diff --git a/cmd/spilltea/main.go b/cmd/spilltea/main.go
index 2b03d5d..07a68fd 100644
--- a/cmd/spilltea/main.go
+++ b/cmd/spilltea/main.go
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ func main() {
 		flagVersion           = flag.BoolP("version", "v", false, "print version")
 		flagProject           = flag.StringP("project", "P", "", `project name to open directly, or "tmp" for a temporary session`)
 		flagAddDefaultPlugins = flag.Bool("add-default-plugins", false, "copy built-in example plugins into the plugins dir and exit")
+		flagAddDefaultConfig  = flag.Bool("add-default-config", false, "copy the default config file to the config path and exit")
 	)
 	flag.CommandLine.SetOutput(os.Stdout)
 	flag.Usage = func() {
@@ -66,6 +67,19 @@ func main() {
 		os.Exit(0)
 	}
 
+	if *flagAddDefaultConfig {
+		cfgPath := filepath.Join(os.Getenv("HOME"), ".config", "spilltea", "config.yaml")
+		if *flagConfig != "" {
+			cfgPath = *flagConfig
+		}
+		if err := config.WriteDefaultConfig(cfgPath); err != nil {
+			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "add-default-config: %v\n", err)
+			os.Exit(1)
+		}
+		fmt.Printf("default config written to %s\n", cfgPath)
+		os.Exit(0)
+	}
+
 	if *flagProject != "" && !homeUI.IsValidProjectName(*flagProject) {
 		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "project: invalid name %q (only lowercase letters, digits, - and _ are allowed)\n", *flagProject)
 		os.Exit(1)
diff --git a/internal/config/config.go b/internal/config/config.go
index 54e318f..acdd663 100644
--- a/internal/config/config.go
+++ b/internal/config/config.go
@@ -74,6 +74,16 @@ func Load(path string) error {
 	return viper.Unmarshal(Global)
 }
 
+func WriteDefaultConfig(path string) error {
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(path), 0o755); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("create config dir: %w", err)
+	}
+	if err := os.WriteFile(path, defaultConfig, 0o644); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("write config: %w", err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 func ExpandPath(p string) string {
 	if strings.HasPrefix(p, "~/") {
 		home, err := os.UserHomeDir()
diff --git a/lefthook.yml b/lefthook.yml
index 7842814..626bc3a 100644
--- a/lefthook.yml
+++ b/lefthook.yml
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@ pre-commit:
   piped: true
   commands:
     inject-exec-basics:
-      glob: "docs/basics.md"
-      run: python3 .github/scripts/inject-exec.py {staged_files}
+      glob: "{docs/basics.md,cmd/**}"
+      run: python3 .github/scripts/inject-exec.py docs/basics.md
       stage_fixed: true
     inject-exec:
       glob: "README.md"