diff --git a/lib/core/libimagrt/src/runtime.rs b/lib/core/libimagrt/src/runtime.rs
index 8bc1cf70..7fe0a959 100644
--- a/lib/core/libimagrt/src/runtime.rs
+++ b/lib/core/libimagrt/src/runtime.rs
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ use std::io::Stdin;
 
 pub use clap::App;
 use toml::Value;
+use toml_query::read::TomlValueReadExt;
 
 use clap::{Arg, ArgMatches};
 
@@ -457,7 +458,15 @@ impl<'a> Runtime<'a> {
         self.cli()
             .value_of("editor")
             .map(String::from)
+            .or_else(|| {
+                self.config()
+                    .and_then(|v| match v.read("rt.editor") {
+                        Ok(Some(&Value::String(ref s))) => Some(s.clone()),
+                        _ => None, // FIXME silently ignore errors in config is bad
+                    })
+            })
             .or(env::var("EDITOR").ok())
+            .map(|s| {debug!("Editing with '{}'", s); s})
             .map(|s| {
                 let mut c = Command::new(s);
                 c.stdin(::std::process::Stdio::inherit());