It's a bit annoying to have to add both a StringEncoder and a StringDecoder node to the graph (on both the server and client pipelines!). These can be amalgamated using CombinedChannelDuplexHandler into a single node. Possibly the best way to deal with this would be to create a new tab in the palette for bidirectional codecs.
Start looking around here: https://github.com/sensepost/mallet/blob/master/src/main/java/com/sensepost/mallet/swing/GraphEditor.java#L216
This should probably apply to more than just the StringEncoder/StringDecoder, the idea applies to any "bidirectional" codec pairs.