diff --git a/bot.conf.example b/bot.conf.example
index 69e2af81..9ce0cbbb 100644
--- a/bot.conf.example
+++ b/bot.conf.example
@@ -14,6 +14,12 @@ api-port                 =
 # the default channel BitBot automatically joins
 bot-channel              =
 
+# module blacklist and whitelist. comma-separated. leave both empty to load all
+# modules, leave whitelist empty to load all but blacklisted modules, populate 
+# whitelist to not load all modules by default.
+module-blacklist         =
+module-whitelist         =
+
 # https://openweathermap.org/api
 openweathermap-api-key   =
 
diff --git a/src/IRCBot.py b/src/IRCBot.py
index 859b052d..37559d95 100644
--- a/src/IRCBot.py
+++ b/src/IRCBot.py
@@ -62,8 +62,18 @@ class Bot(object):
 
     def load_modules(self, safe: bool=False
             ) -> typing.Tuple[typing.List[str], typing.List[str]]:
-        whitelist = self.get_setting("module-whitelist", [])
-        blacklist = self.get_setting("module-blacklist", [])
+        db_blacklist = set(self.get_setting("module-blacklist", []))
+        db_whitelist = set(self.get_setting("module-whitelist", []))
+
+        conf_blacklist = self.config.get("module-blacklist", "").split(",")
+        conf_whitelist = self.config.get("module-whitelist", "").split(",")
+
+        conf_blacklist = set(filter(None, conf_blacklist))
+        conf_whitelist = set(filter(None, conf_whitelist))
+
+        blacklist = db_blacklist|conf_blacklist
+        whitelist = db_whitelist|conf_whitelist
+
         return self.modules.load_modules(self, whitelist=whitelist,
             blacklist=blacklist, safe=safe)