diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 8731c7fd..de6d705b 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ _testmain.go
 *~
 beehive
 /beehive.conf
+/beehive.yaml
 
 # Texteditor-specific stuff
 .*.sw*
diff --git a/cfg/filebackend.go b/cfg/filebackend.go
index cbe44456..4f83a9b0 100644
--- a/cfg/filebackend.go
+++ b/cfg/filebackend.go
@@ -6,31 +6,56 @@ import (
 	"net/url"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+
+	"gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
+)
+
+type Format int
+
+const (
+	FormatJSON Format = iota
+	FormatYAML        = iota
 )
 
 // FileBackend implements a filesystem backend for the configuration
-type FileBackend struct{}
+type FileBackend struct {
+	format Format
+}
 
 // NewFileBackend returns a FileBackend that handles loading and
 // saving files from the local filesytem.
 func NewFileBackend() *FileBackend {
-	return &FileBackend{}
+	return &FileBackend{format: FormatJSON}
 }
 
 // Load loads chains from config
 func (fs *FileBackend) Load(u *url.URL) (*Config, error) {
 	var config Config
 
+	// detect file format by extension
+	if strings.HasSuffix(u.Path, ".yaml") {
+		fs.format = FormatYAML
+	} else if strings.HasSuffix(u.Path, ".yml") {
+		fs.format = FormatYAML
+	} else {
+		fs.format = FormatJSON
+	}
+
 	if !exist(u.Path) {
 		return &Config{url: u}, nil
 	}
 
-	j, err := ioutil.ReadFile(u.Path)
+	content, err := ioutil.ReadFile(u.Path)
 	if err != nil {
 		return &config, err
 	}
 
-	err = json.Unmarshal(j, &config)
+	if fs.format == FormatYAML {
+		err = yaml.Unmarshal(content, &config)
+	} else {
+		err = json.Unmarshal(content, &config)
+	}
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -50,10 +75,15 @@ func (fs *FileBackend) Save(config *Config) error {
 		}
 	}
 
-	j, err := json.MarshalIndent(config, "", "  ")
-	if err == nil {
-		err = ioutil.WriteFile(config.URL().Path, j, 0644)
+	var content []byte
+	var err error
+	if fs.format == FormatYAML {
+		content, err = yaml.Marshal(config)
+	} else {
+		content, err = json.MarshalIndent(config, "", "  ")
 	}
-
-	return err
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	return ioutil.WriteFile(config.URL().Path, content, 0644)
 }
diff --git a/cfg/filebackend_test.go b/cfg/filebackend_test.go
index f9a17510..ed186460 100644
--- a/cfg/filebackend_test.go
+++ b/cfg/filebackend_test.go
@@ -104,3 +104,37 @@ func TestFileSave(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("Configuration file wasn't saved to %s", p)
 	}
 }
+
+func Test_FileLoad_FileSave_YAML(t *testing.T) {
+	// load
+	u, err := url.Parse(filepath.Join("testdata", "beehive.yaml"))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Error("cannot parse config path")
+	}
+	backend := NewFileBackend()
+	conf, err := backend.Load(u)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("Error loading config file fixture from relative path %s. %v", u, err)
+	}
+	if conf.Bees[0].Name != "echo" {
+		t.Error("The first bee should be an exec bee named echo")
+	}
+
+	tmpdir, err := ioutil.TempDir("", "beehivetest")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Error("Could not create temp directory")
+	}
+	p := filepath.Join(tmpdir, "beehive.yaml")
+	u, err = url.Parse("file://" + p)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Error("cannot parse config path")
+	}
+	err = conf.SetURL(u.String())
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Error("cannot set url")
+	}
+	err = backend.Save(conf)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Error("cannot save config")
+	}
+}
diff --git a/cfg/testdata/beehive.yaml b/cfg/testdata/beehive.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6706e553
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cfg/testdata/beehive.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+bees:
+  - name: echo
+    class: execbee
+    description: echo
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 0d820d66..ceb911ea 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -103,5 +103,6 @@ require (
 	gopkg.in/ini.v1 v1.42.0 // indirect
 	gopkg.in/mail.v2 v2.3.1 // indirect
 	gopkg.in/mgo.v2 v2.0.0-20180705113604-9856a29383ce // indirect
+	gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.3.0
 	layeh.com/gumble v0.0.0-20180508205105-1ea1159c4956
 )
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index fea6ead3..d8008067 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -318,5 +318,7 @@ gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.2.2 h1:ZCJp+EgiOT7lHqUV2J862kp8Qj64Jo6az82+3Td9dZw=
 gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.2.2/go.mod h1:hI93XBmqTisBFMUTm0b8Fm+jr3Dg1NNxqwp+5A1VGuI=
 gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.2.4 h1:/eiJrUcujPVeJ3xlSWaiNi3uSVmDGBK1pDHUHAnao1I=
 gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.2.4/go.mod h1:hI93XBmqTisBFMUTm0b8Fm+jr3Dg1NNxqwp+5A1VGuI=
+gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.3.0 h1:clyUAQHOM3G0M3f5vQj7LuJrETvjVot3Z5el9nffUtU=
+gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.3.0/go.mod h1:hI93XBmqTisBFMUTm0b8Fm+jr3Dg1NNxqwp+5A1VGuI=
 layeh.com/gumble v0.0.0-20180508205105-1ea1159c4956 h1:TaQ2ECrcAom2bkjRvOxhsUkD6l5iiCJ/++lHHZ42zII=
 layeh.com/gumble v0.0.0-20180508205105-1ea1159c4956/go.mod h1:ZWnZxbDNsg1uFq6Zu7mRdCi7xechwiqWYsFdedd0GUc=