diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index bc6f2dc..d1cea6c 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -29,6 +29,10 @@ CONTAINER_NCCL_DEBUG="INFO"
 CONTAINER_HF_TOKEN="your_huggingface_token_here"
 CONTAINER_NCCL_IGNORE_CPU_AFFINITY="1"
 
+# COPY_HOSTS: Comma-separated list of hosts for build-and-copy.sh (optional)
+# Used by build-and-copy.sh to distribute images across cluster
+COPY_HOSTS="192.168.177.12"
+
 # Additional container environment variables
 # CONTAINER_MAX_JOBS="16"
 # CONTAINER_CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES="0,1"
diff --git a/autodiscover.sh b/autodiscover.sh
index 43e622f..11d771d 100644
--- a/autodiscover.sh
+++ b/autodiscover.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,52 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
+# Load .env file if exists (for shared configuration)
+# This is called early so that DOTENV_* variables are available to all functions
+load_env_if_exists() {
+    local env_file="${CONFIG_FILE:-}"
+    local config_explicit="${CONFIG_FILE_SET:-false}"
+    
+    # If CONFIG_FILE is not set, check default location
+    if [[ -z "$env_file" ]]; then
+        local script_dir="$(dirname "$(realpath "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")")"
+        env_file="$script_dir/.env"
+        config_explicit="false"
+    fi
+    
+    # Validate config file exists if explicitly specified
+    if [[ "$config_explicit" == "true" ]] && [[ ! -f "$env_file" ]]; then
+        echo "Error: Config file not found: $env_file"
+        exit 1
+    fi
+    
+    if [[ -f "$env_file" ]]; then
+        # Load .env variables with DOTENV_ prefix
+        while IFS='=' read -r key value || [[ -n "$key" ]]; do
+            # Skip comments and empty lines
+            [[ "$key" =~ ^[[:space:]]*# ]] && continue
+            [[ -z "$key" ]] && continue
+            
+            # Remove leading/trailing whitespace from key
+            key=$(echo "$key" | xargs)
+            
+            # Skip if key is empty after trimming
+            [[ -z "$key" ]] && continue
+            
+            # Remove quotes from value
+            value="${value%\"}"
+            value="${value#\"}"
+            value="${value%\'}"
+            value="${value#\'}"
+            
+            # Export with DOTENV_ prefix
+            export "DOTENV_$key=$value"
+        done < "$env_file"
+    fi
+}
+
+# Load .env file
+load_env_if_exists
+
 # Function to detect IB and Ethernet interfaces
 detect_interfaces() {
     # If both interfaces are already set, nothing to do
@@ -110,6 +157,19 @@ detect_nodes() {
         done
         return 0
     fi
+    
+    # Try to use COPY_HOSTS from .env
+    if [[ -n "$DOTENV_COPY_HOSTS" ]]; then
+        echo "  Using COPY_HOSTS from .env: $DOTENV_COPY_HOSTS"
+        PEER_NODES=()
+        IFS=',' read -ra ALL_NODES <<< "$DOTENV_COPY_HOSTS"
+        for node in "${ALL_NODES[@]}"; do
+            node=$(echo "$node" | xargs)
+            PEER_NODES+=("$node")
+        done
+        NODES_ARG="$DOTENV_COPY_HOSTS"
+        return 0
+    fi
 
     echo "Auto-detecting nodes..."
     
diff --git a/build-and-copy.sh b/build-and-copy.sh
index ed7b9c0..dec93b4 100755
--- a/build-and-copy.sh
+++ b/build-and-copy.sh
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ VLLM_RELEASE_TAG="prebuilt-vllm-current"
 # Space-separated list of GPU architectures for which prebuilt wheels are available
 PREBUILT_WHEELS_SUPPORTED_ARCHS="12.1a"
 CLEANUP_MODE="false"
+CONFIG_FILE=""
 
 cleanup() {
     if [ -n "$TMP_IMAGE" ] && [ -f "$TMP_IMAGE" ]; then
@@ -280,11 +281,13 @@ usage() {
     echo "  --no-build                    : Skip building, only copy image (requires --copy-to)"
     echo "  --network <network>           : Docker network to use during build"
     echo "  --cleanup                     : Remove all *.whl and *.-commit files in wheels directory"
+    echo "  --config                      : Path to .env configuration file (default: .env in script directory)"
     echo "  -h, --help                    : Show this help message"
     exit 1
 }
 
