diff --git a/repo/config/config.go b/repo/config/config.go
index 898cf56a4722..b01d4ed062a1 100644
--- a/repo/config/config.go
+++ b/repo/config/config.go
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ var log = logging.Logger("config")
 // Config is used to load ipfs config files.
 type Config struct {
 	Identity         Identity              // local node's peer identity
-	Datastore        Datastore             // local node's storage
+	Datastore        *Datastore            // local node's storage
 	Addresses        Addresses             // local node's addresses
 	Mounts           Mounts                // local node's mount points
 	Discovery        Discovery             // local node's discovery mechanisms
diff --git a/repo/config/datastore.go b/repo/config/datastore.go
index 9c368f21f97f..697f07535ffd 100644
--- a/repo/config/datastore.go
+++ b/repo/config/datastore.go
@@ -1,34 +1,22 @@
 package config
 
-import (
-	"encoding/json"
-)
-
 // DefaultDataStoreDirectory is the directory to store all the local IPFS data.
 const DefaultDataStoreDirectory = "datastore"
 
 // Datastore tracks the configuration of the datastore.
 type Datastore struct {
-	Type               string
-	Path               string
 	StorageMax         string // in B, kB, kiB, MB, ...
 	StorageGCWatermark int64  // in percentage to multiply on StorageMax
 	GCPeriod           string // in ns, us, ms, s, m, h
+	Path               string
+	NoSync             bool // deprecated
+
+	Spec map[string]interface{}
 
-	Params          *json.RawMessage
-	NoSync          bool
 	HashOnRead      bool
 	BloomFilterSize int
 }
 
-func (d *Datastore) ParamData() []byte {
-	if d.Params == nil {
-		return nil
-	}
-
-	return []byte(*d.Params)
-}
-
 type S3Datastore struct {
 	Region string `json:"region"`
 	Bucket string `json:"bucket"`
@@ -46,10 +34,6 @@ type LevelDB struct {
 	Compression string
 }
 
-type MeasureDB struct {
-	Label string
-}
-
 // DataStorePath returns the default data store path given a configuration root
 // (set an empty string to have the default configuration root)
 func DataStorePath(configroot string) (string, error) {
diff --git a/repo/config/init.go b/repo/config/init.go
index edb5408b2f37..d176bf778db1 100644
--- a/repo/config/init.go
+++ b/repo/config/init.go
@@ -76,19 +76,38 @@ func Init(out io.Writer, nBitsForKeypair int) (*Config, error) {
 	return conf, nil
 }
 
-func datastoreConfig() (Datastore, error) {
-	dspath, err := DataStorePath("")
-	if err != nil {
-		return Datastore{}, err
-	}
-	return Datastore{
-		Path:               dspath,
-		Type:               "leveldb",
+func datastoreConfig() (*Datastore, error) {
+	return &Datastore{
 		StorageMax:         "10GB",
 		StorageGCWatermark: 90, // 90%
 		GCPeriod:           "1h",
-		HashOnRead:         false,
 		BloomFilterSize:    0,
+		Spec: map[string]interface{}{
+			"type": "mount",
+			"mounts": []interface{}{
+				map[string]interface{}{
+					"mountpoint": "/blocks",
+					"type":       "measure",
+					"prefix":     "flatfs.datastore",
+					"child": map[string]interface{}{
+						"type":      "flatfs",
+						"path":      "blocks",
+						"nosync":    false,
+						"prefixLen": 4,
+					},
+				},
+				map[string]interface{}{
+					"mountpoint": "/",
+					"type":       "measure",
+					"prefix":     "leveldb.datastore",
+					"child": map[string]interface{}{
+						"type":        "levelds",
+						"path":        "datastore",
+						"compression": "none",
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		},
 	}, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/repo/fsrepo/datastores.go b/repo/fsrepo/datastores.go
index ff01fe60b72b..645c70c78b47 100644
--- a/repo/fsrepo/datastores.go
+++ b/repo/fsrepo/datastores.go
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import (
 	"path/filepath"
 
 	repo "github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/repo"
-	config "github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/repo/config"
 
 	ds "gx/ipfs/QmRWDav6mzWseLWeYfVd5fvUKiVe9xNH29YfMF438fG364/go-datastore"
 	mount "gx/ipfs/QmRWDav6mzWseLWeYfVd5fvUKiVe9xNH29YfMF438fG364/go-datastore/syncmount"
@@ -16,70 +15,40 @@ import (
 	"gx/ipfs/Qmbx2KUs8mUbDUiiESzC1ms7mdmh4pRu8X1V1tffC46M4n/go-ds-flatfs"
 )
 
