--- /tmp/settings-manager.js.orig	2026-02-18 23:29:05.967146474 +0100
+++ /tmp/settings-manager.js	2026-02-18 23:29:12.452952321 +0100
@@ -97,7 +97,16 @@
     /** Create a SettingsManager that loads from files */
     static create(cwd = process.cwd(), agentDir = getAgentDir()) {
         const storage = new FileSettingsStorage(cwd, agentDir);
-        return SettingsManager.fromStorage(storage);
+        const manager = SettingsManager.fromStorage(storage);
+        const baseFile = process.env.PI_SETTINGS_FILE;
+        if (baseFile) {
+            try {
+                const baseSettings = JSON.parse(readFileSync(baseFile, "utf-8"));
+                manager.globalSettings = deepMergeSettings(manager.globalSettings, baseSettings);
+                manager.settings = deepMergeSettings(manager.globalSettings, manager.projectSettings);
+            } catch (e) {}
+        }
+        return manager;
     }
     /** Create a SettingsManager from an arbitrary storage backend */
     static fromStorage(storage) {