diff --git a/src/cli/commands/files/add.js b/src/cli/commands/files/add.js
index 37732b7ad2..df8af91bac 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands/files/add.js
+++ b/src/cli/commands/files/add.js
@@ -135,6 +135,10 @@ module.exports = {
       default: false,
       describe: 'Only chunk and hash, do not write'
     },
+    chunker: {
+      default: 'default',
+      describe: 'Chunking algorithm to use, formatted like [default, size-{size}, rabin, rabin-{avg}, rabin-{min}-{avg}-{max}]'
+    },
     'enable-sharding-experiment': {
       type: 'boolean',
       default: false
@@ -194,7 +198,8 @@ module.exports = {
       onlyHash: argv.onlyHash,
       hashAlg: argv.hash,
       wrapWithDirectory: argv.wrapWithDirectory,
-      pin: argv.pin
+      pin: argv.pin,
+      chunker: argv.chunker
     }
 
     if (options.enableShardingExperiment && utils.isDaemonOn()) {
diff --git a/src/core/components/files.js b/src/core/components/files.js
index de0b01c562..8bf66eb972 100644
--- a/src/core/components/files.js
+++ b/src/core/components/files.js
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ const OtherBuffer = require('buffer').Buffer
 const CID = require('cids')
 const toB58String = require('multihashes').toB58String
 const errCode = require('err-code')
+const parseChunkerString = require('../utils').parseChunkerString
 
 const WRAPPER = 'wrapper/'
 
@@ -148,12 +149,13 @@ class AddHelper extends Duplex {
 }
 
 module.exports = function files (self) {
-  function _addPullStream (options) {
+  function _addPullStream (options = {}) {
+    const chunkerOptions = parseChunkerString(options.chunker)
     const opts = Object.assign({}, {
       shardSplitThreshold: self._options.EXPERIMENTAL.sharding
         ? 1000
         : Infinity
-    }, options)
+    }, options, chunkerOptions)
 
     if (opts.hashAlg && opts.cidVersion !== 1) {
       opts.cidVersion = 1
diff --git a/src/core/utils.js b/src/core/utils.js
index 55ac9be2a2..6c9488e293 100644
--- a/src/core/utils.js
+++ b/src/core/utils.js
@@ -110,5 +110,93 @@ const resolvePath = promisify(function (objectAPI, ipfsPaths, callback) {
   }, callback)
 })
 
