Refactor utils for better readability

**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`.

The issue names no files, tests, or entry points. Start by locating the utils and configuration areas, then determine the expected serialization behavior and its production-deployment use case. Done means serialization is supported through an `enable_serialization` option whose default is `false`, with coverage for the resulting behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.