diff --git a/clang-tools-extra/clang-tidy/ClangTidyOptions.cpp b/clang-tools-extra/clang-tidy/ClangTidyOptions.cpp
--- a/clang-tools-extra/clang-tidy/ClangTidyOptions.cpp
+++ b/clang-tools-extra/clang-tidy/ClangTidyOptions.cpp
@@ -70,7 +70,8 @@
   NOptionMap(IO &, const ClangTidyOptions::OptionMap &OptionMap) {
     Options.reserve(OptionMap.size());
     for (const auto &KeyValue : OptionMap)
-      Options.emplace_back(std::string(KeyValue.getKey()), KeyValue.getValue().Value);
+      Options.emplace_back(std::string(KeyValue.getKey()),
+                           KeyValue.getValue().Value);
   }
   ClangTidyOptions::OptionMap denormalize(IO &) {
     ClangTidyOptions::OptionMap Map;
@@ -117,10 +118,58 @@
   }
 }
 
+struct ChecksVariant {
+  std::optional<std::string> AsString;
+  std::optional<std::vector<std::string>> AsVector;
+};
+
+template <>
+void yamlize(IO &IO, ChecksVariant &Checks, bool, EmptyContext &Ctx) {
+  if (!IO.outputting()) {
+    // Special case for reading from YAML
+    // Must support reading from both a string or a list
+    Input &I = reinterpret_cast<Input &>(IO);
+
+    if (isa<ScalarNode>(I.getCurrentNode()) ||
+        isa<BlockScalarNode>(I.getCurrentNode())) {
+      Checks.AsString = std::string();
+      yamlize(IO, *Checks.AsString, true, Ctx);
+    } else if (isa<SequenceNode>(I.getCurrentNode())) {
+      Checks.AsVector = std::vector<std::string>();
+      yamlize(IO, *Checks.AsVector, true, Ctx);
+    } else {
+      IO.setError("expected string or sequence");
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+static void mapChecks(IO &IO, std::optional<std::string> &Checks) {
+  if (IO.outputting()) {
+    // Output as a string
+    IO.mapOptional("Checks", Checks);
+  } else {
+    // Input as either a string or a list
+    ChecksVariant ChecksAsVariant;
+    IO.mapOptional("Checks", ChecksAsVariant);
+
+    // If we got the input as string, assign directly
+    if (ChecksAsVariant.AsString) {
+      Checks = ChecksAsVariant.AsString;
+    }
+    // If we got the input as a list, concatenate the items to create string
+    else if (ChecksAsVariant.AsVector) {
+      Checks = std::string();
+      for (std::string const &check : *ChecksAsVariant.AsVector) {
+        *Checks += check + ",";
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
+
 template <> struct MappingTraits<ClangTidyOptions> {
   static void mapping(IO &IO, ClangTidyOptions &Options) {
     bool Ignored = false;
-    IO.mapOptional("Checks", Options.Checks);
+    mapChecks(IO, Options.Checks);
     IO.mapOptional("WarningsAsErrors", Options.WarningsAsErrors);
     IO.mapOptional("HeaderFileExtensions", Options.HeaderFileExtensions);
     IO.mapOptional("ImplementationFileExtensions",