diff --git a/app.js b/app.js
index 748a68bb54..4c910262bc 100644
--- a/app.js
+++ b/app.js
@@ -39,11 +39,7 @@ var file = require('./src/file');
 global.env = process.env.NODE_ENV || 'production';
 
 // Alternate configuration file support
-var	configFile = path.join(__dirname, 'config.json');
-
-if (nconf.get('config')) {
-	configFile = path.resolve(__dirname, nconf.get('config'));
-}
+var	configFile = path.resolve(__dirname, nconf.any(['config', 'CONFIG']) || 'config.json');
 
 var configExists = file.existsSync(configFile) || (nconf.get('url') && nconf.get('secret') && nconf.get('database'));
 
diff --git a/loader.js b/loader.js
index 434e2cce5c..f5793e8aff 100644
--- a/loader.js
+++ b/loader.js
@@ -11,8 +11,10 @@ var logrotate = require('logrotate-stream');
 var file = require('./src/file');
 var pkg = require('./package.json');
 
+var pathToConfig = path.resolve(__dirname, process.env.CONFIG || 'config.json');
+
 nconf.argv().env().file({
-	file: path.join(__dirname, 'config.json'),
+	file: pathToConfig,
 });
 
 var	pidFilePath = path.join(__dirname, 'pidfile');
@@ -152,7 +154,6 @@ function getPorts() {
 Loader.restart = function () {
 	killWorkers();
 
-	var pathToConfig = path.join(__dirname, '/config.json');
 	nconf.remove('file');
 	nconf.use('file', { file: pathToConfig });
 
@@ -212,7 +213,7 @@ Loader.notifyWorkers = function (msg, worker_pid) {
 	});
 };
 
-fs.open(path.join(__dirname, 'config.json'), 'r', function (err) {
+fs.open(pathToConfig, 'r', function (err) {
 	if (!err) {
 		if (nconf.get('daemon') !== 'false' && nconf.get('daemon') !== false) {
 			if (file.existsSync(pidFilePath)) {
diff --git a/src/cli/index.js b/src/cli/index.js
index e4679a4e19..cece70d554 100644
--- a/src/cli/index.js
+++ b/src/cli/index.js
@@ -105,6 +105,8 @@ if (!configExists && process.argv[2] !== 'setup') {
 	return;
 }
 
+process.env.CONFIG = configFile;
+
 // running commands
 program
 	.command('start')