diff --git a/include/metricq/history_client.hpp b/include/metricq/history_client.hpp
index c0bf85b..41a5041 100644
--- a/include/metricq/history_client.hpp
+++ b/include/metricq/history_client.hpp
@@ -45,6 +45,14 @@ class HistoryResponseAggregateView;
 class HistoryClient : public Connection
 {
 public:
+    enum class Type
+    {
+        AGGREGATE_TIMELINE,
+        AGGREGATE,
+        LAST_VALUE,
+        FLEX_TIMELINE
+    };
+
     HistoryClient(const std::string& token, bool add_uuid = true);
 
     // We have to do this because of the ConnectionHandler forward declaration
@@ -52,7 +60,7 @@ class HistoryClient : public Connection
 
     // shall NOT be used before on_history_ready() was called
     std::string history_request(const std::string& id, TimePoint begin, TimePoint end,
-                                Duration interval);
+                                Duration interval, Type request_type = Type::FLEX_TIMELINE);
 
 protected:
     virtual void on_history_response(const std::string& id, const HistoryResponse& response);
diff --git a/src/history_client.cpp b/src/history_client.cpp
index 1b68e85..86b6867 100644
--- a/src/history_client.cpp
+++ b/src/history_client.cpp
@@ -40,6 +40,19 @@
 
 using namespace std::placeholders;
 
+static_assert(static_cast<int>(metricq::HistoryClient::Type::FLEX_TIMELINE) ==
+                  metricq::HistoryRequest::FLEX_TIMELINE,
+              "Someone broke the protobuf ABI");
+static_assert(static_cast<int>(metricq::HistoryClient::Type::AGGREGATE_TIMELINE) ==
+                  metricq::HistoryRequest::AGGREGATE_TIMELINE,
+              "Someone broke the protobuf ABI");
+static_assert(static_cast<int>(metricq::HistoryClient::Type::AGGREGATE) ==
+                  metricq::HistoryRequest::AGGREGATE,
+              "Someone broke the protobuf ABI");
+static_assert(static_cast<int>(metricq::HistoryClient::Type::LAST_VALUE) ==
+                  metricq::HistoryRequest::LAST_VALUE,
+              "Someone broke the protobuf ABI");
+
 namespace metricq
 {
 HistoryClient::HistoryClient(const std::string& token, bool add_uuid) : Connection(token, add_uuid)
@@ -79,14 +92,13 @@ void HistoryClient::setup_history_consumer(const std::string& name, int message_
 }
 
 std::string HistoryClient::history_request(const std::string& id, TimePoint begin, TimePoint end,
-                                           Duration interval)
+                                           Duration interval, Type request_type)
 {
     HistoryRequest request;
     request.set_start_time(begin.time_since_epoch().count());
     request.set_end_time(end.time_since_epoch().count());
     request.set_interval_max(interval.count());
-    // TODO expose the request type to the user. For now it's fine.
-    request.set_type(HistoryRequest::FLEX_TIMELINE);
+    request.set_type(HistoryRequest::RequestType(static_cast<int>(request_type)));
 
     auto correlation_id = std::string("metricq-history-") + token() + "-" + uuid();
 
@@ -130,7 +142,7 @@ void HistoryClient::config(const metricq::json& config)
     history_exchange_ = config["historyExchange"].get<std::string>();
     history_queue_ = config["historyQueue"].get<std::string>();
 
-    on_history_config(config["config"]);
+    on_history_config(config.count("config") ? config["config"] : json::object());
 
     setup_history_queue();