diff --git a/examples/circuit-relaying/src/app.js b/examples/circuit-relaying/src/app.js
index 290a57cf26..dd34347c1c 100644
--- a/examples/circuit-relaying/src/app.js
+++ b/examples/circuit-relaying/src/app.js
@@ -36,8 +36,8 @@ document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', async () => {
         enabled: true // make this node a relay (HOP)
       }
     },
-    EXPERIMENTAL: {
-      pubsub: true // enable pubsub
+    pubsub: {
+      enabled: true
     },
     config: {
       Bootstrap: []
diff --git a/examples/custom-libp2p/index.js b/examples/custom-libp2p/index.js
index 4b85fa2280..fa1a097b86 100644
--- a/examples/custom-libp2p/index.js
+++ b/examples/custom-libp2p/index.js
@@ -96,8 +96,8 @@ const libp2pBundle = (opts) => {
           timeout: 2e3 // End the query quickly since we're running so frequently
         }
       },
-      EXPERIMENTAL: {
-        pubsub: true
+      pubsub: {
+        enabled: true
       }
     }
   })
diff --git a/examples/custom-libp2p/package.json b/examples/custom-libp2p/package.json
index 81209e705b..944b8a2b7f 100644
--- a/examples/custom-libp2p/package.json
+++ b/examples/custom-libp2p/package.json
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
   "license": "MIT",
   "dependencies": {
     "ipfs": "file:../../",
-    "libp2p": "~0.25.0",
+    "libp2p": "~0.26.1",
     "libp2p-bootstrap": "~0.9.7",
     "libp2p-kad-dht": "~0.15.0",
     "libp2p-mdns": "~0.12.2",
diff --git a/examples/exchange-files-in-browser/public/app.js b/examples/exchange-files-in-browser/public/app.js
index 4578bc588d..d45f4c9b6e 100644
--- a/examples/exchange-files-in-browser/public/app.js
+++ b/examples/exchange-files-in-browser/public/app.js
@@ -44,8 +44,8 @@ let info
 async function start () {
   if (!node) {
     const options = {
-      EXPERIMENTAL: {
-        pubsub: true
+      pubsub: {
+        enabled: true
       },
       repo: 'ipfs-' + Math.random(),
       config: {
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 3253367d38..5102b9508d 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@
     "form-data": "^2.5.1",
     "hat": "0.0.3",
     "interface-ipfs-core": "^0.111.0",
-    "ipfsd-ctl": "^0.44.1",
+    "ipfsd-ctl": "~0.45.0",
     "libp2p-websocket-star": "~0.10.2",
     "ncp": "^2.0.0",
     "p-event": "^4.1.0",
diff --git a/src/cli/commands/daemon.js b/src/cli/commands/daemon.js
index 140ac2d224..804b298304 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands/daemon.js
+++ b/src/cli/commands/daemon.js
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ module.exports = {
         type: 'boolean',
         default: false
       })
-      .option('enable-pubsub-experiment', {
+      .option('enable-pubsub', {
         type: 'boolean',
         default: false
       })
@@ -53,8 +53,8 @@ module.exports = {
         offline: argv.offline,
         pass: argv.pass,
         preload: { enabled: argv.enablePreload },
+        pubsub: { enabled: argv.enablePubsub },
         EXPERIMENTAL: {
-          pubsub: argv.enablePubsubExperiment,
           ipnsPubsub: argv.enableNamesysPubsub,
           dht: argv.enableDhtExperiment,
           sharding: argv.enableShardingExperiment
diff --git a/src/cli/daemon.js b/src/cli/daemon.js
index 879432018b..7181e8c1e7 100644
--- a/src/cli/daemon.js
+++ b/src/cli/daemon.js
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ class Daemon {
   async start () {
     this._log('starting')
 
-    const libp2p = { modules: {} }
+    const libp2p = { modules: {}, config: {} }
 
     // Attempt to use any of the WebRTC versions available globally
     let electronWebRTC
diff --git a/src/cli/utils.js b/src/cli/utils.js
index eed5cbdac6..0562ff6737 100644
--- a/src/cli/utils.js
+++ b/src/cli/utils.js
@@ -50,8 +50,8 @@ exports.getIPFS = (argv, callback) => {
     init: false,
     start: false,
     pass: argv.pass,
-    EXPERIMENTAL: {
-      pubsub: true
+    pubsub: {
+      enabled: true
     }
   })
 
diff --git a/src/core/components/libp2p.js b/src/core/components/libp2p.js
index ef261f8c1c..ba420f120f 100644
--- a/src/core/components/libp2p.js
+++ b/src/core/components/libp2p.js
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ function defaultBundle ({ datastore, peerInfo, peerBook, options, config }) {
         }
       },
       pubsub: {
-        enabled: get(options, 'EXPERIMENTAL.pubsub', false)
+        enabled: get(options, 'pubsub.enabled', false)
       }
     },
     connectionManager: get(options, 'connectionManager',
diff --git a/src/core/config.js b/src/core/config.js
index c259aa7451..53231bcc73 100644
--- a/src/core/config.js
+++ b/src/core/config.js
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@ const configSchema = s({
     addresses: optional(s(['multiaddr'])),
     interval: 'number?'
   }, { enabled: true, interval: 30 * 1000 }),
+  pubsub: optional(s({
+    enabled: 'boolean?'
+  })),
   init: optional(union(['boolean', s({
     bits: 'number?',
     emptyRepo: 'boolean?',
diff --git a/src/core/index.js b/src/core/index.js
index 8b0b717716..4016aa47fc 100644
--- a/src/core/index.js
+++ b/src/core/index.js
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ const multihashing = require('multihashing-async')
 const CID = require('cids')
 const debug = require('debug')
 const mergeOptions = require('merge-options')
+const get = require('dlv')
 const EventEmitter = require('events')
 
 const config = require('./config')
@@ -46,6 +47,9 @@ class IPFS extends EventEmitter {
       init: true,
       start: true,
       EXPERIMENTAL: {},
+      pubsub: {
+        enabled: false
+      },
       preload: {
         enabled: true,
         addresses: [
@@ -131,13 +135,14 @@ class IPFS extends EventEmitter {
     this.stats = components.stats(this)
     this.resolve = components.resolve(this)
 
