diff --git a/include/villas/common.h b/include/villas/common.h
index 3aa4c2d21..c3828411e 100644
--- a/include/villas/common.h
+++ b/include/villas/common.h
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ enum state {
  */
 typedef int (*dtor_cb_t)(void *);
 
+const char * state_print(enum state s);
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif
diff --git a/lib/CMakeLists.txt b/lib/CMakeLists.txt
index 9015ef96d..354f3077a 100644
--- a/lib/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/lib/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ set(LIB_SRC
     table.c
     bitset.c
     signal.c
+    common.c
 )
 
 
diff --git a/lib/api/actions/nodes.c b/lib/api/actions/nodes.c
index 9f4499e0c..d4321c995 100644
--- a/lib/api/actions/nodes.c
+++ b/lib/api/actions/nodes.c
@@ -37,9 +37,9 @@ static int api_nodes(struct api_action *r, json_t *args, json_t **resp, struct a
 	for (size_t i = 0; i < list_length(&s->api->super_node->nodes); i++) {
 		struct node *n = (struct node *) list_at(&s->api->super_node->nodes, i);
 
-		json_t *json_node = json_pack("{ s: s, s: i, s: i, s: { s: i }, s: { s: i } }",
+		json_t *json_node = json_pack("{ s: s, s: s, s: i, s: { s: i }, s: { s: i } }",
 			"name",		node_name_short(n),
-			"state",	n->state,
+			"state",	state_print(n->state),
 			"affinity",	n->affinity,
 			"in",
 				"vectorize",	n->in.vectorize,
diff --git a/lib/common.c b/lib/common.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..31b88d73b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/common.c
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+
+/** Common code.
+ *
+ * @author Steffen Vogel <stvogel@eonerc.rwth-aachen.de>
+ * @copyright 2017-2018, Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems, EONERC
+ * @license GNU General Public License (version 3)
+ *
+ * VILLASnode
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ *********************************************************************************/
+
+#include <villas/common.h>
+
+#include <stdlib.h>
+
+const char * state_print(enum state s)
+{
+	switch (s) {
+		case STATE_DESTROYED:
+			return "destroyed";
+			break;
+
+		case STATE_INITIALIZED:
+			return "initialized";
+			break;
+
+		case STATE_PARSED:
+			return "parsed";
+			break;
+
+		case STATE_CHECKED:
+			return "checked";
+			break;
+
+		case STATE_STARTED:
+			return "running";
+			break;
+
+		case STATE_STOPPED:
+			return "stopped";
+			break;
+
+		case STATE_PENDING_CONNECT:
+			return "pending-connect";
+			break;
+
+		case STATE_CONNECTED:
+			return "connected";
+			break;
+
+		case STATE_PAUSED:
+			return "paused";
+			break;
+
+		default:
+			return NULL;
+	}
+}