diff --git a/src/forge.nim b/src/forge.nim
index d05d4d2..281342c 100644
--- a/src/forge.nim
+++ b/src/forge.nim
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ proc release(
   dryrun: bool = false,
   nimble: bool = false,
   configFile: string = ".forge.cfg",
+  noConfig: bool = false,
   verbose: bool = false,
   ) =
   ## generate release assets for n>=1 targets
@@ -61,7 +62,7 @@ proc release(
   ##
   ## if name or version are not specified they will be inferred from the local .nimble file
 
-  var cfg = newConfig(
+  let cfg = newConfig(
             target,
             bin,
             outdir,
@@ -69,8 +70,10 @@ proc release(
             name,
             version,
             nimble,
-            configFile
+            configFile,
+            noConfig
   )
+
   if cfg.targets.len == 0:
     termErrQuit "expected at least 1 target"
   if cfg.bins.len == 0:
@@ -114,7 +117,8 @@ proc release(
           termEcho styleBright, "cmd: ", ansiResetCode, cmd
         let errCode = execCmd cmd
         if errCode != 0:
-          termErrQuit "problems executing cmd " & cmd
+          termErr "cmd: ", cmd
+          termErrQuit &"exited with code {errCode} see above for error"
 
 when isMainModule:
   import cligen
@@ -148,7 +152,8 @@ when isMainModule:
       "dryrun": "show command instead of executing",
       "format": "set format, see help above",
       "nimble": "use nimble as base command for compiling",
-      "config-file": "path to config"
+      "config-file": "path to config",
+      "no-config": "ignore config file"
       },
     short = {"verbose": 'V'}
     ]
diff --git a/src/forge/config.nim b/src/forge/config.nim
index 3908255..83511cf 100644
--- a/src/forge/config.nim
+++ b/src/forge/config.nim
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ proc `$`*(c: Config): string =
 
   lines.join("\n")
 
-proc loadConfigFile*(f: string): Config =
+proc loadConfigFile*(f: string, load_targets: bool, load_bins: bool): Config =
   let
     dict = loadConfig(f)
     base = dict.getOrDefault("")
@@ -39,9 +39,9 @@ proc loadConfigFile*(f: string): Config =
   result.name = base.getOrDefault("name")
   result.version = base.getOrDefault("version")
   result.format = base.getOrDefault("format")
-  if dict.hasKey("target"):
+  if dict.hasKey("target") and load_targets:
     result.targets = dict.getOrDefault("target")
-  if dict.hasKey("bin"):
+  if dict.hasKey("bin") and load_bins:
     result.bins = dict.getOrDefault("bin")
 
 proc inferName(s: string, nimbleFile: string): string =
@@ -85,20 +85,21 @@ proc inferBin(nimbleFile: string): string =
 
 
 proc newConfig*(
-            targets: seq[string],
-             bins: seq[string],
-             outdir: string,
-            format: string,
-            name: string,
-            version: string,
-             nimble: bool,
-            configFile: string
-             ): Config =
+  targets: seq[string],
+  bins: seq[string],
+  outdir: string,
+  format: string,
+  name: string,
+  version: string,
+  nimble: bool,
+  configFile: string,
+  noConfig: bool
+  ): Config =
 
   let nimbleFile = findNimbleFile()
 
-  if configFile.fileExists:
-    result = loadConfigFile(configFile)
+  if configFile.fileExists and not noConfig:
+    result = loadConfigFile(configFile, targets.len == 0, bins.len == 0)
   else:
     # no seg faults here...
     result.targets = newOrderedTable[string, string]()