diff --git a/src/core/components/boot.js b/src/core/components/boot.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5a31410e0b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/core/components/boot.js
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+'use strict'
+
+module.exports = (self) => () => {
+  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    /*
+      Refactor the `src/core/boot.js` in order to return a promise.
+      This way the error propagation will be made using promises/callbacks
+      and so, event emitters will not be necessary.
+    */
+    resolve(self)
+  })
+}
diff --git a/src/core/components/index.js b/src/core/components/index.js
index 4f4e410e43..c5d72ea855 100644
--- a/src/core/components/index.js
+++ b/src/core/components/index.js
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ exports.version = require('./version')
 exports.id = require('./id')
 exports.repo = require('./repo')
 exports.init = require('./init')
+exports.boot = require('./boot')
 exports.bootstrap = require('./bootstrap')
 exports.config = require('./config')
 exports.block = require('./block')
diff --git a/src/core/index.js b/src/core/index.js
index 46f8c9bb2c..cdf354ede5 100644
--- a/src/core/index.js
+++ b/src/core/index.js
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ class IPFS extends EventEmitter {
     this._options = {
       init: true,
       start: true,
+      boot: true,
       EXPERIMENTAL: {}
     }
 
@@ -88,6 +89,7 @@ class IPFS extends EventEmitter {
     this.stop = components.stop(this)
     this.shutdown = this.stop
     this.isOnline = components.isOnline(this)
+    this.boot = components.boot(this)
     //   - interface-ipfs-core defined API
     this.version = components.version(this)
     this.id = components.id(this)
@@ -134,12 +136,21 @@ class IPFS extends EventEmitter {
       isIPFS: isIPFS
     }
 
-    boot(this)
+    if (this._options.boot) {
+      boot(this)
+    }
   }
 }
 
-exports = module.exports = IPFS
-
-exports.createNode = (options) => {
+IPFS.createNode = (options) => {
   return new IPFS(options)
 }
+
+IPFS.bootNewNode = (opts = {}) => {
+  const options = Object.assign(opts, { boot: false })
+  const node = new IPFS(options)
+
+  return node.boot()
+}
+
+module.exports = IPFS