diff --git a/config/init.go b/config/init.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d2c709d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/init.go
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+package config
+
+import (
+	"github.com/Yakiyo/tilde/where"
+	v "github.com/spf13/viper"
+)
+
+func init() {
+	v.SetConfigType("toml")
+	v.SetConfigName("tilde.toml")
+
+	// to be used when setting values from cli
+	v.RegisterAlias("tilde_dir", "dir")
+
+	v.SetDefault("auto_update", true)
+	v.SetDefault("log_level", "warn")
+	v.SetDefault("tilde_dir", where.Dir())
+	v.SetDefault("colors", "auto")
+}
diff --git a/config/read.go b/config/read.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8a73b0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/read.go
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+package config
+
+import (
+	"github.com/charmbracelet/log"
+	"github.com/spf13/viper"
+)
+
+// Read config file and handle error cases
+func Read() {
+	if err := viper.ReadInConfig(); err != nil {
+		if _, ok := err.(viper.ConfigFileNotFoundError); ok {
+			log.Warn("Missing config file, switching to defaults. Consider using the `--seed-config` flag to generate the default config file")
+		} else {
+			log.Fatal("Error when reading config file", "err", err)
+		}
+	}
+}