diff --git a/docarray/base_document/__init__.py b/docarray/base_document/__init__.py
index d362827bb6f..f7ce8d3d7ab 100644
--- a/docarray/base_document/__init__.py
+++ b/docarray/base_document/__init__.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from docarray.base_document.any_document import AnyDocument
 from docarray.base_document.base_node import BaseNode
 from docarray.base_document.document import BaseDocument
+from docarray.base_document.document_response import DocumentResponse
 
-__all__ = ['AnyDocument', 'BaseDocument', 'BaseNode']
+__all__ = ['AnyDocument', 'BaseDocument', 'BaseNode', 'DocumentResponse']
diff --git a/docarray/base_document/document.py b/docarray/base_document/document.py
index 89d3eb47111..a985cd24e32 100644
--- a/docarray/base_document/document.py
+++ b/docarray/base_document/document.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 from docarray.base_document.abstract_document import AbstractDocument
 from docarray.base_document.base_node import BaseNode
-from docarray.base_document.io.json import orjson_dumps
+from docarray.base_document.io.json import orjson_dumps, orjson_dumps_and_decode
 from docarray.base_document.mixins import ProtoMixin
 from docarray.typing import ID
 
@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@ class BaseDocument(BaseModel, ProtoMixin, AbstractDocument, BaseNode):
 
     class Config:
         json_loads = orjson.loads
-        json_dumps = orjson_dumps
+        json_dumps = orjson_dumps_and_decode
+        json_encoders = {dict: orjson_dumps}
+
         validate_assignment = True
 
     @classmethod
diff --git a/docarray/base_document/document_response.py b/docarray/base_document/document_response.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..cb756c32412
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docarray/base_document/document_response.py
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+from typing import Any
+
+try:
+    from fastapi.responses import JSONResponse, Response
+except ImportError:
+
+    class NoImportResponse:
+        def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+            ImportError('fastapi is not installed')
+
+    Response = JSONResponse = NoImportResponse  # type: ignore
+
+
+class DocumentResponse(JSONResponse):
+    """
+    This is a custom Response class for FastAPI and starlette. This is needed
+    to handle serialization of the Document types when using FastAPI
+
+      EXAMPLE USAGE
+        .. code-block:: python
+            from docarray.documets import Text
+            from docarray.base_document import DocumentResponse
+
+
+            @app.post("/doc/", response_model=Text, response_class=DocumentResponse)
+            async def create_item(doc: Text) -> Text:
+                return doc
+    """
+
+    def render(self, content: Any) -> bytes:
+        if isinstance(content, bytes):
+            return content
+        else:
+            raise ValueError(f'{self.__class__} only work with json bytes content')
diff --git a/docarray/base_document/io/json.py b/docarray/base_document/io/json.py
index 16e875fa359..3d7809ae11a 100644
--- a/docarray/base_document/io/json.py
+++ b/docarray/base_document/io/json.py
@@ -1,22 +1,26 @@
 import orjson
 
+from docarray.typing.tensor.abstract_tensor import AbstractTensor
+
 
 def _default_orjson(obj):
     """
-    default option for orjson dumps. It will call _to_json_compatible
-    from docarray typing object that expose such method.
+    default option for orjson dumps.
     :param obj:
     :return: return a json compatible object
     """
 
-    if getattr(obj, '_to_json_compatible'):
-        return obj._to_json_compatible()
+    if isinstance(obj, AbstractTensor):
+        return obj._docarray_to_json_compatible()
     else:
         return obj
 
 
-def orjson_dumps(v, *, default=None):
-    # orjson.dumps returns bytes, to match standard json.dumps we need to decode
-    return orjson.dumps(
-        v, default=_default_orjson, option=orjson.OPT_SERIALIZE_NUMPY
-    ).decode()
+def orjson_dumps(v, *, default=None) -> bytes:
+    # dumps to bytes using orjson
+    return orjson.dumps(v, default=_default_orjson, option=orjson.OPT_SERIALIZE_NUMPY)
+
+
+def orjson_dumps_and_decode(v, *, default=None) -> str:
+    # dumps to bytes using orjson
+    return orjson_dumps(v, default=default).decode()
diff --git a/docarray/typing/tensor/abstract_tensor.py b/docarray/typing/tensor/abstract_tensor.py
index 29bd773a9fb..a877861aa4e 100644
--- a/docarray/typing/tensor/abstract_tensor.py
+++ b/docarray/typing/tensor/abstract_tensor.py
@@ -120,7 +120,6 @@ def get_comp_backend() -> Type[AbstractComputationalBackend]:
         """The computational backend compatible with this tensor type."""
         ...
 
