line string) {
 	fmt.Fprintf(i.outputFile, "\n%s\n", line)
 }
@@ -163,39 +153,6 @@ type KCLProcess struct {
 	nextCheckpointPair SequencePair
 }
 
-func (kclp *KCLProcess) reportDone(responseFor string) error {
-	fmt.Println("%%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%%%% Writing report done line")
-	return kclp.ioHandler.writeAction(struct {
-		Action      string `json:"action"`
-		ResponseFor string `json:"responseFor"`
-	}{
-		Action:      "status",
-		ResponseFor: responseFor,
-	})
-}
-
-func (kclp *KCLProcess) performAction(a interface{}) (string, error) {
-	switch action := a.(type) {
-	case ActionInitialize:
-		return action.Action, kclp.recordProcessor.Initialize(action.ShardID, kclp)
-	case ActionProcessRecords:
-		return action.Action, kclp.recordProcessor.ProcessRecords(action.Records)
-	case ActionShutdown:
-		return action.Action, kclp.recordProcessor.Shutdown(action.Reason)
-	default:
-		return "", fmt.Errorf("unknown action to dispatch: %+#v", action)
-	}
-}
-
-func (kclp *KCLProcess) handleLine(line string) (string, error) {
-	action, err := kclp.ioHandler.loadAction(line)
-	if err != nil {
-		return "", err
-	}
-
-	return kclp.performAction(action)
-}
-
 func (kclp *KCLProcess) Checkpoint(pair SequencePair) {
 	kclp.ckpmux.Lock()
 	defer kclp.ckpmux.Unlock()
@@ -209,78 +166,94 @@ func (kclp *KCLProcess) Shutdown() {
 	kclp.isShuttingDown = true
 }
 
-func (kclp *KCLProcess) sendCheckpoint(pair SequencePair, retryCount int) error {
-	sleepDuration := 5 * time.Second
+func (kclp *KCLProcess) handleCheckpointAction(action ActionCheckpoint) error {
+	if action.Error == nil { // Successful checkpoint
+		return nil
+	}
 
-	for n := 0; n <= retryCount; n++ {
-		fmt.Printf("Trying to checkpoint %d\n", n)
-		err := kclp.processCheckpoint(pair)
-		if err == nil {
-			return nil
-		}
+	msg := *action.Error
+	switch msg {
+	case "ShutdownException":
+		return fmt.Errorf("Encountered shutdown exception, skipping checkpoint")
+	case "ThrottlingException":
+		sleep := 5 * time.Second
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Checkpointing throttling, pause for %s", sleep)
+		time.Sleep(sleep)
+	case "InvalidStateException":
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "MultiLangDaemon invalid state while checkpointing")
+	default:
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Encountered an error while checkpointing: %s", msg)
+	}
 
-		if cperr, ok := err.(CheckpointError); ok {
-			switch cperr.Error() {
-			case "ShutdownException":
-				return fmt.Errorf("Encountered shutdown exception, skipping checkpoint")
-			case "ThrottlingException":
-				fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Checkpointing throttling, pause for %s\n", sleepDuration)
-			case "InvalidStateException":
-				fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "MultiLangDaemon invalid state while checkpointing\n")
-			default:
-				fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Encountered an error while checkpointing: %s", err)
-			}
-		} else {
-			return err
-		}
+	seq := action.SequenceNumber
+	subSeq := action.SubSequenceNumber
 
-		if n == retryCount {
-			return fmt.Errorf("Failed to checkpoint after %d attempts, giving up.", retryCount)
-		}
+	kclp.ckpmux.Lock()
+	if !kclp.nextCheckpointPair.IsEmpty() {
+		tmp := kclp.nextCheckpointPair.Sequence.String()
+		seq = &tmp
+		subSeq = &kclp.nextCheckpointPair.SubSequence
+	}
+	kclp.ckpmux.Unlock()
 
