diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7971de9..6dae828 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -118,13 +118,9 @@ Configuration
 -------------
 
 Dotbot uses YAML or JSON formatted configuration files to let you specify how
-to set up your dotfiles. The YAML format is recommended because it looks
-cleaner. JSON will be parsed as a subset of YAML, so tab characters are not
-permitted.
-
-Currently, Dotbot knows how to [link](#link) files and folders, execute
-[shell](#shell) commands, and [clean](#clean) directories of broken symbolic
-links.
+to set up your dotfiles. Currently, Dotbot knows how to [link](#link) files and
+folders, execute [shell](#shell) commands, and [clean](#clean) directories of
+broken symbolic links.
 
 **Ideally, bootstrap configurations should be idempotent. That is, the
 installer should be able to be run multiple times without causing any
diff --git a/dotbot/config.py b/dotbot/config.py
index 9ecf9ac..a9aafa0 100644
--- a/dotbot/config.py
+++ b/dotbot/config.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import yaml
+import json
 from .util import string
 
 class ConfigReader(object):
@@ -8,7 +9,16 @@ class ConfigReader(object):
     def _read(self, config_file_path):
         try:
             with open(config_file_path) as fin:
-                data = yaml.safe_load(fin)
+                try:
+                    data = yaml.safe_load(fin)
+                except Exception as e:
+                    # try falling back to JSON, but return original exception
+                    # if that fails too
+                    try:
+                        fin.seek(0)
+                        data = json.load(fin)
+                    except Exception:
+                        raise e
             return data
         except Exception as e:
             msg = string.indent_lines(str(e))
diff --git a/test/test-lib.bash b/test/test-lib.bash
index 425ae56..bb4b234 100644
--- a/test/test-lib.bash
+++ b/test/test-lib.bash
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 DEBUG=false
 DOTFILES='/home/vagrant/dotfiles'
 INSTALL_CONF='install.conf.yaml'
+INSTALL_CONF_JSON='install.conf.json'
 
 test_run_() {
     if ! ${DEBUG}; then
@@ -48,4 +49,12 @@ run_dotbot() {
     )
 }
 
+run_dotbot_json() {
+    (
+        cd "${DOTFILES}"
+        cat > "${INSTALL_CONF_JSON}"
+        /dotbot/bin/dotbot -d . -c "${INSTALL_CONF_JSON}" "${@}"
+    )
+}
+
 initialize
diff --git a/test/tests/config-json-tabs.bash b/test/tests/config-json-tabs.bash
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4acc230
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/tests/config-json-tabs.bash
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+test_description='json config with tabs allowed'
+. '../test-lib.bash'
+
+test_expect_success 'setup' '
+echo "grape" > ${DOTFILES}/h
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'run' '
+run_dotbot_json <<EOF
+[{
+	"link": {
+		"~/.i": "h"
+	}
+}]
+EOF
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'test' '
+grep "grape" ~/.i
+'
diff --git a/test/tests/config-json.bash b/test/tests/config-json.bash
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..94ef0ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/tests/config-json.bash
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+test_description='json config allowed'
+. '../test-lib.bash'
+
+test_expect_success 'setup' '
+echo "grape" > ${DOTFILES}/h
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'run' '
+run_dotbot_json <<EOF
+[{
+    "link": {
+        "~/.i": "h"
+    }
+}]
+EOF
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'test' '
+grep "grape" ~/.i
+'