-# Argument parsing
+# Parse all arguments
+CONFIG_FILE_SET=false
 while [[ "$#" -gt 0 ]]; do
     case $1 in
         -t|--tag) IMAGE_TAG="$2"; shift ;;
@@ -298,27 +301,6 @@ while [[ "$#" -gt 0 ]]; do
                 add_copy_hosts "$1"
                 shift
             done
-
-            if [ "${#COPY_HOSTS[@]}" -eq 0 ]; then
-                echo "No hosts specified. Using autodiscovery..."
-                source "$(dirname "$0")/autodiscover.sh"
-
-                detect_nodes
-                if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
-                    echo "Error: Autodiscovery failed."
-                    exit 1
-                fi
-
-                if [ ${#PEER_NODES[@]} -gt 0 ]; then
-                    COPY_HOSTS=("${PEER_NODES[@]}")
-                fi
-
-                if [ "${#COPY_HOSTS[@]}" -eq 0 ]; then
-                     echo "Error: Autodiscovery found no other nodes."
-                     exit 1
-                fi
-                echo "Autodiscovered hosts: ${COPY_HOSTS[*]}"
-            fi
             continue
             ;;
         -j|--build-jobs) BUILD_JOBS="$2"; shift ;;
@@ -351,12 +333,42 @@ while [[ "$#" -gt 0 ]]; do
                 exit 1
             fi
             ;;
+        --config) CONFIG_FILE="$2"; CONFIG_FILE_SET=true; shift ;;
         -h|--help) usage ;;
         *) echo "Unknown parameter passed: $1"; usage ;;
     esac
     shift
 done
 
+# Source autodiscover.sh to load .env file
+source "$(dirname "$0")/autodiscover.sh"
+
+# Handle COPY_HOSTS from .env or autodiscovery if not specified via arguments
+if [ "${#COPY_HOSTS[@]}" -eq 0 ]; then
+    if [[ -n "$DOTENV_COPY_HOSTS" ]]; then
+        echo "Using COPY_HOSTS from .env: $DOTENV_COPY_HOSTS"
+        IFS=',' read -ra HOSTS_FROM_ENV <<< "$DOTENV_COPY_HOSTS"
+        COPY_HOSTS=("${HOSTS_FROM_ENV[@]}")
+    else
+        echo "No hosts specified. Using autodiscovery..."
+        detect_nodes
+        if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+            echo "Error: Autodiscovery failed."
+            exit 1
+        fi
+
+        if [ ${#PEER_NODES[@]} -gt 0 ]; then
+            COPY_HOSTS=("${PEER_NODES[@]}")
+        fi
+
+        if [ "${#COPY_HOSTS[@]}" -eq 0 ]; then
+              echo "Error: Autodiscovery found no other nodes."
+              exit 1
+        fi
+        echo "Autodiscovered hosts: ${COPY_HOSTS[*]}"
+    fi
+fi
+
 # Validate flag combinations
 if [ -n "$VLLM_PRS" ]; then
     if [ "$EXP_MXFP4" = true ]; then echo "Error: --apply-vllm-pr is incompatible with --exp-mxfp4"; exit 1; fi
diff --git a/launch-cluster.sh b/launch-cluster.sh
index 24b6a42..f7dc1cd 100755
--- a/launch-cluster.sh
+++ b/launch-cluster.sh
@@ -159,9 +159,12 @@ done
 # Set .env file path (use default if not specified)
 if [[ -z "$CONFIG_FILE" ]]; then
     CONFIG_FILE="$SCRIPT_DIR/.env"
+    CONFIG_FILE_SET=false
+else
+    CONFIG_FILE_SET=true
 fi
 
-# Load .env file if exists
+# Load .env file
 if [[ -f "$CONFIG_FILE" ]]; then
     echo "Loading configuration from .env file..."