diff --git a/pkg/api/feature/feature.go b/pkg/api/feature/feature.go
index 08dafb8cf..19eb0e2a1 100644
--- a/pkg/api/feature/feature.go
+++ b/pkg/api/feature/feature.go
@@ -20,9 +20,9 @@ package feature
 // features to empty values
 func NewDomainFeatures() *DomainFeatures {
 	return &DomainFeatures{
-		Keys:      make(map[string]KeyFeatureSet),
-		Values:    make(map[string]ValueFeatureSet),
-		Instances: make(map[string]InstanceFeatureSet)}
+		Keys:      make(map[string]*KeyFeatureSet),
+		Values:    make(map[string]*ValueFeatureSet),
+		Instances: make(map[string]*InstanceFeatureSet)}
 }
 
 func NewKeyFeatures() *KeyFeatureSet { return &KeyFeatureSet{Elements: make(map[string]Nil)} }
diff --git a/pkg/api/feature/types.go b/pkg/api/feature/types.go
index dbcf6655a..c514a85ad 100644
--- a/pkg/api/feature/types.go
+++ b/pkg/api/feature/types.go
@@ -22,9 +22,9 @@ type Features map[string]*DomainFeatures
 
 // DomainFeatures is the collection of all discovered features of one domain.
 type DomainFeatures struct {
-	Keys      map[string]KeyFeatureSet      `protobuf:"bytes,1,rep,name=keys"`
-	Values    map[string]ValueFeatureSet    `protobuf:"bytes,2,rep,name=values"`
-	Instances map[string]InstanceFeatureSet `protobuf:"bytes,3,rep,name=instances"`
+	Keys      map[string]*KeyFeatureSet      `protobuf:"bytes,1,rep,name=keys"`
+	Values    map[string]*ValueFeatureSet    `protobuf:"bytes,2,rep,name=values"`
+	Instances map[string]*InstanceFeatureSet `protobuf:"bytes,3,rep,name=instances"`
 }
 
 // KeyFeatureSet is a set of simple features only containing names without values.