-		time.Sleep(sleepDuration)
+	if seq != nil && subSeq != nil {
+		return kclp.sendCheckpoint(seq, subSeq)
 	}
 
 	return nil
 }
 
-func (kclp *KCLProcess) processCheckpoint(pair SequencePair) error {
-	var seq *string
-	var subSeq *int
-	if !pair.IsEmpty() { // an empty pair is a signal to shutdown
-		tmp := pair.Sequence.String()
-		seq = &tmp
-		subSeq = &pair.SubSequence
-	}
-	fmt.Println("%%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%%%% Writing checkpoint")
-	kclp.ioHandler.writeAction(ActionCheckpoint{
+func (kclp *KCLProcess) sendCheckpoint(seq *string, subSeq *int) error {
+	return kclp.ioHandler.writeAction(ActionCheckpoint{
 		Action:            "checkpoint",
 		SequenceNumber:    seq,
 		SubSequenceNumber: subSeq,
 	})
-	fmt.Println("%%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%%%% Reading checkpoint line")
-	line, err := kclp.ioHandler.readLine()
+}
+
+func (kclp *KCLProcess) reportDone(responseFor string) error {
+	return kclp.ioHandler.writeAction(struct {
+		Action      string `json:"action"`
+		ResponseFor string `json:"responseFor"`
+	}{
+		Action:      "status",
+		ResponseFor: responseFor,
+	})
+}
+
+func (kclp *KCLProcess) handleLine(line string) error {
+	action, err := kclp.ioHandler.loadAction(line)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	actionI, err := kclp.ioHandler.loadAction(line)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
+
+	switch action := action.(type) {
+	case ActionCheckpoint:
+		err = kclp.handleCheckpointAction(action)
+	case ActionInitialize:
+		err = kclp.recordProcessor.Initialize(action.ShardID, kclp)
+		if err == nil {
+			err = kclp.reportDone(action.Action)
+		}
+	case ActionProcessRecords:
+		err = kclp.recordProcessor.ProcessRecords(action.Records)
+		if err == nil {
+			err = kclp.reportDone(action.Action)
+		}
+	case ActionShutdown:
+		err = kclp.recordProcessor.Shutdown(action.Reason)
+		if err == nil {
+			err = kclp.reportDone(action.Action)
+		}
+	default:
+		err = fmt.Errorf("unknown action to dispatch: %+#v", action)
 	}
-	action, ok := actionI.(ActionCheckpoint)
-	if !ok {
-		return fmt.Errorf("expected checkpoint response, got '%s'", line)
-	}
-	if action.Error != nil && *action.Error != "" {
-		return CheckpointError{e: *action.Error}
-	}
-	fmt.Println("Successful checkpoint")
-	return nil
+
+	return err
 }
 
 func (kclp *KCLProcess) Run() {
 	for {
-		fmt.Println("%%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%%%% Reading process line")
 		line, err := kclp.ioHandler.readLine()
 		if err == io.EOF {
 			kclp.ioHandler.writeError("IO stream closed")
@@ -290,31 +263,31 @@ func (kclp *KCLProcess) Run() {
 			return
 		} else if line == "" {
 			kclp.ioHandler.writeError("Empty read line recieved")
-			return
+			continue
 		}
 
-		action, err := kclp.handleLine(line)
+		err = kclp.handleLine(line)
 		if err != nil {
 			kclp.ioHandler.writeError(fmt.Sprintf("ERR Handle line: %+#v", err))
 			return
 		}
 
+		kclp.ckpmux.Lock()
 		if !kclp.nextCheckpointPair.IsEmpty() {
-			err := kclp.sendCheckpoint(kclp.nextCheckpointPair, 5)
+			seq := kclp.nextCheckpointPair.Sequence.String()
+			subSeq := kclp.nextCheckpointPair.SubSequence
+
+			err := kclp.sendCheckpoint(&seq, &subSeq)
 			if err != nil {
 				kclp.ioHandler.writeError(fmt.Sprintf("ERR checkpoint: %+#v", err))
+			} else {
+				kclp.nextCheckpointPair = SequencePair{}
 			}
-			kclp.nextCheckpointPair = SequencePair{}
-		}
-
-		err = kclp.reportDone(action)
-		if err != nil {
-			kclp.ioHandler.writeError(fmt.Sprintf("ERR report done: %s, %+#v", action, err))
-			return
 		}
+		kclp.ckpmux.Unlock()
 
 		if kclp.isShuttingDown {
-			kclp.sendCheckpoint(SequencePair{}, 5) // Empty SequencePair is signal to shutdown
+			kclp.sendCheckpoint(nil, nil) // nil sequence num is signal to shutdown
 		}
 	}
 }