diff --git a/elroy/cli/options.py b/elroy/cli/options.py
index 8f340d28..7d816cbb 100644
--- a/elroy/cli/options.py
+++ b/elroy/cli/options.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 from toolz.curried import map, valfilter
 
 from ..config.llm import DEFAULTS_CONFIG
-from ..config.paths import get_default_sqlite_url
+from ..config.paths import get_default_config_path, get_default_sqlite_url
 from ..core.constants import CLAUDE_3_5_SONNET
 
 logger = get_logger()
@@ -42,10 +42,7 @@ def resolve_model_alias(alias: str) -> str | None:
 def load_config_file_params(config_path: str | None = None) -> dict:
     # Looks for user specified config path, then merges with default values packaged with the lib
 
-    user_config_path = config_path or os.environ.get(get_env_var_name("config_path"))
-
-    if not user_config_path:
-        return {}
+    user_config_path = config_path or os.environ.get(get_env_var_name("config_path")) or str(get_default_config_path())
     if user_config_path and not Path(user_config_path).is_absolute():
         logger.info("Resolving relative user config path")
         # convert to absolute path if not already, relative to working dir
diff --git a/tests/test_config.py b/tests/test_config.py
index 669997a3..aa1b438b 100644
--- a/tests/test_config.py
+++ b/tests/test_config.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 from rich.table import Table
 
+from elroy.core.ctx import ElroyConfig
 from elroy.tools.developer import print_config
 from tests.utils import process_test_message
 
@@ -14,3 +15,20 @@ def test_print_config(ctx):
 def test_custom_config(ctx):
     ctx.config_path = Path(__file__).parent / "fixtures" / "test_config.yml"
     process_test_message(ctx, "hello world")
+
+
+def test_default_config_path_is_loaded(monkeypatch, tmp_path):
+    home_dir = tmp_path / "elroy-home"
+    config_path = home_dir / "elroy.conf.yaml"
+    config_path.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    config_path.write_text("chat_model: gpt-5.4\n", encoding="utf-8")
+
+    monkeypatch.setenv("ELROY_HOME", str(home_dir))
+    monkeypatch.delenv("ELROY_CONFIG_PATH", raising=False)
+    monkeypatch.delenv("OPENAI_API_KEY", raising=False)
+    monkeypatch.delenv("ANTHROPIC_API_KEY", raising=False)
+    monkeypatch.delenv("GEMINI_API_KEY", raising=False)
+
+    ctx = ElroyConfig.init()
+
+    assert ctx.model_config.chat_model == "gpt-5.4"