-    @abc.abstractmethod
     def __getitem__(self, item):
         """Get a slice of this tensor."""
         ...
@@ -136,4 +135,11 @@ def to_protobuf(self) -> 'NdArrayProto':
 
     def unwrap(self):
         """Return the native tensor object that this DocArray tensor wraps."""
+
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def _docarray_to_json_compatible(self):
+        """
+        Convert tensor into a json compatible object
+        :return: a representation of the tensor compatible with orjson
+        """
         ...
diff --git a/docarray/typing/tensor/ndarray.py b/docarray/typing/tensor/ndarray.py
index d4dce8c707c..00f7109f966 100644
--- a/docarray/typing/tensor/ndarray.py
+++ b/docarray/typing/tensor/ndarray.py
@@ -130,10 +130,10 @@ def __modify_schema__(cls, field_schema: Dict[str, Any]) -> None:
         # this is needed to dump to json
         field_schema.update(type='string', format='tensor')
 
-    def _to_json_compatible(self) -> np.ndarray:
+    def _docarray_to_json_compatible(self) -> np.ndarray:
         """
         Convert tensor into a json compatible object
-        :return: a list representation of the tensor
+        :return: a representation of the tensor compatible with orjson
         """
         return self.unwrap()
 
diff --git a/docarray/typing/tensor/torch_tensor.py b/docarray/typing/tensor/torch_tensor.py
index 236ea1a09cb..07cefc25947 100644
--- a/docarray/typing/tensor/torch_tensor.py
+++ b/docarray/typing/tensor/torch_tensor.py
@@ -126,10 +126,10 @@ def __modify_schema__(cls, field_schema: Dict[str, Any]) -> None:
         # this is needed to dump to json
         field_schema.update(type='string', format='tensor')
 
-    def _to_json_compatible(self) -> np.ndarray:
+    def _docarray_to_json_compatible(self) -> np.ndarray:
         """
         Convert torchTensor into a json compatible object
-        :return: a list representation of the torch tensor
+        :return: a representation of the tensor compatible with orjson
         """
         return self.numpy()  ## might need to  check device later
 
diff --git a/poetry.lock b/poetry.lock
index 5996317fe67..bddaefa8750 100644
--- a/poetry.lock
+++ b/poetry.lock
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 name = "anyio"
 version = "3.6.2"
 description = "High level compatibility layer for multiple asynchronous event loop implementations"
-category = "dev"
+category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.6.2"
 
@@ -274,8 +274,8 @@ tests = ["asttokens", "littleutils", "pytest", "rich"]
 name = "fastapi"
 version = "0.87.0"
 description = "FastAPI framework, high performance, easy to learn, fast to code, ready for production"
-category = "dev"
-optional = false
+category = "main"
+optional = true
 python-versions = ">=3.7"
 
 [package.dependencies]
@@ -372,7 +372,7 @@ license = ["ukkonen"]
 name = "idna"
 version = "3.4"
 description = "Internationalized Domain Names in Applications (IDNA)"
-category = "dev"
+category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.5"
 
@@ -1366,7 +1366,7 @@ python-versions = ">=2.7, !=3.0.*, !=3.1.*, !=3.2.*"
 name = "sniffio"
 version = "1.3.0"
 description = "Sniff out which async library your code is running under"
-category = "dev"
+category = "main"
 optional = false
 python-versions = ">=3.7"
 
@@ -1398,8 +1398,8 @@ tests = ["cython", "littleutils", "pygments", "pytest", "typeguard"]
 name = "starlette"
 version = "0.21.0"
 description = "The little ASGI library that shines."
-category = "dev"
-optional = false
+category = "main"
+optional = true
 python-versions = ">=3.7"
 
 [package.dependencies]
@@ -1668,11 +1668,12 @@ common = ["protobuf"]
 image = ["pillow", "types-pillow"]
 mesh = ["trimesh"]
 torch = ["torch"]
+web = ["fastapi"]
 
 [metadata]
 lock-version = "1.1"
 python-versions = "^3.8"
-content-hash = "b1aa40aea6ec7f56a8c3b511fd2ce96ed217c6fc81d6f8dd931e519cc0774154"
+content-hash = "e9505149fb25b56e7cbccfa923e71070f783ec35fc6b43f00564c6974eab3eae"
 
 [metadata.files]
 anyio = [
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 1d29532b696..66e16f420a8 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -17,12 +17,14 @@ types-pillow = {version = "^9.3.0.1", optional = true }
 trimesh = {version = "^3.17.1", optional = true}
 typing-inspect = "^0.8.0"
 types-requests = "^2.28.11.6"
+fastapi = {version = "^0.87.0", optional = true }
 
 [tool.poetry.extras]
 common = ["protobuf"]
 torch = ["torch"]
 image = ["pillow", "types-pillow"]
 mesh = ["trimesh"]
+web = ["fastapi"]
 
 [tool.poetry.dev-dependencies]
 pytest = "^6.1"
@@ -35,7 +37,6 @@ isort = "^5.10.1"
 ruff = "^0.0.165"
 
 [tool.poetry.group.dev.dependencies]
-fastapi = "^0.87.0"
 uvicorn = "^0.19.0"
 httpx = "^0.23.0"
 pytest-asyncio = "^0.20.2"
diff --git a/tests/integrations/document/test_to_json.py b/tests/integrations/document/test_to_json.py
index 4008e4642b8..72935bfcfda 100644
--- a/tests/integrations/document/test_to_json.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/document/test_to_json.py
@@ -1,11 +1,14 @@
 import numpy as np
+import pytest
 import torch
 
 from docarray.base_document import BaseDocument
+from docarray.base_document.io.json import orjson_dumps
 from docarray.typing import AnyUrl, NdArray, TorchTensor
 
