diff --git a/src/cli/agent.ts b/src/cli/agent.ts
index 8aa8dac..9cba001 100644
--- a/src/cli/agent.ts
+++ b/src/cli/agent.ts
@@ -4,10 +4,10 @@ import pc from 'picocolors';
 import { AgentLoop } from '../agent/loop.ts';
 import { MessageBus } from '../bus/queue.ts';
 import { makeProvider } from '../provider/index.ts';
+import { loadConfig } from '../config/loader.ts';
 import { ensureWorkspace } from './utils.ts';
-import type { Config } from '../config/types.ts';
 
-export function agentCommand(program: Command, config: Config, workspace: string): void {
+export function agentCommand(program: Command): void {
   program
     .command('agent')
     .description('Run the agent interactively or send a single message.')
@@ -15,7 +15,10 @@ export function agentCommand(program: Command, config: Config, workspace: string
     .option('-m, --message <text>', 'Single message to process (non-interactive)')
     .option('-M, --model <model>', 'Model override')
     .action(async (opts: { config?: string; message?: string; model?: string }) => {
+      const config = loadConfig(opts.config);
+      const workspace = config.agent.workspacePath;
       ensureWorkspace(workspace);
+      
       console.info(pc.magenta(`workspace path: ${workspace}`));
       
       const model = opts.model ?? config.agent.model;
diff --git a/src/cli/commands.ts b/src/cli/commands.ts
index b42511e..faf83f1 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands.ts
+++ b/src/cli/commands.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import { Command } from 'commander';
-import { loadConfig, resolveWorkspacePath } from '../config/loader.ts';
 import { agentCommand } from './agent.ts';
 import { gatewayCommand } from './gateway.ts';
 import { onboardCommand } from './onboard.ts';
@@ -10,13 +9,8 @@ export function createCli(): Command {
     .version('1.0.0');
 
   onboardCommand(program);
-
-  const globalOpts = program.opts();
-  const config = loadConfig(globalOpts.config);
-  const workspace = resolveWorkspacePath(config.agent.workspacePath);
-
-  gatewayCommand(program, config, workspace);
-  agentCommand(program, config, workspace);
+  gatewayCommand(program);
+  agentCommand(program);
 
   return program;
 }
diff --git a/src/cli/gateway.ts b/src/cli/gateway.ts
index af26b4c..f528d5e 100644
--- a/src/cli/gateway.ts
+++ b/src/cli/gateway.ts
@@ -7,17 +7,19 @@ import { MattermostChannel } from '../channels/mattermost.ts';
 import { CronService } from '../cron/service.ts';
 import { HeartbeatService } from '../heartbeat/service.ts';
 import { makeProvider } from '../provider/index.ts';
+import { loadConfig } from '../config/loader.ts';
 import { ensureWorkspace } from './utils.ts';
 
-import type { Config } from '../config/types.ts';
-
-export function gatewayCommand(program: Command, config: Config, workspace: string): void {
+export function gatewayCommand(program: Command): void {
   program
     .command('gateway')
     .option('-c, --config <path>', 'Path to config.json')
     .description('Start the full gateway: Mattermost channel, agent loop, cron, and heartbeat.')
-    .action(async (_opts: { config?: string }) => {
+    .action(async (opts: { config?: string }) => {
+      const config = loadConfig(opts.config);
+      const workspace = config.agent.workspacePath;
       ensureWorkspace(workspace);
+
       console.info(pc.magenta(`workspace path: ${workspace}`));
 
       const provider = makeProvider(
diff --git a/src/config/loader.ts b/src/config/loader.ts
index 6ce3406..d491290 100644
--- a/src/config/loader.ts
+++ b/src/config/loader.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { existsSync, mkdirSync, readFileSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs';
 import { homedir } from 'node:os';
 import { dirname, resolve } from 'node:path';
+import pc from 'picocolors'
 import { type Config, ConfigSchema } from './types.ts';
 
 const DEFAULT_CONFIG_PATH = resolve(homedir(), '.config', 'nanobot', 'config.json');
@@ -13,7 +14,8 @@ export function loadConfig(configPath?: string): Config {
   const path = getConfigPath(configPath);
 
   if (!existsSync(path)) {
-    return ConfigSchema.parse({});
+    console.error(pc.red(`Failed to load config from ${configPath}`));
+    process.exit(1);
   }
 
   const raw = readFileSync(path, 'utf8');