diff --git a/src/dls.rs b/src/dls.rs
index 18f385c..16af6d2 100644
--- a/src/dls.rs
+++ b/src/dls.rs
@@ -159,6 +159,30 @@ impl<'t> Host<'t> {
     }
 }
 
+#[derive(Default, serde::Deserialize, serde::Serialize)]
+#[serde(rename_all = "PascalCase")]
+pub struct Config {
+    #[serde(default, deserialize_with = "deserialize_null_as_default")]
+    pub clusters: Vec<ClusterConfig>,
+    #[serde(default, deserialize_with = "deserialize_null_as_default")]
+    pub hosts: Vec<HostConfig>,
+    #[serde(default, deserialize_with = "deserialize_null_as_default")]
+    pub host_templates: Vec<HostConfig>,
+    #[serde(default, rename = "SSLConfig")]
+    pub ssl_config: String,
+}
+
+// compensate for go's encoder pitfalls
+use serde::{Deserialize, Deserializer};
+fn deserialize_null_as_default<'de, D, T>(deserializer: D) -> std::result::Result<T, D::Error>
+where
+    T: Default + Deserialize<'de>,
+    D: Deserializer<'de>,
+{
+    let opt = Option::deserialize(deserializer)?;
+    Ok(opt.unwrap_or_default())
+}
+
 #[derive(serde::Deserialize, serde::Serialize)]
 #[serde(rename_all = "PascalCase")]
 pub struct ClusterConfig {