diff --git a/config/autonat.go b/config/autonat.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..05009ffc5dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/autonat.go
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+package config
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+)
+
+// AutoNATServiceMode configures the ipfs node's AutoNAT service.
+type AutoNATServiceMode int
+
+const (
+	// AutoNATServiceUnset indicates that the user has not set the
+	// AutoNATService mode.
+	//
+	// When unset, nodes configured to be public DHT nodes will _also_
+	// perform limited AutoNAT dialbacks.
+	AutoNATServiceUnset AutoNATServiceMode = iota
+	// AutoNATServiceEnabled indicates that the user has enabled the
+	// AutoNATService.
+	AutoNATServiceEnabled
+	// AutoNATServiceDisabled indicates that the user has disabled the
+	// AutoNATService.
+	AutoNATServiceDisabled
+)
+
+func (m *AutoNATServiceMode) UnmarshalText(text []byte) error {
+	switch string(text) {
+	case "":
+		*m = AutoNATServiceUnset
+	case "enabled":
+		*m = AutoNATServiceEnabled
+	case "disabled":
+		*m = AutoNATServiceDisabled
+	default:
+		return fmt.Errorf("unknown autonat mode: %s", string(text))
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (m AutoNATServiceMode) MarshalText() ([]byte, error) {
+	switch m {
+	case AutoNATServiceUnset:
+		return nil, nil
+	case AutoNATServiceEnabled:
+		return []byte("enabled"), nil
+	case AutoNATServiceDisabled:
+		return []byte("disabled"), nil
+	default:
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unknown autonat mode: %d", m)
+	}
+}
+
+// AutoNATConfig configures the node's AutoNAT subsystem.
+type AutoNATConfig struct {
+	// ServiceMode configures the node's AutoNAT service mode.
+	ServiceMode AutoNATServiceMode `json:",omitempty"`
+
+	// Throttle configures AutoNAT dialback throttling.
+	//
+	// If unset, the conservative libp2p defaults will be unset. To help the
+	// network, please consider setting this and increasing the limits.
+	//
+	// By default, the limits will be a total of 30 dialbacks, with a
+	// per-peer max of 3 peer, resetting every minute.
+	Throttle *AutoNATThrottleConfig `json:",omitempty"`
+}
+
+// AutoNATThrottleConfig configures the throttle limites
+type AutoNATThrottleConfig struct {
+	// GlobalLimit and PeerLimit sets the global and per-peer dialback
+	// limits. The AutoNAT service will only perform the specified number of
+	// dialbacks per interval.
+	//
+	// Setting either to 0 will disable the appropriate limit.
+	GlobalLimit, PeerLimit int
+
+	// Interval specifies how frequently this node should reset the
+	// global/peer dialback limits.
+	Interval string
+}
diff --git a/config/config.go b/config/config.go
index 3f140474566..9af0cf68f19 100644
--- a/config/config.go
+++ b/config/config.go
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	Gateway   Gateway   // local node's gateway server options
 	API       API       // local node's API settings
 	Swarm     SwarmConfig
+	AutoNAT   AutoNATConfig
 	Pubsub    PubsubConfig
 
 	Provider     Provider
diff --git a/config/swarm.go b/config/swarm.go
index 16dc54d9cba..86060299623 100644
--- a/config/swarm.go
+++ b/config/swarm.go
@@ -10,8 +10,6 @@ type SwarmConfig struct {
 	// autorelay functionality
 	// if true, then the libp2p host will be constructed with autorelay functionality.
 	EnableAutoRelay bool
-	// if true, then an AutoNATService will be instantiated to facilitate autorelay
-	EnableAutoNATService bool
 
 	ConnMgr ConnMgr
 }