diff --git a/service.go b/service.go
index 60acabf6..c0b40433 100644
--- a/service.go
+++ b/service.go
@@ -11,8 +11,10 @@ import (
 	"unsafe"
 
 	pubsub_fix "github.com/berty/go-libp2p-pubsub"
+	"github.com/dgraph-io/badger/v2/options"
 	ds "github.com/ipfs/go-datastore"
 	ds_sync "github.com/ipfs/go-datastore/sync"
+	badger "github.com/ipfs/go-ds-badger2"
 	ipfs_interface "github.com/ipfs/interface-go-ipfs-core"
 	pubsub "github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-pubsub"
 	"github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p/core/crypto"
@@ -116,7 +118,28 @@ func (opts *Opts) applyDefaultsGetDatastore() error {
 		if opts.DatastoreDir == "" || opts.DatastoreDir == InMemoryDirectory {
 			opts.RootDatastore = ds_sync.MutexWrap(ds.NewMapDatastore())
 		} else {
-			opts.RootDatastore = nil
+			bopts := badger.DefaultOptions
+			bopts.ValueLogLoadingMode = options.FileIO
+
+			ds, err := badger.NewDatastore(opts.DatastoreDir, &bopts)
+			if err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("unable to init badger datastore: %w", err)
+			}
+			opts.RootDatastore = ds
+
+			oldClose := opts.close
+			opts.close = func() error {
+				var err error
+				if oldClose != nil {
+					err = oldClose()
+				}
+
+				if dserr := ds.Close(); dserr != nil {
+					err = multierr.Append(err, fmt.Errorf("unable to close datastore: %w", dserr))
+				}
+
+				return err
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -285,7 +308,10 @@ func (opts *Opts) applyDefaults(ctx context.Context) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-// NewService initializes a new Service
+// NewService initializes a new Service using the opts.
+// If opts.RootDatastore is nil and opts.DatastoreDir is "" or InMemoryDirectory, then set
+// opts.RootDatastore to an in-memory data store. Otherwise, if opts.RootDatastore is nil then set
+// opts.RootDatastore to a persistent data store at opts.DatastoreDir .
 func NewService(opts Opts) (_ Service, err error) {
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
 
diff --git a/service_client.go b/service_client.go
index 8b7e1301..7b4870ca 100644
--- a/service_client.go
+++ b/service_client.go
@@ -7,9 +7,6 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"time"
 
-	"github.com/dgraph-io/badger/v2/options"
-	"github.com/ipfs/go-datastore"
-	badger "github.com/ipfs/go-ds-badger2"
 	"go.uber.org/zap"
 	"google.golang.org/grpc"
 
@@ -31,6 +28,10 @@ type ServiceClient interface {
 	io.Closer
 }
 
+// NewServiceClient initializes a new ServiceClient using the opts.
+// If opts.RootDatastore is nil and opts.DatastoreDir is "" or InMemoryDirectory, then set
+// opts.RootDatastore to an in-memory data store. Otherwise, if opts.RootDatastore is nil then set
+// opts.RootDatastore to a persistent data store at opts.DatastoreDir .
 func NewServiceClient(opts Opts) (ServiceClient, error) {
 	var err error
 
@@ -85,13 +86,7 @@ func NewInMemoryServiceClient() (ServiceClient, error) {
 func NewPersistentServiceClient(path string) (ServiceClient, error) {
 	var opts Opts
 
-	bopts := badger.DefaultOptions
-	bopts.ValueLogLoadingMode = options.FileIO
-
-	ds, err := badger.NewDatastore(path, &bopts)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to init badger datastore: %w", err)
-	}
+	opts.DatastoreDir = path
 
 	repo, err := ipfsutil.LoadRepoFromPath(path)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -109,8 +104,6 @@ func NewPersistentServiceClient(path string) (ServiceClient, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	opts.RootDatastore = ds
-
 	var cleanupLogger func()
 	if opts.Logger, cleanupLogger, err = setupDefaultLogger(); err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("uanble to setup logger: %w", err)
@@ -123,7 +116,6 @@ func NewPersistentServiceClient(path string) (ServiceClient, error) {
 
 	return &persistentServiceClient{
 		ServiceClient: cl,
-		ds:            ds,
 		cleanup:       cleanupLogger,
 	}, nil
 }
@@ -140,18 +132,12 @@ type serviceClient struct {
 
 type persistentServiceClient struct {
 	ServiceClient
-	ds      datastore.Batching
 	cleanup func()
 }
 
 func (p *persistentServiceClient) Close() error {
 	err := p.ServiceClient.Close()
 
-	if dserr := p.ds.Close(); err == nil && dserr != nil {
-		// only return ds error if no error have been catch earlier
-		err = fmt.Errorf("unable to close datastore: %w", dserr)
-	}
-
 	if p.cleanup != nil {
 		p.cleanup()
 	}