diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 1025ee97..87cba930 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -75,9 +75,11 @@
     "lodash.clone": "^4.5.0",
     "lodash.defaults": "^4.2.0",
     "lodash.defaultsdeep": "^4.6.1",
+    "merge-options": "^1.0.1",
     "multiaddr": "^6.1.0",
     "safe-json-stringify": "^1.2.0",
-    "superagent": "^5.0.5"
+    "superagent": "^5.0.5",
+    "temp-write": "^4.0.0"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "aegir": "^20.0.0",
@@ -87,7 +89,7 @@
     "dirty-chai": "^2.0.1",
     "go-ipfs-dep": "~0.4.22",
     "husky": "^3.0.4",
-    "ipfs": "~0.37.1",
+    "ipfs": "github:ipfs/js-ipfs#feat/daemon-start-init",
     "is-running": "^2.1.0",
     "lint-staged": "^9.2.5",
     "proxyquire": "^2.1.3",
diff --git a/src/defaults/options.json b/src/defaults/options.json
index ea8e9331..e31a081c 100644
--- a/src/defaults/options.json
+++ b/src/defaults/options.json
@@ -2,5 +2,6 @@
   "type": "go",
   "disposable": true,
   "start": true,
-  "init": true
+  "init": true,
+  "args": []
 }
diff --git a/src/factory-daemon.js b/src/factory-daemon.js
index 13f386f1..4975eff5 100644
--- a/src/factory-daemon.js
+++ b/src/factory-daemon.js
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ const tmpDir = require('./utils/tmp-dir')
 const Daemon = require('./ipfsd-daemon')
 const defaultConfig = require('./defaults/config.json')
 const defaultOptions = require('./defaults/options.json')
+const { configFile } = require('./utils/config-file')
 
 /** @ignore @typedef {import("./index").SpawnOptions} SpawnOptions */
 
@@ -112,6 +113,17 @@ class FactoryDaemon {
     options.initOptions = defaultsDeep({}, this.options.initOptions, options.initOptions)
 
     const node = new Daemon(options)
+    if (options.init && options.start && options.type === 'js') {
+      const configPath = await configFile(options.type, options.config)
+      const args = options.args.concat([
+        '--init',
+        '--init-config', configPath,
+        '--init-profile', options.initOptions.profile
+      ])
+      await node.start(args)
+
+      return node
+    }
 
     if (options.init) {
       await node.init(options.initOptions)
diff --git a/src/ipfsd-daemon.js b/src/ipfsd-daemon.js
index c5e51dff..3f0ca307 100644
--- a/src/ipfsd-daemon.js
+++ b/src/ipfsd-daemon.js
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ const tmpDir = require('./utils/tmp-dir')
 const findIpfsExecutable = require('./utils/find-ipfs-executable')
 const setConfigValue = require('./utils/set-config-value')
 const run = require('./utils/run')
+const { configFile } = require('./utils/config-file')
 
 // amount of ms to wait before sigkill
 const GRACE_PERIOD = 10500
@@ -180,12 +181,19 @@ class Daemon {
       }
     }
 
+    if (this.opts.type === 'js') {
+      const configPath = await configFile('js', this.opts.config)
+      args.push(`--init-config`, configPath)
+    }
+
     await run(this, args, { env: this.env })
       .catch(translateError)
 
-    const conf = await this.getConfig()
+    if (this.opts.type === 'go') {
+      const conf = await this.getConfig()
 
-    await this.replaceConfig(defaults({}, this.opts.config, conf))
+      await this.replaceConfig(defaults({}, this.opts.config, conf))
+    }
 
     this.clean = false
     this.initialized = true
@@ -215,7 +223,7 @@ class Daemon {
    * @return {Promise}
    */
   start (flags = []) {
-    const args = ['daemon'].concat(flags || [])
+    const args = ['daemon'].concat(flags)
 
     const setApiAddr = (addr) => {
       this._apiAddr = multiaddr(addr)
diff --git a/src/utils/config-file.js b/src/utils/config-file.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d107fdbe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utils/config-file.js
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+'use strict'
+const tempWrite = require('temp-write')
+const merge = require('merge-options')
+
+function configFile (type, config) {
+  return tempWrite(JSON.stringify(merge({}, config)), 'config.json')
+}
+
+module.exports = {
+  configFile
+}