diff --git a/config.go b/config.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..71e94a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config.go
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+
+	"github.com/go-yaml/yaml"
+)
+
+type Config struct {
+	OpenAI struct {
+		APIKey string `yaml:"apiKey"`
+	} `yaml:"openai"`
+}
+
+func getConfigDir() string {
+	var configDir string
+
+	xdgConfigHome := os.Getenv("XDG_CONFIG_HOME")
+	if xdgConfigHome != "" {
+		configDir = filepath.Join(xdgConfigHome, "lmcli")
+	} else {
+		userHomeDir, _ := os.UserHomeDir()
+		configDir = filepath.Join(userHomeDir, ".config/lmcli")
+	}
+
+	os.MkdirAll(configDir, 0755)
+	return configDir
+}
+
+func LoadConfig() *Config {
+	configFile := filepath.Join(getConfigDir(), "config.yaml")
+
+	configBytes, err := os.ReadFile(configFile)
+	if os.IsNotExist(err) {
+		defaultConfig := &Config{}
+		defaultConfig.OpenAI.APIKey = "your_key_here"
+
+
+		file, err := os.Create(configFile)
+		if err != nil {
+			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Could not open config file for writing: %v", err)
+			os.Exit(1)
+		}
+
+		fmt.Printf("Writing default configuration to: %s\n", configFile)
+
+		bytes, _ := yaml.Marshal(defaultConfig)
+
+		_, err = file.Write(bytes)
+		if err != nil {
+			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Could not save default configuratoin: %v", err)
+			os.Exit(1)
+		}
+	} else if err != nil {
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Could not read config file: %v", err)
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+
+	config := &Config{}
+	yaml.Unmarshal(configBytes, config)
+	return config
+}
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index ff03af0..93837b7 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ module git.mlow.ca/mlow/lmcli
 go 1.19
 
