diff --git a/src/factory.js b/src/factory.js
index 4ab990a2..00c48fee 100644
--- a/src/factory.js
+++ b/src/factory.js
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ const ControllerDaemon = require('./ipfsd-daemon')
 const ControllerRemote = require('./ipfsd-client')
 const ControllerProc = require('./ipfsd-in-proc')
 const testsConfig = require('./config')
+const handleFactoryOptions = require('./options')
 
 /** @typedef {import("./index").ControllerOptions} ControllerOptions */
 /** @typedef {import("./index").ControllerOptionsOverrides} ControllerOptionsOverrides */
@@ -99,11 +100,7 @@ class Factory {
    * @returns {Promise<ControllerDaemon>}
    */
   async spawn (options = { }) {
-    const type = options.type || this.opts.type
-    const opts = merge(
-      this.overrides[type],
-      options
-    )
+    const { type, opts } = await handleFactoryOptions(this, options)
 
     // IPFS options defaults
     const ipfsOptions = merge(
diff --git a/src/options.js b/src/options.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fa037c20
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/options.js
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+'use strict'
+
+const { isNode } = require('ipfs-utils/src/env')
+
+/**
+ * handle ControllerOptions
+ * @param {Factory} ctx
+ * @param {ControllerOptions} options
+ * @returns {Promise<ControllerOptions>}
+ */
+const handleFactoryOptions = async (ctx, options = { }) => {
+  const type = options.type || ctx.opts.type
+  const opts = merge(
+    ctx.overrides[type],
+    options
+  )
+
+  if (typeof opts.ipfsHttpModule === 'undefined') {
+    opts.ipfsHttpModule = require('ipfs-http-client')
+  }
+
+  if (isNode && (typeof opts.ipfsModule === 'undefined' || typeof opts.ipfsBin === 'undefined')) {
+    if (type === 'js') {
+      if (typeof opts.ipfsModule === 'undefined') {
+        opts.ipfsModule = require('ipfs')
+      }
+      if (typeof opts.ipfsBin === 'undefined') {
+        opts.ipfsBin = require.resolve('ipfs/src/cli/bin.js')
+      }
+    } else if (type === 'go') {
+      if (typeof opts.ipfsBin === 'undefined') {
+        opts.ipfsBin = require('go-ipfs-dep').path()
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  return {
+    type,
+    opts
+  }
+}
+
+module.exports = handleFactoryOptions