diff --git a/docs/environment-variables.md b/docs/environment-variables.md
index adf3d310c..d146a97f1 100644
--- a/docs/environment-variables.md
+++ b/docs/environment-variables.md
@@ -351,12 +351,13 @@ Extra conditional behavior:
 
 ## 6) Storage and config root paths
 
-These are consumed via `@oh-my-pi/pi-utils/dirs` and affect where coding-agent stores data.
+These affect where coding-agent stores data and which process-local settings overlays it loads.
 
 | Variable              | Default / behavior                                                            |
 | --------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
 | `PI_CONFIG_DIR`       | Config root dirname under home (default `.omp`)                               |
 | `PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR` | Full override for agent directory (default `~/<PI_CONFIG_DIR or .omp>/agent`) |
+| `PI_CONFIG_FILES`     | Platform path-list of settings overlays (`:` on Unix, `;` on Windows); loaded in order before explicit `--config` overlays |
 | `PWD`                 | Used when matching canonical current working directory in path helpers        |
 
 ---
diff --git a/docs/settings.md b/docs/settings.md
index a233b8191..eecd5e942 100644
--- a/docs/settings.md
+++ b/docs/settings.md
@@ -122,6 +122,7 @@ Environment variables are **not** a single settings layer. Each is read by the f
 | `OMP_AUTH_BROKER_URL` | `auth.broker.url` | Env value takes precedence over config. |
 | `OMP_AUTH_BROKER_TOKEN` | `auth.broker.token` | Env value takes precedence over config. |
 | `PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR` | (relocates agent dir) | Moves `config.yml`, `agent.db`, and the whole agent base. |
+| `PI_CONFIG_FILES` | CLI config overlays | Platform path-list (`:` on Unix, `;` on Windows); files load in order before `--config` overlays. |
 
 Provider API keys are resolved separately (stored auth, OAuth, `models.yml`, environment, and `.env` files); see [Providers](./providers.md) and the full [Environment variables](./environment-variables.md) reference.
 