-func (r *FSRepo) constructDatastore(kind string, params []byte) (repo.Datastore, error) {
-	switch kind {
+func (r *FSRepo) constructDatastore(params map[string]interface{}) (repo.Datastore, error) {
+	switch params["type"] {
 	case "mount":
-		var mounts []*mountConfig
-		if err := json.Unmarshal(params, &mounts); err != nil {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("datastore mount: %v", err)
+		mounts, ok := params["mounts"].([]interface{})
+		if !ok {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("mounts field wasnt an array")
 		}
 
 		return r.openMountDatastore(mounts)
 	case "flatfs":
-		var flatfsparams config.FlatDS
-		if err := json.Unmarshal(params, &flatfsparams); err != nil {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("datastore flatfs: %v", err)
-		}
-
-		return r.openFlatfsDatastore(&flatfsparams)
+		return r.openFlatfsDatastore(params)
 	case "mem":
 		return ds.NewMapDatastore(), nil
 	case "log":
-		var cfg struct {
-			Name      string
-			ChildType string
-			Child     *json.RawMessage
-		}
-
-		if err := json.Unmarshal(params, &cfg); err != nil {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("datastore measure: %v", err)
-		}
-
-		child, err := r.constructDatastore(cfg.ChildType, []byte(*cfg.Child))
+		child, err := r.constructDatastore(params["child"].(map[string]interface{}))
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
 
-		return ds.NewLogDatastore(child, cfg.Name), nil
-
+		return ds.NewLogDatastore(child, params["name"].(string)), nil
 	case "measure":
-		var measureOpts struct {
-			Prefix    string
-			ChildType string
-			Child     *json.RawMessage
-		}
-
-		if err := json.Unmarshal(params, &measureOpts); err != nil {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("datastore measure: %v", err)
-		}
-
-		child, err := r.constructDatastore(measureOpts.ChildType, []byte(*measureOpts.Child))
+		child, err := r.constructDatastore(params["child"].(map[string]interface{}))
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
 
-		return r.openMeasureDB(measureOpts.Prefix, child)
-
-	case "levelds":
-		var c config.LevelDB
-		if err := json.Unmarshal(params, &c); err != nil {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("datastore levelds: %v", err)
-		}
+		prefix := params["prefix"].(string)
 
-		return r.openLeveldbDatastore(&c)
+		return r.openMeasureDB(prefix, child)
 
+	case "levelds":
+		return r.openLeveldbDatastore(params)
 	default:
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unknown datastore type: %s", kind)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unknown datastore type: %s", params["type"])
 	}
 }
 
@@ -89,40 +58,48 @@ type mountConfig struct {
 	Child     *json.RawMessage
 }
 
-func (r *FSRepo) openMountDatastore(mountcfg []*mountConfig) (repo.Datastore, error) {
+func (r *FSRepo) openMountDatastore(mountcfg []interface{}) (repo.Datastore, error) {
 	var mounts []mount.Mount
-	for _, cfg := range mountcfg {
+	for _, iface := range mountcfg {
+		cfg := iface.(map[string]interface{})
 
-		child, err := r.constructDatastore(cfg.ChildType, []byte(*cfg.Child))
+		child, err := r.constructDatastore(cfg)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
 
+		prefix, found := cfg["mountpoint"]
+		if !found {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("no 'mountpoint' on mount")
+		}
+
 		mounts = append(mounts, mount.Mount{
 			Datastore: child,
-			Prefix:    ds.NewKey(cfg.Path),
+			Prefix:    ds.NewKey(prefix.(string)),
 		})
 	}
 
 	return mount.New(mounts), nil
 }
 
-func (r *FSRepo) openFlatfsDatastore(params *config.FlatDS) (repo.Datastore, error) {
-	p := params.Path
+func (r *FSRepo) openFlatfsDatastore(params map[string]interface{}) (repo.Datastore, error) {
+	p := params["path"].(string)
 	if !filepath.IsAbs(p) {
 		p = filepath.Join(r.path, p)
 	}
-	return flatfs.New(p, params.PrefixLen, params.Sync)
+
+	plen := int(params["prefixLen"].(float64))
+	return flatfs.New(p, plen, params["nosync"].(bool))
 }
 
-func (r *FSRepo) openLeveldbDatastore(params *config.LevelDB) (repo.Datastore, error) {
-	p := params.Path
+func (r *FSRepo) openLeveldbDatastore(params map[string]interface{}) (repo.Datastore, error) {
+	p := params["path"].(string)
 	if !filepath.IsAbs(p) {
 		p = filepath.Join(r.path, p)
 	}
 
 	var c ldbopts.Compression
-	switch params.Compression {
+	switch params["compression"].(string) {
 	case "none":
 		c = ldbopts.NoCompression
 	case "snappy":
diff --git a/repo/fsrepo/fsrepo.go b/repo/fsrepo/fsrepo.go
index 5d8f55a5d818..d30daa4628a7 100644
--- a/repo/fsrepo/fsrepo.go
+++ b/repo/fsrepo/fsrepo.go
@@ -353,20 +353,19 @@ func (r *FSRepo) openKeystore() error {
 
 // openDatastore returns an error if the config file is not present.
 func (r *FSRepo) openDatastore() error {
-	switch r.config.Datastore.Type {
-	case "default", "leveldb", "":
-		// TODO: This is for legacy configs, remove in the future
-		d, err := openDefaultDatastore(r)
+	if r.config.Datastore.Spec != nil {
+		d, err := r.constructDatastore(r.config.Datastore.Spec)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
+
 		r.ds = d
-	default:
-		d, err := r.constructDatastore(r.config.Datastore.Type, r.config.Datastore.ParamData())
+	} else {
+		// TODO: This is for legacy configs, remove in the future
+		d, err := openDefaultDatastore(r)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-
 		r.ds = d
 	}