diff --git a/common/app/routes/challenges/redux/reducer.js b/common/app/routes/challenges/redux/reducer.js
index cd73838df1..eeb0ec8532 100644
--- a/common/app/routes/challenges/redux/reducer.js
+++ b/common/app/routes/challenges/redux/reducer.js
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import { createPoly } from '../../../../utils/polyvinyl';
 
 import types from './types';
 import { BONFIRE, HTML, JS } from '../../../utils/challengeTypes';
-import { buildSeed, createTests, getPath } from '../utils';
+import { arrayToString, buildSeed, createTests, getPath } from '../utils';
 
 const initialState = {
   challenge: '',
@@ -82,7 +82,9 @@ const filesReducer = handleActions(
         ...state,
         [path]: createPoly({
           path,
-          contents: buildSeed(challenge)
+          contents: buildSeed(challenge),
+          head: arrayToString(challenge.head),
+          tail: arrayToString(challenge.tail)
         })
       };
     }
diff --git a/common/app/routes/challenges/utils.js b/common/app/routes/challenges/utils.js
index bde8590743..73010f01d6 100644
--- a/common/app/routes/challenges/utils.js
+++ b/common/app/routes/challenges/utils.js
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ export function decodeFccfaaAttr(value) {
   );
 }
 
-export function arrayToNewLineString(seedData = []) {
+export function arrayToString(seedData = ['']) {
   seedData = Array.isArray(seedData) ? seedData : [seedData];
   return seedData.reduce((seed, line) => '' + seed + line + '\n', '\n');
 }
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ export function arrayToNewLineString(seedData = []) {
 export function buildSeed({ challengeSeed = [] } = {}) {
   return compose(
     decodeSafeTags,
-    arrayToNewLineString
+    arrayToString
   )(challengeSeed);
 }
 
diff --git a/common/utils/polyvinyl.js b/common/utils/polyvinyl.js
index 234a9a2450..77ee95f70e 100644
--- a/common/utils/polyvinyl.js
+++ b/common/utils/polyvinyl.js
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ import invariant from 'invariant';
 //   contents: String,
 //   history?: [...String],
 // }) => PolyVinyl, throws
-export function createPoly({ path, contents, history } = {}) {
+export function createPoly({ path, contents, history, ...rest } = {}) {
   invariant(
     typeof path === 'string',
     'path must be a string but got %s',
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ export function createPoly({ path, contents, history } = {}) {
   );
 
   return {
+    ...rest,
     history: Array.isArray(history) ? history : [ path ],
     path: path,
     contents: contents,