-    if (this._options.EXPERIMENTAL.pubsub) {
-      this.log('EXPERIMENTAL pubsub is enabled')
+    if (this._options.pubsub.enabled) {
+      this.log('pubsub is enabled')
     }
     if (this._options.EXPERIMENTAL.ipnsPubsub) {
-      if (!this._options.EXPERIMENTAL.pubsub) {
-        this.log('EXPERIMENTAL pubsub is enabled to use IPNS pubsub')
-        this._options.EXPERIMENTAL.pubsub = true
+      // if (!this._options.pubsub.enabled) {
+      if (!get(this._options, 'pubsub.enabled', false)) {
+        this.log('pubsub is enabled to use EXPERIMENTAL IPNS pubsub')
+        this._options.pubsub.enabled = true
       }
 
       this.log('EXPERIMENTAL IPNS pubsub is enabled')
diff --git a/test/cli/pubsub.js b/test/cli/pubsub.js
index 89ae432bcd..e4358e90f2 100644
--- a/test/cli/pubsub.js
+++ b/test/cli/pubsub.js
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ describe('pubsub', function () {
       exec: IPFS,
       initOptions: { bits: 512 },
       config,
-      args: ['--enable-pubsub-experiment']
+      args: ['--enable-pubsub']
     })
     node = ipfsdA.api
   })
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ describe('pubsub', function () {
     const df = DaemonFactory.create({ type: 'js' })
     ipfsdB = await df.spawn({
       initOptions: { bits: 512 },
-      args: ['--enable-pubsub-experiment'],
+      args: ['--enable-pubsub'],
       exec: path.resolve(`${__dirname}/../../src/cli/bin.js`),
       config
     })
diff --git a/test/core/config.spec.js b/test/core/config.spec.js
index 8f2e643e1c..e67b077209 100644
--- a/test/core/config.spec.js
+++ b/test/core/config.spec.js
@@ -98,8 +98,8 @@ describe('config', () => {
 
   it('should validate valid EXPERIMENTAL', () => {
     const cfgs = [
-      { EXPERIMENTAL: { pubsub: true, dht: true, sharding: true } },
-      { EXPERIMENTAL: { pubsub: false, dht: false, sharding: false } },
+      { EXPERIMENTAL: { dht: true, sharding: true } },
+      { EXPERIMENTAL: { dht: false, sharding: false } },
       { EXPERIMENTAL: undefined }
     ]
 
@@ -108,7 +108,6 @@ describe('config', () => {
 
   it('should validate invalid EXPERIMENTAL', () => {
     const cfgs = [
-      { EXPERIMENTAL: { pubsub: 138 } },
       { EXPERIMENTAL: { dht: 138 } },
       { EXPERIMENTAL: { sharding: 138 } }
     ]
diff --git a/test/core/interface.spec.js b/test/core/interface.spec.js
index f930641355..f2151a88df 100644
--- a/test/core/interface.spec.js
+++ b/test/core/interface.spec.js
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ describe('interface-ipfs-core tests', function () {
 
   tests.pubsub(CommonFactory.create({
     spawnOptions: {
-      args: ['--enable-pubsub-experiment'],
+      args: ['--enable-pubsub'],
       initOptions: { bits: 512 }
     }
   }), {
diff --git a/test/core/pubsub.spec.js b/test/core/pubsub.spec.js
index c1a8ec9092..de0f4404c6 100644
--- a/test/core/pubsub.spec.js
+++ b/test/core/pubsub.spec.js
@@ -29,8 +29,8 @@ describe('pubsub disabled', () => {
       preload: {
         enabled: false
       },
-      EXPERIMENTAL: {
-        pubsub: false
+      pubsub: {
+        enabled: false
       }
     })
 
diff --git a/test/http-api/interface.js b/test/http-api/interface.js
index 8cbc2423ef..23b5916624 100644
--- a/test/http-api/interface.js
+++ b/test/http-api/interface.js
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ describe('interface-ipfs-core over ipfs-http-client tests', () => {
 
   tests.pubsub(CommonFactory.create({
     spawnOptions: {
-      args: ['--enable-pubsub-experiment'],
+      args: ['--enable-pubsub'],
       initOptions: { bits: 512 }
     }
   }))
diff --git a/test/http-api/routes.js b/test/http-api/routes.js
index ded737cc6a..8c090727a5 100644
--- a/test/http-api/routes.js
+++ b/test/http-api/routes.js
@@ -26,9 +26,7 @@ describe('HTTP API', () => {
       repo: repoTests,
       pass: hat(),
       config,
-      EXPERIMENTAL: {
-        pubsub: true
-      },
+      pubsub: { enabled: true },
       preload: { enabled: false }
     })
     await ncp(repoExample, repoTests)