diff --git a/cli/cmd/get.go b/cli/cmd/get.go
index 5060726bb4..38abcf90a9 100644
--- a/cli/cmd/get.go
+++ b/cli/cmd/get.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 
 	"github.com/cortexlabs/cortex/pkg/consts"
+	"github.com/cortexlabs/cortex/pkg/lib/cast"
 	"github.com/cortexlabs/cortex/pkg/lib/console"
 	"github.com/cortexlabs/cortex/pkg/lib/errors"
 	"github.com/cortexlabs/cortex/pkg/lib/json"
@@ -417,12 +418,12 @@ func classificationMetricsTable(apiMetrics *schema.APIMetrics) string {
 
 func describeModelInput(groupStatus *resource.APIGroupStatus, apiEndpoint string) string {
 	if groupStatus.Available() == 0 {
-		return "waiting for api to be ready"
+		return "the model's input schema will be available when the API is live"
 	}
 
 	modelInput, err := getModelInput(urls.Join(apiEndpoint, "signature"))
 	if err != nil {
-		return "waiting for api to be ready"
+		return "error retreiving the model's input schema: " + err.Error()
 	}
 
 	rows := make([][]interface{}, len(modelInput.Signature))
@@ -430,11 +431,7 @@ func describeModelInput(groupStatus *resource.APIGroupStatus, apiEndpoint string
 	for inputName, featureSignature := range modelInput.Signature {
 		shapeStr := make([]string, len(featureSignature.Shape))
 		for idx, dim := range featureSignature.Shape {
-			if dim == 0 {
-				shapeStr[idx] = "?"
-			} else {
-				shapeStr[idx] = s.Int(dim)
-			}
+			shapeStr[idx] = s.ObjFlatNoQuotes(dim)
 		}
 		rows[rowNum] = []interface{}{
 			inputName,
@@ -468,11 +465,15 @@ func getModelInput(infoAPIPath string) (*schema.ModelInput, error) {
 	}
 
 	var modelInput schema.ModelInput
-	err = json.Unmarshal(response, &modelInput)
+	err = json.DecodeWithNumber(response, &modelInput)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "unable to parse model input response")
 	}
 
+	for _, featureSignature := range modelInput.Signature {
+		featureSignature.Shape = cast.JSONNumbers(featureSignature.Shape)
+	}
+
 	return &modelInput, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/lib/cast/interface.go b/pkg/lib/cast/interface.go
index 4d981a8770..dab3ea9d42 100644
--- a/pkg/lib/cast/interface.go
+++ b/pkg/lib/cast/interface.go
@@ -391,6 +391,30 @@ func JSONNumberToIntOrFloat(in interface{}) (interface{}, bool) {
 	return nil, false
 }
 
+func JSONNumber(in interface{}) interface{} {
+	number, ok := in.(json.Number)
+	if !ok {
+		return in
+	}
+	inInt, err := number.Int64()
+	if err == nil {
+		return inInt
+	}
+	inFloat, err := number.Float64()
+	if err == nil {
+		return inFloat
+	}
+	return in // unexpected
+}
+
+func JSONNumbers(in []interface{}) []interface{} {
+	casted := make([]interface{}, len(in))
+	for i, element := range in {
+		casted[i] = JSONNumber(element)
+	}
+	return casted
+}
+
 func InterfaceToInterfaceSlice(in interface{}) ([]interface{}, bool) {
 	if in == nil {
 		return nil, true
diff --git a/pkg/lib/json/json.go b/pkg/lib/json/json.go
index c7ed13a493..61d10d368e 100644
--- a/pkg/lib/json/json.go
+++ b/pkg/lib/json/json.go
@@ -34,8 +34,8 @@ func Marshal(obj interface{}) ([]byte, error) {
 	return jsonBytes, nil
 }
 
-func Unmarshal(data []byte, dst interface{}) error {
-	if err := json.Unmarshal(data, dst); err != nil {
+func Unmarshal(jsonBytes []byte, dst interface{}) error {
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(jsonBytes, dst); err != nil {
 		return errors.Wrap(err, errStrUnmarshalJSON)
 	}
 	return nil
diff --git a/pkg/operator/api/schema/schema.go b/pkg/operator/api/schema/schema.go
index e28e80bc53..1ded820ae0 100644
--- a/pkg/operator/api/schema/schema.go
+++ b/pkg/operator/api/schema/schema.go
@@ -54,8 +54,8 @@ type GetDeploymentsResponse struct {
 }
 
 type FeatureSignature struct {
-	Shape []int  `json:"shape"`
-	Type  string `json:"type"`
+	Shape []interface{} `json:"shape"`
+	Type  string        `json:"type"`
 }
 
 type ModelInput struct {