Consider deprecating old config API

**Feature request**
It would be great to have serialization for utils.

**Use case**
Many users need this functionality for production deployments.

**Implementation idea**
Add a new config option `enable_serialization` with default `false`.

Start by locating the existing configuration API and the utilities involved in serialization, then read how configuration options are defined and consumed. Confirm what serialization format and utility scope are expected; done means the new enable_serialization option defaults to false and enables the requested serialization behavior without changing the default.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.