diff --git a/backend/new.go b/backend/new.go
index bb465fa..0f33417 100644
--- a/backend/new.go
+++ b/backend/new.go
@@ -1,16 +1,52 @@
 package backend
 
 import (
+	"bufio"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
+	"strings"
 )
 
+// loadEnvFile reads KEY=VALUE pairs from path and sets any key that is not
+// already present in the environment. Lines beginning with # and blank lines
+// are ignored. Errors opening the file are silently ignored (file is optional).
+func loadEnvFile(path string) {
+	f, err := os.Open(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+	defer f.Close()
+
+	sc := bufio.NewScanner(f)
+	for sc.Scan() {
+		line := strings.TrimSpace(sc.Text())
+		if line == "" || strings.HasPrefix(line, "#") {
+			continue
+		}
+		k, v, ok := strings.Cut(line, "=")
+		if !ok {
+			continue
+		}
+		k = strings.TrimSpace(k)
+		v = strings.TrimSpace(v)
+		if k != "" && os.Getenv(k) == "" {
+			os.Setenv(k, v)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 // New constructs a Backend from environment variables.
+// Values are loaded from ~/.config/ollie/env before consulting the environment,
+// so the file acts as a default; variables already set in the environment take
+// precedence.
 //
 //	OLLIE_BACKEND   ollama | openai | openrouter (default: ollama)
 //	OLLIE_API_URL   override base URL for the selected backend
 //	OLLIE_API_KEY   API key (required for openai / openrouter)
 func New() (Backend, error) {
+	home, _ := os.UserHomeDir()
+	loadEnvFile(home + "/.config/ollie/env")
+
 	which := os.Getenv("OLLIE_BACKEND")
 	if which == "" {
 		which = "ollama"