diff --git a/toolkit.py b/toolkit.py
index 3d45c6e591749ecbfc5a619bf933d635d558f921..7636dc6d9a8a9497e82f09e981761b455a30c832 100755
--- a/toolkit.py
+++ b/toolkit.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ if version_info[0] > 2:
 
 import os
 import json
+import yaml
 import pickle
 import importlib
 import csv
@@ -133,7 +134,7 @@ class ClassificationProject(object):
 
     def _init_from_dir(self, dirname):
         with open(os.path.join(dirname, "options.json")) as f:
-            options = json.load(f)
+            options = yaml.safe_load(f)
         options["kwargs"]["project_dir"] = dirname
         self._init_from_args(os.path.basename(dirname), *options["args"], **options["kwargs"])