diff --git a/aichat.go b/aichat.go
index 122dc5a..9666a38 100644
--- a/aichat.go
+++ b/aichat.go
@@ -228,7 +228,7 @@ func main() {
 	var listPrompts = false
 	var nonStreaming = false
 	var split = false
-	var model = gogpt.GPT4
+	var model = ""
 	getopt.FlagLong(&temperature, "temperature", 't', "temperature")
 	getopt.FlagLong(&maxTokens, "max-tokens", 0, "max tokens, 0 to use default")
 	getopt.FlagLong(&verbose, "verbose", 'v', "verbose output")
@@ -249,6 +249,21 @@ func main() {
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatal(err)
 	}
+
+	config, err := ReadConfig()
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	// if model is not specified, use the default model from the config file
+	if model == "" {
+		if config.Model == "" {
+			model = gogpt.GPT3Dot5Turbo
+		} else {
+			model = config.Model
+		}
+	}
+
 	options := chatOptions{
 		model:        model,
 		temperature:  temperature,
diff --git a/config.go b/config.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..474d932
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config.go
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+)
+
+type Config struct {
+	Model string `yaml:"model"`
+}
+
+func ReadConfig() (*Config, error) {
+	config := &Config{}
+	// try to read from ~/.aichat/config.yml
+	homedir, err := os.UserHomeDir()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	path := filepath.Join(homedir, ".aichat", "config.yml")
+
+	if err := ReadYamlFromFile(path, config); err != nil {
+		// if the file does not exist, return an empty config
+		if os.IsNotExist(err) {
+			return config, nil
+		}
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return config, nil
+}