diff --git a/packages/transducers-hdom/README.md b/packages/transducers-hdom/README.md
index b555ccc4c5..6e2f223c66 100644
--- a/packages/transducers-hdom/README.md
+++ b/packages/transducers-hdom/README.md
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ This project is part of the
 
 ## About
 
-This package provides a single `updateUI` function, a side-effecting &
+This package provides a single `updateDOM` function, a side-effecting &
 stateful transducer which receives
 [@thi.ng/hdom](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/master/packages/hdom)
 component trees, diffs each against the previous value and applies any
@@ -25,14 +25,23 @@ required changes to the browser DOM, starting at given root element. By
 default, incoming values are first normalized using @thi.ng/hdom's
 `normalizeTree()` function.
 
+If the `hydrate` option is given, the first received tree is only used
+to inject event listeners and initialize components with lifecycle
+`init()` methods and expects an otherwise identical pre-existing DOM.
+All succeeding trees are diffed then as usual.
+
 This transducer is primarily intended for
 [@thi.ng/rstream](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/master/packages/rstream)-based
-dataflow graphs, where this transducer can be used as final leaf
-subscription / transformer to reflect UI changes back to the user,
-without using the standard RAF update loop used by @thi.ng/hdom by
-default. In this setup, UI updates will only be performed if the stream
-this transducer is attached to receives new values (i.e. hdom component
-trees).
+dataflow graphs, where it can be used as final leaf subscription /
+stream transformer to reflect UI changes back to the user, without using
+the usual RAF update loop used by @thi.ng/hdom by default. In this
+setup, DOM updates will only be performed if the stream this transducer
+is attached to receives new values (i.e. hdom component trees).
+
+Please also see the following hdom references for further details:
+
+- [start()](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/master/packages/hdom/src/start.ts)
+- [HDOMOpts](https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/tree/master/packages/hdom/src/api.ts#L19)
 
 ## Installation
 
diff --git a/packages/transducers-hdom/src/index.ts b/packages/transducers-hdom/src/index.ts
index f2d49efb19..0d7aa6c5a3 100644
--- a/packages/transducers-hdom/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/transducers-hdom/src/index.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 import { isString } from "@thi.ng/checks/is-string";
+import { HDOMOpts } from "@thi.ng/hdom/api";
 import { diffElement } from "@thi.ng/hdom/diff";
+import { hydrateDOM } from "@thi.ng/hdom/dom";
 import { normalizeTree } from "@thi.ng/hdom/normalize";
 import { Transducer } from "@thi.ng/transducers/api";
 import { reducer } from "@thi.ng/transducers/reduce";
@@ -14,27 +16,44 @@ import { scan } from "@thi.ng/transducers/xform/scan";
  * `normalizeTree()` function and the given (optional) `ctx` object is
  * provided to all embedded component functions in the tree.
  *
+ * If the `hydrate` option is given, the first received tree is only
+ * used to inject event listeners and initialize components with
+ * lifecycle `init()` methods and expects an otherwise identical,
+ * pre-existing DOM. All succeeding trees are diffed then as usual.
+ *
  * This transducer is primarily intended for @thi.ng/rstream dataflow
- * graph based applications, where this transducer can be used as final
- * leaf subscription to reactively reflect UI changes back to the user,
- * without using the standard RAF update loop used by hdom by default.
- * In this setup, UI updates will only be performed when the stream this
+ * graph based applications, where it can be used as final leaf
+ * subscription to reactively reflect UI changes back to the user,
+ * without using the usual RAF update loop used by hdom by default. In
+ * this setup, DOM updates will only be performed when the stream this
  * transducer is attached to emits new values (i.e. hdom component
  * trees).
  *
- * @param root root element (or ID)
- * @param ctx hdom user context
- * @param normalize
+ * Please see here for further details:
+ * https://github.com/thi-ng/umbrella/blob/master/packages/hdom/src/start.ts
+ *
+ * @param opts hdom options
  */
-export const updateUI = (root: string | Element, ctx?: any, normalize = true): Transducer<any, any[]> => {
-    root = isString(root) ? document.getElementById(root) : root;
+export const updateDOM = (opts?: Partial<HDOMOpts>): Transducer<any, any[]> => {
+    opts = { root: "app", span: true, normalize: true, ...opts };
+    const root = isString(opts.root) ?
+        document.getElementById(opts.root) :
+        opts.root;
     return scan<any, any[]>(
         reducer(
             () => [],
             (prev, curr) => {
-                normalize && (curr = normalizeTree(curr, ctx));
-                diffElement(<Element>root, prev, curr);
-                return curr;
+                opts.normalize && (curr = normalizeTree(curr, opts.ctx, [0], opts.span));
+                if (curr != null) {
+                    if (opts.hydrate) {
+                        hydrateDOM(root, curr);
+                        opts.hydrate = false;
+                    } else {
+                        diffElement(root, prev, curr);
+                    }
+                    return curr;
+                }
+                return prev;
             }
         )
     );