diff --git a/src/config.js b/src/config.js
index 311450039..8b4587b8b 100644
--- a/src/config.js
+++ b/src/config.js
@@ -1,8 +1,29 @@
 let config = {
-  securityLevel: 'strict'
 }
 
+const setConf = function (cnf) {
+  // Top level initially mermaid, gflow, sequenceDiagram and gantt
+  const lvl1Keys = Object.keys(cnf)
+  for (let i = 0; i < lvl1Keys.length; i++) {
+    if (typeof cnf[lvl1Keys[i]] === 'object' && cnf[lvl1Keys[i]] != null) {
+      const lvl2Keys = Object.keys(cnf[lvl1Keys[i]])
+
+      for (let j = 0; j < lvl2Keys.length; j++) {
+        // logger.debug('Setting conf ', lvl1Keys[i], '-', lvl2Keys[j])
+        if (typeof config[lvl1Keys[i]] === 'undefined') {
+          config[lvl1Keys[i]] = {}
+        }
+        // logger.debug('Setting config: ' + lvl1Keys[i] + ' ' + lvl2Keys[j] + ' to ' + cnf[lvl1Keys[i]][lvl2Keys[j]])
+        config[lvl1Keys[i]][lvl2Keys[j]] = cnf[lvl1Keys[i]][lvl2Keys[j]]
+      }
+    } else {
+      config[lvl1Keys[i]] = cnf[lvl1Keys[i]]
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+
 export const setConfig = conf => {
-  config = conf
+  setConf(conf)
 }
 export const getConfig = () => config
diff --git a/src/mermaidAPI.js b/src/mermaidAPI.js
index 0847208ab..12d697d0f 100644
--- a/src/mermaidAPI.js
+++ b/src/mermaidAPI.js
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 import * as d3 from 'd3'
 import scope from 'scope-css'
 import pkg from '../package.json'
-import { setConfig } from './config'
+import { setConfig, getConfig } from './config'
 import { logger, setLogLevel } from './logger'
 import utils from './utils'
 import flowRenderer from './diagrams/flowchart/flowRenderer'
@@ -534,16 +534,19 @@ const setConf = function (cnf) {
 
 function initialize (options) {
   logger.debug('Initializing mermaidAPI ', pkg.version)
+
   // Update default config with options supplied at initialization
   if (typeof options === 'object') {
     setConf(options)
   }
+  setConfig(config)
   setLogLevel(config.logLevel)
 }
 
-function getConfig () {
-  return config
-}
+// function getConfig () {
+//   console.warn('get config')
+//   return config
+// }
 
 const mermaidAPI = {
   render,