diff --git a/board-manager.coffee b/board-manager.coffee
index 0eda9c5..76d29cc 100644
--- a/board-manager.coffee
+++ b/board-manager.coffee
@@ -78,6 +78,9 @@ module.exports = (env) ->
     createBoard: (options) ->
       switch options.boardType || 'arduino'
         when 'arduino' then (
+          if options.port? and options.baudrate?
+            SerialPort = require('serialport').SerialPort
+            options.port = new SerialPort(options.port, {baudrate: options.baudrate})
           @board = new BoardWrapper(_.assign({}, options, {repl: false}))
         )
         when 'raspi-io' then (
@@ -109,5 +112,5 @@ module.exports = (env) ->
         return board
       else
         error = new Error "Board not found"
-        _base.error error
+        @_base.error error
         throw error
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/johnny-five-config-schema.coffee b/johnny-five-config-schema.coffee
index 7ecdad7..3b00de0 100644
--- a/johnny-five-config-schema.coffee
+++ b/johnny-five-config-schema.coffee
@@ -22,14 +22,18 @@ module.exports = {
             description: "Path or name of device port"
             type: "string"
             default: ""
+          baudrate:
+            description: "The baudrate to use for serial communication"
+            type: "number"
+            required: false
           token:
             description: "Particle token. Only required for particle-io board type"
             type: "string"
-            default: ""
+            required: false
           deviceId:
-            description: "Particle devicde id. Only required for particle-io board type"
+            description: "Particle device id. Only required for particle-io board type"
             type: "string"
-            default: ""
+            required: false
 
 
 
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 2a268fb..8111390 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -48,7 +48,8 @@
   },
   "optionalDependencies": {
     "particle-io": "^0.12.0",
-    "raspi-io": "^5.0.0"
+    "raspi-io": "^5.1.0",
+    "serialport": "^2.0.5"
   },
   "peerDependencies": {
     "pimatic": "0.8.*"