@@ -217,6 +218,10 @@ omp --config ./local/ci-settings.yml "check this failure"
 omp --config ./base.yml --config ./experiment.yml "try this model"
 ```
 
+`--config` is accepted by the default launch command, `acp`, and `models`.
+
+Wrappers may instead set `PI_CONFIG_FILES` to a platform-delimited path list (`:` on Unix, `;` on Windows). Environment overlays load in listed order before explicit `--config` overlays.
+
 Overlay paths are resolved relative to the process working directory (and `~` is expanded). Each overlay must parse as a YAML mapping; a missing file, invalid YAML, or a top-level array/scalar is a hard error — it does **not** silently fall back to lower-precedence settings.
 
 ## Path-scoped arrays
diff --git a/packages/coding-agent/CHANGELOG.md b/packages/coding-agent/CHANGELOG.md
index 566b22552..d8e544f71 100644
--- a/packages/coding-agent/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/packages/coding-agent/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -123,6 +123,9 @@
 
 - Isolated the CLIProxyAPI auth-broker import tests from ambient broker configuration so fixture credentials cannot be uploaded to a live broker ([#5782](https://github.com/can1357/oh-my-pi/issues/5782)).
 - Fixed disabling **Show Inline Images** leaving previously rendered Kitty graphics over the Ghostty/tmux transcript. The runtime toggle now updates tool and assistant image owners, deletes tracked terminal graphics before replay, and retains hidden read images so they can return when re-enabled.
+### Added
+
+- Added `PI_CONFIG_FILES`, a platform-delimited (`:` on Unix, `;` on Windows) environment path-list of settings overlays loaded before `--config` overlays, so wrapper scripts can inject settings without argv surgery ([#5685](https://github.com/can1357/oh-my-pi/issues/5685)).
 
 ## [17.0.1] - 2026-07-16
 
diff --git a/packages/coding-agent/src/config/settings.ts b/packages/coding-agent/src/config/settings.ts
index ea2acfe32..df2513628 100644
--- a/packages/coding-agent/src/config/settings.ts
+++ b/packages/coding-agent/src/config/settings.ts
@@ -355,7 +355,9 @@ export class Settings {
 		this.#cwd = path.normalize(options.cwd ?? getProjectDir());
 		this.#agentDir = path.normalize(options.agentDir ?? getAgentDir());
 		this.#configPath = options.inMemory ? null : path.join(this.#agentDir, MAIN_CONFIG_FILENAMES[0]);
-		this.#configFiles = options.configFiles?.map(file => path.resolve(this.#cwd, expandTilde(file))) ?? [];
+		const configFiles = process.env.PI_CONFIG_FILES?.split(path.delimiter).filter(Boolean) ?? [];
+		if (options.configFiles) configFiles.push(...options.configFiles);
+		this.#configFiles = configFiles.map(file => path.resolve(this.#cwd, expandTilde(file)));
 		this.#persist = !options.inMemory && options.readOnly !== true;
 
 		if (options.overrides) {
diff --git a/packages/coding-agent/test/config-cli.test.ts b/packages/coding-agent/test/config-cli.test.ts
index c2b54ad6c..c7e6ae75a 100644
--- a/packages/coding-agent/test/config-cli.test.ts
+++ b/packages/coding-agent/test/config-cli.test.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,24 @@ const originalAgentDir = process.env.PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR;
 const fallbackAgentDir = path.join(getConfigRootDir(), "agent");
 const cliEntry = path.join(import.meta.dir, "..", "src", "cli.ts");
 
+interface CliProcessResult {
+	exitCode: number;
+	output: string;
+	error: string;
+}
+
+async function runCliProcess(args: string[], env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv): Promise<CliProcessResult> {
+	const proc = Bun.spawn([process.execPath, cliEntry, ...args], {
+		stdout: "pipe",
+		stderr: "pipe",
+		env: { ...process.env, NO_COLOR: "1", ...env },
+	});
+	const stdout = new Response(proc.stdout).text();
+	const stderr = new Response(proc.stderr).text();
+	const [exitCode, output, error] = await Promise.all([proc.exited, stdout, stderr]);
+	return { exitCode, output, error };
+}
+
 beforeEach(() => {
 	resetSettingsForTest();
 	testAgentDir = TempDir.createSync("@omp-config-cli-");
@@ -169,18 +187,9 @@ describe("config CLI schema coverage", () => {
 	});
 	it("fully flushes JSON larger than a pipe buffer", async () => {
 		if (!testAgentDir) throw new Error("Test agent directory was not initialized");
-		const proc = Bun.spawn([process.execPath, cliEntry, "config", "list", "--json"], {
-			stdout: "pipe",
-			stderr: "pipe",
-			env: {
-				...process.env,
-				NO_COLOR: "1",
-				PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR: testAgentDir.path(),
-			},
+		const { exitCode, output, error } = await runCliProcess(["config", "list", "--json"], {
+			PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR: testAgentDir.path(),
 		});
-		const stdout = new Response(proc.stdout).text();
-		const stderr = new Response(proc.stderr).text();
-		const [exitCode, output, error] = await Promise.all([proc.exited, stdout, stderr]);
 
 		expect(exitCode).toBe(0);
 		expect(error).toBe("");
@@ -188,4 +197,25 @@ describe("config CLI schema coverage", () => {
 		const parsed: unknown = JSON.parse(output);
 		expect(parsed).toMatchObject({ modelRoles: { type: "record" } });
 	});
+	it("loads PI_CONFIG_FILES overlays in path-list order", async () => {
+		if (!testAgentDir) throw new Error("Test agent directory was not initialized");
+		const baseOverlayPath = path.join(testAgentDir.path(), "base-overlay.yml");
+		const finalOverlayPath = path.join(testAgentDir.path(), "final-overlay.yml");
+		await Promise.all([
+			Bun.write(baseOverlayPath, "defaultThinkingLevel: high\n"),
+			Bun.write(finalOverlayPath, "defaultThinkingLevel: max\n"),
+		]);
+		const { exitCode, output, error } = await runCliProcess(["config", "get", "defaultThinkingLevel", "--json"], {
+			PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR: testAgentDir.path(),
+			PI_CONFIG_FILES: [baseOverlayPath, finalOverlayPath].join(path.delimiter),
+		});
+
+		expect(exitCode).toBe(0);
+		expect(error).toBe("");
+		expect(JSON.parse(output)).toMatchObject({
+			key: "defaultThinkingLevel",
+			value: "max",
+			type: "enum",
+		});
+	});
 });