diff --git a/runtime/share/mezzaluna/init.lua b/runtime/share/mezzaluna/init.lua
index 33802c8..9976a90 100644
--- a/runtime/share/mezzaluna/init.lua
+++ b/runtime/share/mezzaluna/init.lua
@@ -1 +1,11 @@
-print("hello from our runtime file")
+local env_conf = os.getenv("XDG_CONFIG_HOME")
+if not env_conf then
+  env_conf = os.getenv("HOME")
+  if not env_conf then
+    error("Couldn't determine potential config directory is $HOME set?")
+  end
+  env_conf = env_conf.."/.config/"
+end
+
+mez.path.config = env_conf.."/mez/init.lua"
+package.path = package.path..";"..env_conf.."/mez/lua/?.lua"
diff --git a/src/lua.zig b/src/lua.zig
deleted file mode 100644
index 357874c..0000000
--- a/src/lua.zig
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,43 +0,0 @@
-const Lua = @This();
-
-const std = @import("std");
-const config = @import("config");
-const zlua = @import("zlua");
-
-const gpa = std.heap.c_allocator;
-
-state: *zlua.Lua,
-
-fn loadRuntimeDir(self: *Lua) !void {
-  const tmppath = try std.fs.path.join(gpa, &[_][]const u8{
-    config.runtime_path_prefix,
-    "share",
-    "mezzaluna",
-    "init.lua",
-  });
-  var path_buffer = try gpa.alloc(u8, tmppath.len + 1);
-  std.mem.copyForwards(u8, path_buffer[0..tmppath.len], tmppath);
-  path_buffer[tmppath.len] = 0;
-  const path: [:0]u8 = path_buffer[0..tmppath.len :0];
-
-  try self.state.doFile(path);
-}
-
-pub fn init(self: *Lua) !void {
-  self.state = try zlua.Lua.init(gpa);
-  errdefer self.state.deinit();
-  self.state.openLibs();
-
-  {
-    self.state.newTable();
-    defer _ = self.state.pushString("mez");
-  }
-
-  try loadRuntimeDir(self);
-
-  std.log.debug("Loaded lua", .{});
-}
-
-pub fn deinit(self: *Lua) void {
-  self.state.deinit();
-}
diff --git a/src/lua/bridge.zig b/src/lua/bridge.zig
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..37868d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lua/bridge.zig
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+const Bridge = @This();
+
+const std = @import("std");
+const Lua = @import("lua.zig");
+
+const gpa = std.heap.c_allocator;
+
+pub fn getNestedField(L: *Lua, path: []u8) bool {
+  var tokens = std.mem.tokenizeScalar(u8, path, '.');
+  var first = true;
+
+  while (tokens.next()) |token| {
+    const tok = gpa.dupeZ(u8, token) catch return false;
+    if (first) {
+      _ = L.state.getGlobal(tok) catch return false;
+      first = false;
+    } else {
+      _ = L.state.getField(-1, tok);
+      L.state.remove(-2);
+    }
+
+    if (L.state.isNil(-1)) {
+      return false;
+    }
+  }
+
+  return true;
+}
diff --git a/src/lua/fs.zig b/src/lua/fs.zig
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/src/lua/lua.zig b/src/lua/lua.zig
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ae5c23b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lua/lua.zig
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+const Lua = @This();
+
+const std = @import("std");
+const config = @import("config");
+const zlua = @import("zlua");
+
+const Bridge = @import("bridge.zig");
+
+const gpa = std.heap.c_allocator;
+
+state: *zlua.Lua,
+
+fn loadRuntimeDir(self: *Lua) !void {
+  const tmppath = try std.fs.path.join(gpa, &[_][]const u8{
+    config.runtime_path_prefix,
+    "share",
+    "mezzaluna",
+    "init.lua",
+  });
+  const path = try gpa.dupeZ(u8, tmppath);
+
+  self.state.doFile(path) catch {
+    const err = try self.state.toString(-1);
+    std.log.debug("Failed to run lua file: {s}", .{err});
+  };
+}
+
+fn loadConfigDir(self: *Lua) !void {
+  const lua_path = "mez.path.config";
+  if (!Bridge.getNestedField(self, @constCast(lua_path[0..]))) {
+    std.log.err("Config path not found. is your runtime dir setup?", .{});
+    return;
+  }
+  const path = self.state.toString(-1) catch |err| {
+    std.log.err("Failed to pop the config path from the lua stack. {}", .{err});
+    return;
+  };
+  self.state.pop(-1);
+  try self.state.doFile(path);
+}
+
+pub fn init(self: *Lua) !void {
+  self.state = try zlua.Lua.init(gpa);
+  errdefer self.state.deinit();
+  self.state.openLibs();
+
+  {
+    self.state.newTable();
+    defer _ = self.state.setGlobal("mez");
+    {
+      self.state.newTable();
+      defer _ = self.state.setField(-2, "path");
+    }
+  }
+
+  loadRuntimeDir(self) catch |err| {
+    if (err == error.LuaRuntime) {
+      std.log.warn("{s}", .{try self.state.toString(-1)});
+    }
+  };
+  loadConfigDir(self) catch |err| {
+    if (err == error.LuaRuntime) {
+      std.log.warn("{s}", .{try self.state.toString(-1)});
+    }
+  };
+
+  std.log.debug("Loaded lua", .{});
+}
+
+pub fn deinit(self: *Lua) void {
+  self.state.deinit();
+}
diff --git a/src/main.zig b/src/main.zig
index 44fa4a7..586fc6c 100644
--- a/src/main.zig
+++ b/src/main.zig
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ const std = @import("std");
 const wlr = @import("wlroots");
 
 const Server = @import("server.zig");
-const Lua = @import("lua.zig");
+const Lua = @import("lua/lua.zig");
 
 const gpa = std.heap.c_allocator;