diff --git a/src/libp2p.ts b/src/libp2p.ts
index a35316a293..00cdb23647 100644
--- a/src/libp2p.ts
+++ b/src/libp2p.ts
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ import { DummyPubSub } from './pubsub/dummy-pubsub.js'
 import { PeerSet } from '@libp2p/peer-collections'
 import { DefaultDialer } from './connection-manager/dialer/index.js'
 import { peerIdFromString } from '@libp2p/peer-id'
+import type { Datastore } from 'interface-datastore'
 
 const log = logger('libp2p')
 
@@ -510,6 +511,30 @@ export class Libp2pNode extends EventEmitter<Libp2pEvents> implements Libp2p {
  */
 export async function createLibp2pNode (options: Libp2pOptions): Promise<Libp2pNode> {
   if (options.peerId == null) {
+    const datastore = options.datastore as Datastore | undefined
+
+    if (datastore != null) {
+      try {
+        // try load the peer id from the keychain
+        // @ts-expect-error missing the peer id property
+        const keyChain = new KeyChain({
+          datastore
+        }, {
+          ...KeyChain.generateOptions(),
+          ...(options.keychain ?? {})
+        })
+
+        options.peerId = await keyChain.exportPeerId('self')
+      } catch (err: any) {
+        if (err.code !== 'ERR_NOT_FOUND') {
+          throw err
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  if (options.peerId == null) {
+    // no peer id in the keychain, create a new peer id
     options.peerId = await createEd25519PeerId()
   }
 
diff --git a/test/core/peer-id.spec.ts b/test/core/peer-id.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0219d9ffc8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/core/peer-id.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,145 @@
+/* eslint-env mocha */
+
+import { expect } from 'aegir/chai'
+import { webSockets } from '@libp2p/websockets'
+import { plaintext } from '../../src/insecure/index.js'
+import { createLibp2p, Libp2p } from '../../src/index.js'
+import { MemoryDatastore } from 'datastore-core'
+
+describe('peer-id', () => {
+  let libp2p: Libp2p
+
+  afterEach(async () => {
+    if (libp2p != null) {
+      await libp2p.stop()
+    }
+  })
+
+  it('should create a PeerId if none is passed', async () => {
+    libp2p = await createLibp2p({
+      transports: [
+        webSockets()
+      ],
+      connectionEncryption: [
+        plaintext()
+      ]
+    })
+
+    expect(libp2p.peerId).to.be.ok()
+  })
+
+  it('should retrieve the PeerId from the datastore', async () => {
+    const datastore = new MemoryDatastore()
+
+    libp2p = await createLibp2p({
+      datastore,
+      transports: [
+        webSockets()
+      ],
+      connectionEncryption: [
+        plaintext()
+      ]
+    })
+
+    // this PeerId was created by default
+    const peerId = libp2p.peerId
+
+    await libp2p.stop()
+
+    // create a new node from the same datastore
+    libp2p = await createLibp2p({
+      datastore,
+      transports: [
+        webSockets()
+      ],
+      connectionEncryption: [
+        plaintext()
+      ]
+    })
+
+    // the new node should have read the PeerId from the datastore
+    // instead of creating a new one
+    expect(libp2p.peerId.toString()).to.equal(peerId.toString())
+  })
+
+  it('should retrieve the PeerId from the datastore with a keychain password', async () => {
+    const datastore = new MemoryDatastore()
+    const keychain = {
+      pass: 'very-long-password-must-be-over-twenty-characters-long',
+      dek: {
+        salt: 'CpjNIxMqAZ+aJg+ezLfuzG4a'
+      }
+    }
+
+    libp2p = await createLibp2p({
+      datastore,
+      keychain,
+      transports: [
+        webSockets()
+      ],
+      connectionEncryption: [
+        plaintext()
+      ]
+    })
+
+    // this PeerId was created by default
+    const peerId = libp2p.peerId
+
+    await libp2p.stop()
+
+    // create a new node from the same datastore
+    libp2p = await createLibp2p({
+      datastore,
+      keychain,
+      transports: [
+        webSockets()
+      ],
+      connectionEncryption: [
+        plaintext()
+      ]
+    })
+
+    // the new node should have read the PeerId from the datastore
+    // instead of creating a new one
+    expect(libp2p.peerId.toString()).to.equal(peerId.toString())
+  })
+
+  it('should fail to start if retrieving the PeerId from the datastore fails', async () => {
+    const datastore = new MemoryDatastore()
+    const keychain = {
+      pass: 'very-long-password-must-be-over-twenty-characters-long',
+      dek: {
+        salt: 'CpjNIxMqAZ+aJg+ezLfuzG4a'
+      }
+    }
+
+    libp2p = await createLibp2p({
+      datastore,
+      keychain,
+      transports: [
+        webSockets()
+      ],
+      connectionEncryption: [
+        plaintext()
+      ]
+    })
+    await libp2p.stop()
+
+    // creating a new node from the same datastore but with the wrong keychain config should fail
+    await expect(createLibp2p({
+      datastore,
+      keychain: {
+        pass: 'different-very-long-password-must-be-over-twenty-characters-long',
+        dek: {
+          salt: 'different-CpjNIxMqAZ+aJg+ezLfuzG4a'
+        }
+      },
+      transports: [
+        webSockets()
+      ],
+      connectionEncryption: [
+        plaintext()
+      ]
+    })).to.eventually.rejectedWith('Invalid PEM formatted message')
+  })
+})