 require (
+	github.com/go-yaml/yaml v2.1.0+incompatible
 	github.com/sashabaranov/go-openai v1.16.0
 	github.com/spf13/cobra v1.7.0
 	github.com/sqids/sqids-go v0.4.1
@@ -14,6 +15,9 @@ require (
 	github.com/inconshreveable/mousetrap v1.1.0 // indirect
 	github.com/jinzhu/inflection v1.0.0 // indirect
 	github.com/jinzhu/now v1.1.5 // indirect
+	github.com/kr/pretty v0.3.1 // indirect
 	github.com/mattn/go-sqlite3 v1.14.17 // indirect
 	github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.5 // indirect
+	gopkg.in/check.v1 v1.0.0-20190902080502-41f04d3bba15 // indirect
+	gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.2.2 // indirect
 )
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 687200b..2704448 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -1,12 +1,22 @@
 github.com/cpuguy83/go-md2man/v2 v2.0.2/go.mod h1:tgQtvFlXSQOSOSIRvRPT7W67SCa46tRHOmNcaadrF8o=
+github.com/creack/pty v1.1.9/go.mod h1:oKZEueFk5CKHvIhNR5MUki03XCEU+Q6VDXinZuGJ33E=
+github.com/go-yaml/yaml v2.1.0+incompatible h1:RYi2hDdss1u4YE7GwixGzWwVo47T8UQwnTLB6vQiq+o=
+github.com/go-yaml/yaml v2.1.0+incompatible/go.mod h1:w2MrLa16VYP0jy6N7M5kHaCkaLENm+P+Tv+MfurjSw0=
 github.com/inconshreveable/mousetrap v1.1.0 h1:wN+x4NVGpMsO7ErUn/mUI3vEoE6Jt13X2s0bqwp9tc8=
 github.com/inconshreveable/mousetrap v1.1.0/go.mod h1:vpF70FUmC8bwa3OWnCshd2FqLfsEA9PFc4w1p2J65bw=
 github.com/jinzhu/inflection v1.0.0 h1:K317FqzuhWc8YvSVlFMCCUb36O/S9MCKRDI7QkRKD/E=
 github.com/jinzhu/inflection v1.0.0/go.mod h1:h+uFLlag+Qp1Va5pdKtLDYj+kHp5pxUVkryuEj+Srlc=
 github.com/jinzhu/now v1.1.5 h1:/o9tlHleP7gOFmsnYNz3RGnqzefHA47wQpKrrdTIwXQ=
 github.com/jinzhu/now v1.1.5/go.mod h1:d3SSVoowX0Lcu0IBviAWJpolVfI5UJVZZ7cO71lE/z8=
+github.com/kr/pretty v0.3.1 h1:flRD4NNwYAUpkphVc1HcthR4KEIFJ65n8Mw5qdRn3LE=
+github.com/kr/pretty v0.3.1/go.mod h1:hoEshYVHaxMs3cyo3Yncou5ZscifuDolrwPKZanG3xk=
+github.com/kr/text v0.2.0 h1:5Nx0Ya0ZqY2ygV366QzturHI13Jq95ApcVaJBhpS+AY=
+github.com/kr/text v0.2.0/go.mod h1:eLer722TekiGuMkidMxC/pM04lWEeraHUUmBw8l2grE=
 github.com/mattn/go-sqlite3 v1.14.17 h1:mCRHCLDUBXgpKAqIKsaAaAsrAlbkeomtRFKXh2L6YIM=
 github.com/mattn/go-sqlite3 v1.14.17/go.mod h1:2eHXhiwb8IkHr+BDWZGa96P6+rkvnG63S2DGjv9HUNg=
+github.com/pkg/diff v0.0.0-20210226163009-20ebb0f2a09e/go.mod h1:pJLUxLENpZxwdsKMEsNbx1VGcRFpLqf3715MtcvvzbA=
+github.com/rogpeppe/go-internal v1.9.0 h1:73kH8U+JUqXU8lRuOHeVHaa/SZPifC7BkcraZVejAe8=
+github.com/rogpeppe/go-internal v1.9.0/go.mod h1:WtVeX8xhTBvf0smdhujwtBcq4Qrzq/fJaraNFVN+nFs=
 github.com/russross/blackfriday/v2 v2.1.0/go.mod h1:+Rmxgy9KzJVeS9/2gXHxylqXiyQDYRxCVz55jmeOWTM=
 github.com/sashabaranov/go-openai v1.16.0 h1:34W6WV84ey6OpW0p2UewZkdMu82AxGC+BzpU6iiauRw=
 github.com/sashabaranov/go-openai v1.16.0/go.mod h1:lj5b/K+zjTSFxVLijLSTDZuP7adOgerWeFyZLUhAKRg=
@@ -17,6 +27,10 @@ github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.5/go.mod h1:McXfInJRrz4CZXVZOBLb0bTZqETkiAhM9Iw0y3An
 github.com/sqids/sqids-go v0.4.1 h1:eQKYzmAZbLlRwHeHYPF35QhgxwZHLnlmVj9AkIj/rrw=
 github.com/sqids/sqids-go v0.4.1/go.mod h1:EMwHuPQgSNFS0A49jESTfIQS+066XQTVhukrzEPScl8=
 gopkg.in/check.v1 v0.0.0-20161208181325-20d25e280405/go.mod h1:Co6ibVJAznAaIkqp8huTwlJQCZ016jof/cbN4VW5Yz0=
+gopkg.in/check.v1 v1.0.0-20190902080502-41f04d3bba15 h1:YR8cESwS4TdDjEe65xsg0ogRM/Nc3DYOhEAlW+xobZo=
+gopkg.in/check.v1 v1.0.0-20190902080502-41f04d3bba15/go.mod h1:Co6ibVJAznAaIkqp8huTwlJQCZ016jof/cbN4VW5Yz0=
+gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.2.2 h1:ZCJp+EgiOT7lHqUV2J862kp8Qj64Jo6az82+3Td9dZw=
+gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.2.2/go.mod h1:hI93XBmqTisBFMUTm0b8Fm+jr3Dg1NNxqwp+5A1VGuI=
 gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.1/go.mod h1:K4uyk7z7BCEPqu6E+C64Yfv1cQ7kz7rIZviUmN+EgEM=
 gorm.io/driver/sqlite v1.5.4 h1:IqXwXi8M/ZlPzH/947tn5uik3aYQslP9BVveoax0nV0=
 gorm.io/driver/sqlite v1.5.4/go.mod h1:qxAuCol+2r6PannQDpOP1FP6ag3mKi4esLnB/jHed+4=
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index cf43819..6881c00 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 )
 
+var config = LoadConfig()
 var store, storeError = InitializeStore()
 
 func checkStore() {
diff --git a/openai.go b/openai.go
index 9f399f2..b142de9 100644
--- a/openai.go
+++ b/openai.go
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
-	"os"
 	openai "github.com/sashabaranov/go-openai"
 )
 
@@ -29,7 +28,7 @@ func CreateChatCompletionRequest(messages []Message) (openai.ChatCompletionReque
 // CreateChatCompletion accepts a slice of Message and returns the response
 // of the Large Language Model.
 func CreateChatCompletion(system string, messages []Message) (string, error) {
-	client := openai.NewClient(os.Getenv("OPENAI_APIKEY"))
+	client := openai.NewClient(config.OpenAI.APIKey)
 	resp, err := client.CreateChatCompletion(
 		context.Background(),
 		CreateChatCompletionRequest(messages),
@@ -43,7 +42,7 @@ func CreateChatCompletion(system string, messages []Message) (string, error) {
 }
 
 func CreateChatCompletionStream(system string, messages []Message, output io.Writer) (error) {
-	client := openai.NewClient(os.Getenv("OPENAI_APIKEY"))
+	client := openai.NewClient(config.OpenAI.APIKey)
 	ctx := context.Background()
 
 	req := CreateChatCompletionRequest(messages)