 
-def test_to_json():
+@pytest.fixture()
+def doc_and_class():
     class Mmdoc(BaseDocument):
         img: NdArray
         url: AnyUrl
@@ -13,27 +16,21 @@ class Mmdoc(BaseDocument):
         torch_tensor: TorchTensor
 
     doc = Mmdoc(
-        img=np.zeros((3, 224, 224)),
+        img=np.zeros((10)),
         url='http://doccaray.io',
         txt='hello',
-        torch_tensor=torch.zeros(3, 224, 224),
+        torch_tensor=torch.zeros(10),
     )
-    doc.json()
+    return doc, Mmdoc
 
 
-def test_from_json():
-    class Mmdoc(BaseDocument):
-        img: NdArray
-        url: AnyUrl
-        txt: str
-        torch_tensor: TorchTensor
+def test_to_json(doc_and_class):
+    doc, _ = doc_and_class
+    doc.json()
 
-    doc = Mmdoc(
-        img=np.zeros((2, 2)),
-        url='http://doccaray.io',
-        txt='hello',
-        torch_tensor=torch.zeros(3, 224, 224),
-    )
+
+def test_from_json(doc_and_class):
+    doc, Mmdoc = doc_and_class
     new_doc = Mmdoc.parse_raw(doc.json())
 
     for (field, field2) in zip(doc.dict().keys(), new_doc.dict().keys()):
@@ -41,3 +38,14 @@ class Mmdoc(BaseDocument):
             assert (getattr(doc, field) == getattr(doc, field2)).all()
         else:
             assert getattr(doc, field) == getattr(doc, field2)
+
+
+def test_to_dict_to_json(doc_and_class):
+    doc, Mmdoc = doc_and_class
+    new_doc = Mmdoc.parse_raw(orjson_dumps(doc.dict()))
+
+    for (field, field2) in zip(doc.dict().keys(), new_doc.dict().keys()):
+        if field in ['torch_tensor', 'img']:
+            assert (getattr(doc, field) == getattr(doc, field2)).all()
+        else:
+            assert getattr(doc, field) == getattr(doc, field2)
diff --git a/tests/integrations/externals/test_fastapi.py b/tests/integrations/externals/test_fastapi.py
index 3a99d56dd69..f74f8519a9c 100644
--- a/tests/integrations/externals/test_fastapi.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/externals/test_fastapi.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 from httpx import AsyncClient
 
 from docarray import BaseDocument
+from docarray.base_document import DocumentResponse
 from docarray.documents import Image, Text
 from docarray.typing import NdArray
 
@@ -21,7 +22,7 @@ class Mmdoc(BaseDocument):
 
     app = FastAPI()
 
-    @app.post("/doc/")
+    @app.post("/doc/", response_model=Mmdoc, response_class=DocumentResponse)
     async def create_item(doc: Mmdoc):
         return doc
 
@@ -48,12 +49,13 @@ class OutputDoc(BaseDocument):
 
     app = FastAPI()
 
-    @app.post("/doc/", response_model=OutputDoc)
+    @app.post("/doc/", response_model=OutputDoc, response_class=DocumentResponse)
     async def create_item(doc: InputDoc) -> OutputDoc:
         ## call my fancy model to generate the embeddings
-        return OutputDoc(
+        doc = OutputDoc(
             embedding_clip=np.zeros((100, 1)), embedding_bert=np.zeros((100, 1))
         )
+        return doc
 
     async with AsyncClient(app=app, base_url="http://test") as ac:
         response = await ac.post("/doc/", data=input_doc.json())
@@ -64,6 +66,12 @@ async def create_item(doc: InputDoc) -> OutputDoc:
     assert resp_doc.status_code == 200
     assert resp_redoc.status_code == 200
 
+    doc = OutputDoc.parse_raw(response.content.decode())
+
+    assert isinstance(doc, OutputDoc)
+    assert doc.embedding_clip.shape == (100, 1)
+    assert doc.embedding_bert.shape == (100, 1)
+
 
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
 async def test_sentence_to_embeddings():
@@ -78,7 +86,7 @@ class OutputDoc(BaseDocument):
 
     app = FastAPI()
 
-    @app.post("/doc/", response_model=OutputDoc)
+    @app.post("/doc/", response_model=OutputDoc, response_class=DocumentResponse)
     async def create_item(doc: InputDoc) -> OutputDoc:
         ## call my fancy model to generate the embeddings
         return OutputDoc(
@@ -93,3 +101,9 @@ async def create_item(doc: InputDoc) -> OutputDoc:
     assert response.status_code == 200
     assert resp_doc.status_code == 200
     assert resp_redoc.status_code == 200
+
+    doc = OutputDoc.parse_raw(response.content.decode())
+
+    assert isinstance(doc, OutputDoc)
+    assert doc.embedding_clip.shape == (100, 1)
+    assert doc.embedding_bert.shape == (100, 1)