+/**
+ * Parses chunker string into options used by DAGBuilder in ipfs-unixfs-engine
+ *
+ *
+ * @param  {String}   chunker Chunker algorithm supported formats:
+ *                    "default" ("")
+ *                    "size-{size}",
+ *                    "rabin"
+ *                    "rabin-{avg}"
+ *                    "rabin-{min}-{avg}-{max}"
+ *
+ * @return {Object}   Chunker options for DAGBuilder
+ */
+function parseChunkerString (chunker) {
+  if (!chunker || chunker === '' || chunker === 'default') {
+    return {
+      chunker: 'fixed'
+    }
+  } else if (chunker.startsWith('size-')) {
+    const sizeStr = chunker.split('-')[1]
+    const size = parseInt(sizeStr)
+    if (isNaN(size)) {
+      throw new Error('Parameter avg must be an integer')
+    }
+    return {
+      chunker: 'fixed',
+      chunkerOptions: {
+        maxChunkSize: size
+      }
+    }
+  } else if (chunker.startsWith('rabin')) {
+    return {
+      chunker: 'rabin',
+      chunkerOptions: parseRabinString(chunker)
+    }
+  } else {
+    throw new Error(`unrecognized chunker option: ${chunker}`)
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Parses rabin chunker string
+ *
+ * @param  {String}   chunker Chunker algorithm supported formats:
+ *                            "rabin"
+ *                            "rabin-{avg}"
+ *                            "rabin-{min}-{avg}-{max}"
+ *
+ * @return {Object}   rabin chunker options
+ */
+function parseRabinString (chunker) {
+  const options = {}
+  const parts = chunker.split('-')
+  switch (parts.length) {
+    case 1:
+      options.avgChunkSize = 262144
+      break
+    case 2:
+      options.avgChunkSize = parseInt(parts[1])
+      if (isNaN(options.avgChunkSize)) {
+        throw new Error('Parameter avg must be an integer')
+      }
+      break
+    case 4:
+      options.minChunkSize = parseSub(parts[1].split(':'), 'min')
+      options.avgChunkSize = parseSub(parts[2].split(':'), 'avg')
+      options.maxChunkSize = parseSub(parts[3].split(':'), 'max')
+      break
+    default:
+      throw new Error('incorrect format (expected "rabin" "rabin-[avg]" or "rabin-[min]-[avg]-[max]"')
+  }
+
+  return options
+}
+
+function parseSub (sub, name) {
+  if (sub.length > 1 && sub[0] !== name) {
+    throw new Error('Parameter order must be min:avg:max')
+  }
+  let size = parseInt(sub[sub.length - 1])
+  if (isNaN(size)) {
+    throw new Error(`Parameter ${name} must be an integer`)
+  }
+
+  return size
+}
+
 exports.parseIpfsPath = parseIpfsPath
 exports.resolvePath = resolvePath
+exports.parseChunkerString = parseChunkerString
diff --git a/src/http/api/resources/files.js b/src/http/api/resources/files.js
index 0370c4b0c2..645ddaceb7 100644
--- a/src/http/api/resources/files.js
+++ b/src/http/api/resources/files.js
@@ -221,7 +221,8 @@ exports.add = {
       onlyHash: request.query['only-hash'],
       hashAlg: request.query['hash'],
       wrapWithDirectory: request.query['wrap-with-directory'],
-      pin: request.query.pin
+      pin: request.query.pin,
+      chunker: request.query['chunker']
     }
 
     const aborter = abortable()
diff --git a/test/core/utils.js b/test/core/utils.js
index b5c84b15c1..0e669d5389 100644
--- a/test/core/utils.js
+++ b/test/core/utils.js
@@ -157,4 +157,51 @@ describe('utils', () => {
       })
     })
   })
+
+  describe('parseChunkerString', () => {
+    it('handles an empty string', () => {
+      const options = utils.parseChunkerString('')
+      expect(options).to.have.property('chunker').to.equal('fixed')
+    })
+
+    it('handles a null chunker string', () => {
+      const options = utils.parseChunkerString(null)
+      expect(options).to.have.property('chunker').to.equal('fixed')
+    })
+
+    it('parses a fixed size string', () => {
+      const options = utils.parseChunkerString('size-512')
+      expect(options).to.have.property('chunker').to.equal('fixed')
+      expect(options)
+        .to.have.property('chunkerOptions')
+        .to.have.property('maxChunkSize')
+        .to.equal(512)
+    })
+
+    it('parses a rabin string without size', () => {
+      const options = utils.parseChunkerString('rabin')
+      expect(options).to.have.property('chunker').to.equal('rabin')
+      expect(options)
+        .to.have.property('chunkerOptions')
+        .to.have.property('avgChunkSize')
+    })
+
+    it('parses a rabin string with only avg size', () => {
+      const options = utils.parseChunkerString('rabin-512')
+      expect(options).to.have.property('chunker').to.equal('rabin')
+      expect(options)
+        .to.have.property('chunkerOptions')
+        .to.have.property('avgChunkSize')
+        .to.equal(512)
+    })
+
+    it('parses a rabin string with min, avg, and max', () => {
+      const options = utils.parseChunkerString('rabin-42-92-184')
+      expect(options).to.have.property('chunker').to.equal('rabin')
+      expect(options).to.have.property('chunkerOptions')
+      expect(options.chunkerOptions).to.have.property('minChunkSize').to.equal(42)
+      expect(options.chunkerOptions).to.have.property('avgChunkSize').to.equal(92)
+      expect(options.chunkerOptions).to.have.property('maxChunkSize').to.equal(184)
+    })
+  })
 })