diff --git a/namespaces/context.go b/namespaces/context.go
index cc5621a68..b4e988e7b 100644
--- a/namespaces/context.go
+++ b/namespaces/context.go
@@ -36,10 +36,9 @@ type namespaceKey struct{}
 // WithNamespace sets a given namespace on the context
 func WithNamespace(ctx context.Context, namespace string) context.Context {
 	ctx = context.WithValue(ctx, namespaceKey{}, namespace) // set our key for namespace
-
-	// also store on the grpc headers so it gets picked up by any clients that
+	// also store on the grpc and ttrpc headers so it gets picked up by any clients that
 	// are using this.
-	return withGRPCNamespaceHeader(ctx, namespace)
+	return withTTRPCNamespaceHeader(withGRPCNamespaceHeader(ctx, namespace), namespace)
 }
 
 // NamespaceFromEnv uses the namespace defined in CONTAINERD_NAMESPACE or
@@ -58,9 +57,10 @@ func NamespaceFromEnv(ctx context.Context) context.Context {
 func Namespace(ctx context.Context) (string, bool) {
 	namespace, ok := ctx.Value(namespaceKey{}).(string)
 	if !ok {
-		return fromGRPCHeader(ctx)
+		if namespace, ok = fromGRPCHeader(ctx); !ok {
+			return fromTTRPCHeader(ctx)
+		}
 	}
-
 	return namespace, ok
 }
 
@@ -70,10 +70,8 @@ func NamespaceRequired(ctx context.Context) (string, error) {
 	if !ok || namespace == "" {
 		return "", errors.Wrapf(errdefs.ErrFailedPrecondition, "namespace is required")
 	}
-
 	if err := Validate(namespace); err != nil {
 		return "", errors.Wrap(err, "namespace validation")
 	}
-
 	return namespace, nil
 }
diff --git a/namespaces/ttrpc.go b/namespaces/ttrpc.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..28e039417
--- /dev/null
+++ b/namespaces/ttrpc.go
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+/*
+   Copyright The containerd Authors.
+
+   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+   You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+   limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package namespaces
+
+import (
+	"context"
+
+	"github.com/containerd/ttrpc"
+)
+
+const (
+	// TTRPCHeader defines the header name for specifying a containerd namespace
+	TTRPCHeader = "containerd-namespace-ttrpc"
+)
+
+func withTTRPCNamespaceHeader(ctx context.Context, namespace string) context.Context {
+	md, ok := ttrpc.GetMetadata(ctx)
+	if !ok {
+		md = ttrpc.Metadata{}
+	}
+	md.Set(TTRPCHeader, namespace)
+	return ttrpc.WithMetadata(ctx, md)
+}
+
+func fromTTRPCHeader(ctx context.Context) (string, bool) {
+	return ttrpc.GetMetadataValue(ctx, TTRPCHeader)
+}
diff --git a/vendor.conf b/vendor.conf
index 60af75759..49ec6f537 100644
--- a/vendor.conf
+++ b/vendor.conf
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ github.com/Microsoft/go-winio 84b4ab48a50763fe7b3abcef38e5205c12027fac
 github.com/Microsoft/hcsshim 8abdbb8205e4192c68b5f84c31197156f31be517
 google.golang.org/genproto d80a6e20e776b0b17a324d0ba1ab50a39c8e8944
 golang.org/x/text 19e51611da83d6be54ddafce4a4af510cb3e9ea4
-github.com/containerd/ttrpc f82148331ad2181edea8f3f649a1f7add6c3f9c2
+github.com/containerd/ttrpc a5bd8ce9e40bc7c065a11c6936f4d032ce6bfa2b
 github.com/syndtr/gocapability d98352740cb2c55f81556b63d4a1ec64c5a319c2
 gotest.tools v2.3.0
 github.com/google/go-cmp v0.2.0
diff --git a/vendor/github.com/containerd/ttrpc/client.go b/vendor/github.com/containerd/ttrpc/client.go
index 35ca91fba..748a0073a 100644
--- a/vendor/github.com/containerd/ttrpc/client.go
+++ b/vendor/github.com/containerd/ttrpc/client.go
@@ -99,6 +99,10 @@ func (c *Client) Call(ctx context.Context, service, method string, req, resp int
 		cresp = &Response{}
 	)
 
