diff --git a/workspaces/config/README.md b/workspaces/config/README.md
index 32418381a4c76..aa399cf7016c0 100644
--- a/workspaces/config/README.md
+++ b/workspaces/config/README.md
@@ -55,19 +55,14 @@ The resulting hierarchy of configs:
 
 ```js
 const Config = require('@npmcli/config')
-// the types of all the configs we know about
-const types = require('./config/types.js')
-// default values for all the configs we know about
-const defaults = require('./config/defaults.js')
-// if you want -c to be short for --call and so on, define it here
-const shorthands = require('./config/shorthands.js')
+const { shorthands, definitions, flatten } = require('@npmcli/config/lib/definitions')
 
 const conf = new Config({
   // path to the npm module being run
   npmPath: resolve(__dirname, '..'),
-  types,
+  definitions,
   shorthands,
-  defaults,
+  flatten,
   // optional, defaults to process.argv
   argv: process.argv,
   // optional, defaults to process.env
diff --git a/workspaces/config/lib/index.js b/workspaces/config/lib/index.js
index b09ecc478f64f..49f4c0b52334d 100644
--- a/workspaces/config/lib/index.js
+++ b/workspaces/config/lib/index.js
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ const envReplace = require('./env-replace.js')
 const parseField = require('./parse-field.js')
 const typeDescription = require('./type-description.js')
 const setEnvs = require('./set-envs.js')
+const { shorthands, definitions, flatten } = require('./definitions');
 
 const {
   ErrInvalidAuth,
@@ -82,6 +83,15 @@ class Config {
     return typeDefs
   }
 
+  static withDefaultOptions (opts = {})  {
+    return new Config({
+      definitions,
+      flatten,
+      shorthands,
+      ...opts
+    });
+  }
+
   constructor ({
     definitions,
     shorthands,