diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index f51980b..d0dd023 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -11,3 +11,9 @@ dist/
 
 # Ralph local runtime state
 .ralph-tui/
+
+
+.env
+.env.*
+!.env.example
+!.env.testnet
diff --git a/packages/node/meshnet_node/cli.py b/packages/node/meshnet_node/cli.py
index 187792e..c48800c 100644
--- a/packages/node/meshnet_node/cli.py
+++ b/packages/node/meshnet_node/cli.py
@@ -3,12 +3,45 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import argparse
+import os
 import socket
 import sys
 import time
 from pathlib import Path
 
 
+def _load_env_file(path: Path) -> None:
+    """Load simple KEY=VALUE pairs from an env file without overriding env vars."""
+    if not path.exists():
+        return
+    try:
+        lines = path.read_text().splitlines()
+    except OSError:
+        return
+    for line in lines:
+        text = line.strip()
+        if not text or text.startswith("#"):
+            continue
+        if text.startswith("export "):
+            text = text[len("export "):].strip()
+        if "=" not in text:
+            continue
+        key, value = text.split("=", 1)
+        key = key.strip()
+        if not key or key in os.environ:
+            continue
+        value = value.strip()
+        if len(value) >= 2 and value[0] == value[-1] and value[0] in {"'", '"'}:
+            value = value[1:-1]
+        os.environ[key] = value
+
+
+def _load_env_defaults() -> None:
+    """Load local and user-level node env defaults before config defaults are imported."""
+    _load_env_file(Path.cwd() / ".env")
+    _load_env_file(Path.home() / ".config" / "meshnet" / "secrets.env")
+
+
 def _run_node(cfg: dict) -> None:
     """Start the node and hand off to the live dashboard. Blocks until Ctrl-C."""
     from .startup import run_startup
@@ -224,6 +257,8 @@ def _cmd_start(args) -> int:
 
 
 def main() -> None:
+    _load_env_defaults()
+
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
         prog="meshnet-node",
         description="Distributed AI Inference — Node Client",
diff --git a/tests/test_node_startup.py b/tests/test_node_startup.py
index 443bdd9..ad38474 100644
--- a/tests/test_node_startup.py
+++ b/tests/test_node_startup.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 import json
 import io
+import os
 import sys
 import types
 import urllib.request
@@ -1416,14 +1417,35 @@ def test_layers_from_config_get_text_config_and_variants():
     assert layers_from_config(types.SimpleNamespace()) is None
 
 
-def test_download_dir_env_override(monkeypatch):
+def test_download_dir_env_override(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
     import importlib
 
     from meshnet_node import config as config_mod
 
+    monkeypatch.chdir(tmp_path)
     monkeypatch.setenv("MESHNET_DOWNLOAD_DIR", "/tmp/llm-store")
     importlib.reload(config_mod)
     assert config_mod.DEFAULTS["download_dir"] == "/tmp/llm-store"
     monkeypatch.delenv("MESHNET_DOWNLOAD_DIR")
     importlib.reload(config_mod)
     assert config_mod.DEFAULTS["download_dir"].endswith("models")
+
+
+def test_cli_loads_local_env_before_config_defaults(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    import importlib
+
+    from meshnet_node import cli as cli_mod
+    from meshnet_node import config as config_mod
+
+    monkeypatch.delenv("MESHNET_DOWNLOAD_DIR", raising=False)
+    monkeypatch.chdir(tmp_path)
+    (tmp_path / ".env").write_text(
+        "MESHNET_DOWNLOAD_DIR=/run/media/popov/DATA/llm/safetensor/models\n"
+        "HF_TOKEN=hf_test_token\n"
+    )
+
+    cli_mod._load_env_defaults()
+    importlib.reload(config_mod)
+
+    assert config_mod.DEFAULTS["download_dir"] == "/run/media/popov/DATA/llm/safetensor/models"
+    assert os.environ["HF_TOKEN"] == "hf_test_token"