diff --git a/config.sample.yaml b/config.sample.yaml
index b34bb5a..04311bd 100644
--- a/config.sample.yaml
+++ b/config.sample.yaml
@@ -18,27 +18,27 @@
 # Delete or modify this list as appropriate.
 # See the docs for /configureClient for the full list of options.
 clients:
-  - user_id: "@goneb:localhost"
-    access_token: "MDASDASJDIASDJASDAFGFRGER"
-    homeserver_url: "http://localhost:8008"
-    sync: true
-    auto_join_rooms: true
-    display_name: "Go-NEB!"
+  - UserID: "@goneb:localhost"
+    AccessToken: "MDASDASJDIASDJASDAFGFRGER"
+    HomeserverURL: "http://localhost:8008"
+    Sync: true
+    AutoJoinRooms: true
+    DisplayName: "Go-NEB!"
 
-  - user_id: "@another_goneb:localhost"
-    access_token: "MDASDASJDIASDJASDAFGFRGER"
-    homeserver_url: "http://localhost:8008"
-    sync: false
-    auto_join_rooms: false
-    display_name: "Go-NEB!"
+  - UserID: "@another_goneb:localhost"
+    AccessToken: "MDASDASJDIASDJASDAFGFRGER"
+    HomeserverURL: "http://localhost:8008"
+    Sync: false
+    AutoJoinRooms: false
+    DisplayName: "Go-NEB!"
 
 # The list of realms which Go-NEB is aware of.
 # Delete or modify this list as appropriate.
 # See the docs for /configureAuthRealm for the full list of options.
 realms:
-  - id: "github_realm"
-    type: "github"
-    config:
+  - ID: "github_realm"
+    Type: "github"
+    Config:
       ClientSecret: "YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET"
       ClientID: "YOUR_CLIENT_ID"
 
diff --git a/src/github.com/matrix-org/go-neb/api.go b/src/github.com/matrix-org/go-neb/api.go
index 0cde964..37f13c9 100644
--- a/src/github.com/matrix-org/go-neb/api.go
+++ b/src/github.com/matrix-org/go-neb/api.go
@@ -133,9 +133,9 @@ type configureAuthRealmHandler struct {
 }
 
 type configureAuthRealmRequest struct {
-	ID     string          `yaml:"id"`
-	Type   string          `yaml:"type"`
-	Config json.RawMessage `yaml:"config"`
+	ID     string
+	Type   string
+	Config json.RawMessage
 }
 
 func (h *configureAuthRealmHandler) OnIncomingRequest(req *http.Request) (interface{}, *errors.HTTPError) {
diff --git a/src/github.com/matrix-org/go-neb/config.go b/src/github.com/matrix-org/go-neb/config.go
index cfb8554..f63bae0 100644
--- a/src/github.com/matrix-org/go-neb/config.go
+++ b/src/github.com/matrix-org/go-neb/config.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package main
 
 import (
+	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	log "github.com/Sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/matrix-org/go-neb/database"
@@ -10,29 +11,77 @@ import (
 )
 
 type configFile struct {
-	Clients []types.ClientConfig        `yaml:"clients"`
-	Realms  []configureAuthRealmRequest `yaml:"realms"`
+	Clients []types.ClientConfig
+	Realms  []configureAuthRealmRequest
 	// Sessions []sessionConfig             `yaml:"sessions"`
-	// Services []serviceConfig             `yaml:"services"`
+	// Services []serviceConfig
 }
 
 func loadFromConfig(db *database.ServiceDB, configFilePath string) (*configFile, error) {
-	logger := log.WithField("config_file", configFilePath)
-	logger.Info("Loading from config file")
+	// ::Horrible hacks ahead::
+	// The config is represented as YAML, and we want to convert that into NEB types.
+	// However, NEB types make liberal use of json.RawMessage which the YAML parser
+	// doesn't like. We can't implement MarshalYAML/UnmarshalYAML as a custom type easily
+	// because YAML is insane and supports numbers as keys. The YAML parser therefore has the
+	// generic form of map[interface{}]interface{} - but the JSON parser doesn't know
+	// how to parse that.
+	//
+	// The hack that follows gets around this by type asserting all parsed YAML keys as
+	// strings then re-encoding/decoding as JSON. That is:
+	// YAML bytes -> map[interface]interface -> map[string]interface -> JSON bytes -> NEB types
 
+	// Convert to YAML bytes
 	contents, err := ioutil.ReadFile(configFilePath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	var cfg configFile
+
+	// Convert to map[interface]interface
+	var cfg map[interface{}]interface{}
 	if err = yaml.Unmarshal(contents, &cfg); err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Failed to unmarshal YAML: %s", err)
 	}
 
+	// Convert to map[string]interface
+	dict := convertKeysToStrings(cfg)
+
+	// Convert to JSON bytes
+	b, err := json.Marshal(dict)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Failed to marshal config as JSON: %s", err)
+	}
+
+	// Finally, Convert to NEB types
+	var c configFile
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(b, &c); err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Failed to convert to config file: %s", err)
+	}
+	log.Print(c.Realms)
+
 	// sanity check (at least 1 client and 1 service)
-	if len(cfg.Clients) == 0 {
+	if len(c.Clients) == 0 {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("At least 1 client and 1 service must be specified")
 	}
 
-	return &cfg, nil
+	return &c, nil
+}
+
+func convertKeysToStrings(iface interface{}) interface{} {
+	obj, isObj := iface.(map[interface{}]interface{})
+	if isObj {
+		strObj := make(map[string]interface{})
+		for k, v := range obj {
+			strObj[k.(string)] = convertKeysToStrings(v) // handle nested objects
+		}
+		return strObj
+	}
+
+	arr, isArr := iface.([]interface{})
+	if isArr {
+		for i := range arr {
+			arr[i] = convertKeysToStrings(arr[i]) // handle nested objects
+		}
+		return arr
+	}
+	return iface // base type like string or number
 }