diff --git a/amanuensis/cli.py b/amanuensis/cli.py
index 8855607..757673e 100644
--- a/amanuensis/cli.py
+++ b/amanuensis/cli.py
@@ -98,10 +98,9 @@ def command_generate_secret(args):
 	import os
 
 	import config
-	from config.loader import WritableConfig
 
 	secret_key = os.urandom(32)
-	with WritableConfig(os.path.join(config.CONFIG_DIR, "config.json")) as cfg:
+	with config.json_rw("config.json") as cfg:
 		cfg['secret_key'] = secret_key.hex()
 	config.logger.info("Regenerated Flask secret key")
 
diff --git a/amanuensis/config/__init__.py b/amanuensis/config/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0fd3abf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/amanuensis/config/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+# Standard library imports
+import json
+import logging
+import os
+
+# Module imports
+from errors import MissingConfigError, MalformedConfigError
+import config.init
+import config.loader
+
+
+# Environment variable name constants
+ENV_SECRET_KEY =    "AMANUENSIS_SECRET_KEY"
+ENV_CONFIG_DIR =    "AMANUENSIS_CONFIG_DIR"
+ENV_LOG_FILE =      "AMANUENSIS_LOG_FILE"
+ENV_LOG_FILE_SIZE = "AMANUENSIS_LOG_FILE_SIZE"
+ENV_LOG_FILE_NUM =  "AMANUENSIS_LOG_FILE_NUM"
+
+#
+# The config directory can be set by cli input, so the config infrastructure
+# needs to wait for initialization before it can load any configs.
+#
+CONFIG_DIR = None
+GLOBAL_CONFIG = None
+logger = None
+
+def init_config(args):
+	"""
+	Initializes the config infrastructure to read configs from the
+	directory given by args.config_dir. Initializes logging.
+	"""
+	global CONFIG_DIR, GLOBAL_CONFIG, logger
+	CONFIG_DIR = args.config_dir
+	config.init.verify_config_dir(CONFIG_DIR)
+	with config.loader.json_ro(os.path.join(CONFIG_DIR, "config.json")) as cfg:
+		GLOBAL_CONFIG = cfg
+	config.init.init_logging(args, GLOBAL_CONFIG['logging'])
+	logger = logging.getLogger("amanuensis")
+
+def get(key):
+	return GLOBAL_CONFIG[key]
+
+def prepend(path):
+	return os.path.join(CONFIG_DIR, path)
+
+def open_sh(path, mode):
+	return config.loader.open_sh(prepend(path), mode)
+
+def open_ex(path, mode):
+	return config.loader.open_ex(prepend(path), mode)
+
+def json_ro(path):
+	return config.loader.json_ro(prepend(path))
+
+def json_rw(path):
+	return config.loader.json_rw(prepend(path))
+
+def json(*args, mode='r'):
+	if not args[-1].endswith(".json"):
+		args[-1] = args[-1] + ".json"
+	path = os.path.join(CONFIG_DIR, *args)
+
diff --git a/amanuensis/config/init.py b/amanuensis/config/init.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cf7d903
--- /dev/null
+++ b/amanuensis/config/init.py
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+# Standard library imports
+import copy
+import json
+import logging.config
+import os
+import pkg_resources
+
+# Module imports
+from errors import MissingConfigError, MalformedConfigError
+from config.loader import json_ro
+
+
+def verify_config_dir(config_dir):
+	"""
+	Verifies that the given directory has a valid global config in it and
+	returns the global config if so
+	"""
+	# Check that config dir exists
+	if not os.path.isdir(config_dir):
+		raise MissingConfigError("Config directory not found: {}".format(config_dir))
+	# Check that global config file exists
+	global_config_path = os.path.join(config_dir, "config.json")
+	if not os.path.isfile(global_config_path):
+		raise MissingConfigError("Config directory missing global config file: {}".format(config_dir))
+	# Check that global config file has all the default settings
+	def_cfg_s = pkg_resources.resource_stream("__main__", "resources/default_config.json")
+	def_cfg = json.load(def_cfg_s)
+	with json_ro(global_config_path) as global_config_file:
+		for key in def_cfg.keys():
+			if key not in global_config_file.keys():
+				raise MalformedConfigError("Missing '{}' in global config. If you updated Amanuensis, run init --update to pick up new config keys".format(key))
+	# Configs verified
+	return True
+
+def init_logging(args, logging_config):
+	"""
+	Initializes logging by using the logging section of the global config
+	file.
+	"""
+	# Get the logging config section
+	cfg = copy.deepcopy(logging_config)
+	# Apply any commandline settings to what was defined in the config file
+	handlers = cfg['loggers']['amanuensis']['handlers']
+	if args.verbose:
+		if 'cli-basic' in handlers:
+			handlers.remove('cli_basic')
+		handlers.append('cli_verbose')
+	if args.log_file:
+		cfg['handlers']['file']['filename'] = args.log_file
+		handlers.append("file")
+	# Load the config
+	try:
+		logging.config.dictConfig(cfg)
+	except:
+		raise MalformedConfigError("Failed to load logging config")
+
diff --git a/amanuensis/config/loader.py b/amanuensis/config/loader.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b1d9df4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/amanuensis/config/loader.py
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+# Standard library imports
+from collections import OrderedDict
+import fcntl
+import json
+import os
+
+# Module imports
+from errors import ReadOnlyError
+
+class ReadOnlyOrderedDict(OrderedDict):
+	"""An ordered dictionary that cannot be modified"""
+	def __readonly__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+		raise ReadOnlyError("Cannot modify a ReadOnlyOrderedDict")
+
+	def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+		super(ReadOnlyOrderedDict, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+		self.__setitem__ = self.__readonly__
+		self.__delitem__ = self.__readonly__
+		self.pop = self.__readonly__
+		self.popitem = self.__readonly__
+		self.clear = self.__readonly__
+		self.update = self.__readonly__
+		self.setdefault = self.__readonly__
+
+class open_lock():
+	def __init__(self, path, mode, lock_type):
+		self.fd = open(path, mode, encoding='utf8')
+		fcntl.lockf(self.fd, lock_type)
+
+	def __enter__(self):
+		return self.fd
+
+	def __exit__(self, exc_type, exc_value, traceback):
+		fcntl.lockf(self.fd, fcntl.LOCK_UN)
+		self.fd.close()
+
+class open_sh(open_lock):
+	def __init__(self, path, mode):
+		super().__init__(path, mode, fcntl.LOCK_SH)
+
+class open_ex(open_lock):
+	def __init__(self, path, mode):
+		super().__init__(path, mode, fcntl.LOCK_EX)
+
+class json_ro(open_sh):
+	def __init__(self, path):
+		super().__init__(path, 'r')
+		self.config = None
+
+	def __enter__(self):
+		self.config = json.load(self.fd, object_pairs_hook=ReadOnlyOrderedDict)
+		return self.config
+
+class json_rw(open_ex):
+	def __init__(self, path):
+		super().__init__(path, 'r+')
+		self.config = None
+
+	def __enter__(self):
+		self.config = json.load(self.fd, object_pairs_hook=OrderedDict)
+		return self.config
+
+	def __exit__(self, exc_type, exc_value, traceback):
+		self.fd.seek(0)
+		json.dump(self.config, self.fd, allow_nan=False, indent='\t')
+		self.fd.truncate()
+		super().__exit__(exc_type, exc_value, traceback)
+