diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e7314c2..4917d27 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 # Change Log
 All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 
+### Changed
+- find config.php automatically in current and parent directories. Show error message if not found. 
+
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/).
 
 ## [Unreleased]
diff --git a/src/boot.php b/src/boot.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7d9e836
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/boot.php
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+<?php
+if (version_compare(phpversion(), '7.2', '<')) {
+    die("ERROR! The php version isn't high enough, you need at least 7.2 to run this application! But you have: " . phpversion());
+}
+
+# set the new path of config.php (must be in a safe location outside the `public_html`)
+#require_once '../../config.php';
+
+function find_config($filename='config.php'){
+	$path_length = substr_count(getcwd(),DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR)
+		+ 1; # also search the current directory
+
+	$dir = '.';
+	for($i=0; $i<$path_length;$i++){
+		$config_filename = $dir . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $filename;
+		if(file_exists($config_filename)){
+			return $config_filename;
+		} else {
+			$dir = '../'.$dir;
+		}
+	}
+	return FALSE;
+}
+
+function load_config(){
+	global $config;
+	$file = find_config();
+	if ( $file !== FALSE) {
+		require_once($file);
+	} else {
+		die('ERROR: Config file not found. Please see the installation instructions in the README.md');
+	}
+}
+
+load_config();
+
+# load php dependencies:
+require_once './backend-libs/autoload.php';
+
diff --git a/src/index.php b/src/index.php
index a7daf59..68bb655 100644
--- a/src/index.php
+++ b/src/index.php
@@ -3,11 +3,8 @@ if (version_compare(phpversion(), '7.2', '<')) {
     die("ERROR! The php version isn't high enough, you need at least 7.2 to run this application! But you have: " . phpversion());
 }
 
-# set the new path of config.php (must be in a safe location outside the `public_html`)
-require_once '../../config.php';
-
-# load php dependencies:
-require_once './backend-libs/autoload.php';
+# load config file and dependencies
+require_once './boot.php';
 
 require_once './user.php';
 require_once './imap_client.php';
@@ -24,4 +21,4 @@ $controller->invoke($imapClient);
 // delete after each request
 $imapClient->delete_old_messages($config['delete_messages_older_than']);
 
-?>
\ No newline at end of file
+?>
diff --git a/src/json-api.php b/src/json-api.php
index d4b8f54..3547a76 100644
--- a/src/json-api.php
+++ b/src/json-api.php
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 <?php
-# set the new path of config.php (must be in a safe location outside the `public_html`)
-require_once '../../config.php';
 
-# load php dependencies:
-require_once 'backend-libs/autoload.php';
+# load config file and dependencies
+require_once './boot.php';
 
 require_once 'user.php';
 require_once 'imap_client.php';
@@ -101,4 +99,4 @@ $controller->invoke($imapClient);
 $imapClient->delete_old_messages($config['delete_messages_older_than']);
 
 
-?>
\ No newline at end of file
+?>