+	if metadata, ok := GetMetadata(ctx); ok {
+		creq.Metadata = metadata
+	}
+
 	if dl, ok := ctx.Deadline(); ok {
 		creq.TimeoutNano = dl.Sub(time.Now()).Nanoseconds()
 	}
diff --git a/vendor/github.com/containerd/ttrpc/metadata.go b/vendor/github.com/containerd/ttrpc/metadata.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d03626321
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vendor/github.com/containerd/ttrpc/metadata.go
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+/*
+   Copyright The containerd Authors.
+
+   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+   You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+   limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package ttrpc
+
+import "context"
+
+// Metadata represents the key-value pairs (similar to http.Header) to be passed to ttrpc server from a client.
+type Metadata map[string]StringList
+
+// Get returns the metadata for a given key when they exist.
+// If there is no metadata, a nil slice and false are returned.
+func (m Metadata) Get(key string) ([]string, bool) {
+	list, ok := m[key]
+	if !ok || len(list.List) == 0 {
+		return nil, false
+	}
+
+	return list.List, true
+}
+
+// Set sets the provided values for a given key.
+// The values will overwrite any existing values.
+// If no values provided, a key will be deleted.
+func (m Metadata) Set(key string, values ...string) {
+	if len(values) == 0 {
+		delete(m, key)
+		return
+	}
+
+	m[key] = StringList{List: values}
+}
+
+// Append appends additional values to the given key.
+func (m Metadata) Append(key string, values ...string) {
+	if len(values) == 0 {
+		return
+	}
+
+	list, ok := m[key]
+	if ok {
+		m.Set(key, append(list.List, values...)...)
+	} else {
+		m.Set(key, values...)
+	}
+}
+
+type metadataKey struct{}
+
+// GetMetadata retrieves metadata from context.Context (previously attached with WithMetadata)
+func GetMetadata(ctx context.Context) (Metadata, bool) {
+	metadata, ok := ctx.Value(metadataKey{}).(Metadata)
+	return metadata, ok
+}
+
+// GetMetadataValue gets a specific metadata value by name from context.Context
+func GetMetadataValue(ctx context.Context, name string) (string, bool) {
+	metadata, ok := GetMetadata(ctx)
+	if !ok {
+		return "", false
+	}
+
+	if list, ok := metadata.Get(name); ok {
+		return list[0], true
+	}
+
+	return "", false
+}
+
+// WithMetadata attaches metadata map to a context.Context
+func WithMetadata(ctx context.Context, headers Metadata) context.Context {
+	return context.WithValue(ctx, metadataKey{}, headers)
+}
diff --git a/vendor/github.com/containerd/ttrpc/server.go b/vendor/github.com/containerd/ttrpc/server.go
index dc605f4db..595a69a0d 100644
--- a/vendor/github.com/containerd/ttrpc/server.go
+++ b/vendor/github.com/containerd/ttrpc/server.go
@@ -466,6 +466,10 @@ func (c *serverConn) run(sctx context.Context) {
 var noopFunc = func() {}
 
 func getRequestContext(ctx context.Context, req *Request) (retCtx context.Context, cancel func()) {
+	if req.Metadata != nil {
+		ctx = WithMetadata(ctx, req.Metadata)
+	}
+
 	cancel = noopFunc
 	if req.TimeoutNano == 0 {
 		return ctx, cancel
diff --git a/vendor/github.com/containerd/ttrpc/types.go b/vendor/github.com/containerd/ttrpc/types.go
index a6b3b818e..c8ecb3868 100644
--- a/vendor/github.com/containerd/ttrpc/types.go
+++ b/vendor/github.com/containerd/ttrpc/types.go
@@ -23,10 +23,11 @@ import (
 )
 
 type Request struct {
-	Service     string `protobuf:"bytes,1,opt,name=service,proto3"`
-	Method      string `protobuf:"bytes,2,opt,name=method,proto3"`
-	Payload     []byte `protobuf:"bytes,3,opt,name=payload,proto3"`
-	TimeoutNano int64  `protobuf:"varint,4,opt,name=timeout_nano,proto3"`
+	Service     string   `protobuf:"bytes,1,opt,name=service,proto3"`
+	Method      string   `protobuf:"bytes,2,opt,name=method,proto3"`
+	Payload     []byte   `protobuf:"bytes,3,opt,name=payload,proto3"`
+	TimeoutNano int64    `protobuf:"varint,4,opt,name=timeout_nano,proto3"`
+	Metadata    Metadata `protobuf:"bytes,5,opt,name=metadata,proto3" protobuf_key:"bytes,1,opt,name=key,proto3" protobuf_val:"bytes,2,opt,name=value,proto3"`
 }
 
 func (r *Request) Reset()         { *r = Request{} }
@@ -41,3 +42,13 @@ type Response struct {
 func (r *Response) Reset()         { *r = Response{} }
 func (r *Response) String() string { return fmt.Sprintf("%+#v", r) }
 func (r *Response) ProtoMessage()  {}
+
+type StringList struct {
+	List []string `protobuf:"bytes,1,rep,name=list,proto3"`
+}
+
+func (r *StringList) Reset()         { *r = StringList{} }
+func (r *StringList) String() string { return fmt.Sprintf("%+#v", r) }
+func (r *StringList) ProtoMessage()  {}
+
+func makeStringList(item ...string) StringList { return StringList{List: item} }