diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 38aac80..74ac2d6 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 [![Go Report Card](https://goreportcard.com/badge/github.com/vulcanize/eth-ipfs-state-validator)](https://goreportcard.com/report/github.com/vulcanize/eth-ipfs-state-validator)
 
-> Uses [ipfs-ethdb](https://github.com/vulcanize/ipfs-ethdb/postgres) to validate completeness of IPFS Ethereum state data
+> Uses [ipfs-ethdb](https://github.com/vulcanize/ipfs-ethdb/tree/master/postgres) to validate completeness of IPFS Ethereum state data
 
 ## Background
 
diff --git a/cmd/root.go b/cmd/root.go
index 591a702..fc41502 100644
--- a/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cmd/root.go
@@ -16,7 +16,9 @@
 package cmd
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
 	"os"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
@@ -24,14 +26,9 @@ import (
 )
 
 var (
-	subCommand      string
-	logWithCommand  logrus.Entry
-	stateRootStr    string
-	storageRootStr  string
-	validationType  string
-	contractAddrStr string
-	cfgFile         string
-	ipfsPath        string
+	subCommand     string
+	logWithCommand logrus.Entry
+	cfgFile        string
 )
 
 // rootCmd represents the base command when called without any subcommands
@@ -82,6 +79,8 @@ func logLevel() error {
 }
 
 func init() {
+	cobra.OnInitialize(initConfig)
+	viper.SetEnvKeyReplacer(strings.NewReplacer(".", "_"))
 	viper.AutomaticEnv()
 
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVar(&cfgFile, "config", "", "config file location")
@@ -101,3 +100,16 @@ func init() {
 	viper.BindPFlag("database.password", rootCmd.PersistentFlags().Lookup("database-password"))
 	viper.BindPFlag("log.level", rootCmd.PersistentFlags().Lookup("log-level"))
 }
+
+func initConfig() {
+	if cfgFile != "" {
+		viper.SetConfigFile(cfgFile)
+		if err := viper.ReadInConfig(); err == nil {
+			logrus.Printf("Using config file: %s", viper.ConfigFileUsed())
+		} else {
+			logrus.Fatal(fmt.Sprintf("Couldn't read config file: %s", err.Error()))
+		}
+	} else {
+		logrus.Warn("No config file passed with --config flag")
+	}
+}
diff --git a/cmd/validateTrie.go b/cmd/validateTrie.go
index 104a321..279e948 100644
--- a/cmd/validateTrie.go
+++ b/cmd/validateTrie.go
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import (
 	_ "github.com/lib/pq" //postgres driver
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+	"github.com/spf13/viper"
 
 	"github.com/vulcanize/eth-ipfs-state-validator/pkg"
 )
@@ -62,7 +63,10 @@ func validateTrie() {
 	if err != nil {
 		logWithCommand.Fatal(err)
 	}
-	switch strings.ToLower(validationType) {
+	stateRootStr := viper.GetString("validator.stateRoot")
+	storageRootStr := viper.GetString("validator.storageRoot")
+	contractAddrStr := viper.GetString("validator.address")
+	switch strings.ToLower(viper.GetString("validator.type")) {
 	case "f", "full":
 		if stateRootStr == "" {
 			logWithCommand.Fatal("must provide a state root for full state validation")
@@ -98,6 +102,7 @@ func validateTrie() {
 }
 
 func newValidator() (*validator.Validator, error) {
+	ipfsPath := viper.GetString("ipfs.path")
 	if ipfsPath == "" {
 		db, err := validator.NewDB()
 		if err != nil {
@@ -114,9 +119,16 @@ func newValidator() (*validator.Validator, error) {
 
 func init() {
 	rootCmd.AddCommand(validateTrieCmd)
-	validateTrieCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&stateRootStr, "state-root", "s", "", "Root of the state trie we wish to validate; for full or state validation")
-	validateTrieCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&validationType, "type", "t", "full", "Type of validations: full, state, storage")
-	validateTrieCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&storageRootStr, "storage-root", "o", "", "Root of the storage trie we wish to validate; for storage validation")
-	validateTrieCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&contractAddrStr, "address", "a", "", "Contract address for the storage trie we wish to validate; for storage validation")
-	validateTrieCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&ipfsPath, "ipfs-path", "i", "", "Path to IPFS repository")
+
+	validateTrieCmd.PersistentFlags().String("state-root", "", "Root of the state trie we wish to validate; for full or state validation")
+	validateTrieCmd.PersistentFlags().String("type", "", "Type of validations: full, state, storage")
+	validateTrieCmd.PersistentFlags().String("storage-root", "", "Root of the storage trie we wish to validate; for storage validation")
+	validateTrieCmd.PersistentFlags().String("address", "", "Contract address for the storage trie we wish to validate; for storage validation")
+	validateTrieCmd.PersistentFlags().String("ipfs-path", "", "Path to IPFS repository; if provided operations move through the IPFS repo otherwise Postgres connection params are expected in the provided config")
+
+	viper.BindPFlag("validator.stateRoot", validateTrieCmd.PersistentFlags().Lookup("state-root"))
+	viper.BindPFlag("validator.type", validateTrieCmd.PersistentFlags().Lookup("type"))
+	viper.BindPFlag("validator.storageRoot", validateTrieCmd.PersistentFlags().Lookup("storage-root"))
+	viper.BindPFlag("validator.address", validateTrieCmd.PersistentFlags().Lookup("address"))
+	viper.BindPFlag("ipfs.path", validateTrieCmd.PersistentFlags().Lookup("ipfs-path"))
 }
diff --git a/environments/example.toml b/environments/example.toml
index 63f6cfe..42bb251 100644
--- a/environments/example.toml
+++ b/environments/example.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 [database]
-    name     = "vulcanize_public" # $DATABASE_NAME
-    hostname = "localhost" # $DATABASE_HOSTNAME
-    port     = 5432 # $DATABASE_PORT
-    user     = "postgres" # $DATABASE_USER
-    password = "" # $DATABASE_PASSWORD
\ No newline at end of file
+    name     = "vulcanize_public"
+    hostname = "localhost"
+    port     = 5432
+    user     = "postgres"
+    password = ""
+
+[validator]
+    type = "state"
+    stateRoot = "0xd7f8974fb5ac78d9ac099b9ad5018bedc2ce0a72dad1827a1709da30580f0544"
\ No newline at end of file