diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 78bfa4f..f13448c 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -482,6 +482,14 @@ async fn main() {
 
     let cli = Cli::parse();
 
+    // Some subcommands (e.g. admin load-context) read from the global
+    // AppConfig. poc-memory has no config CLI flags of its own, so load
+    // with defaults — figment still pulls from ~/.consciousness/config.json5
+    // and env the same way.
+    if let Err(e) = crate::config::load_app(&crate::user::CliArgs::default()) {
+        eprintln!("warning: failed to load config: {:#}", e);
+    }
+
     if let Err(e) = cli.command.run().await {
         eprintln!("Error: {}", e);
         process::exit(1);