diff --git a/luametalatex-init-config.lua b/luametalatex-init-config.lua
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2039156
--- /dev/null
+++ b/luametalatex-init-config.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+local var_value = kpse.var_value
+local texconfig = texconfig
+-- These are special in two ways: They are strings and I think they are ignored
+-- We set them anyway because they should be emulated at some point
+for _, name in ipairs{
+    "shell_escape",
+    "shell_escape_commands",
+  } do
+  local value = var_value(name)
+  texconfig[name] = value
+end
+for _, name in ipairs{
+    "string_vacancies",
+    "pool_free",
+    "max_strings",
+    "strings_free",
+    "nest_size",
+    "max_in_open",
+    "param_size",
+    "save_size",
+    "stack_size",
+    "dvi_buf_size",
+    "error_line",
+    "half_error_line",
+    "max_print_line",
+    "hash_extra",
+    "pk_dpi",
+    "trace_file_names",
+    "file_line_error",
+    "halt_on_error",
+  } do
+  local value = var_value(name)
+  texconfig[name] = tonumber(value) or value or nil
+end
diff --git a/luametalatex-init.lua b/luametalatex-init.lua
index 5d8e847..609ba0b 100644
--- a/luametalatex-init.lua
+++ b/luametalatex-init.lua
@@ -336,6 +336,7 @@ kpse.set_maketex("kpse_fmt_format", true)
 bit32 = require'luametalatex-bit32'
 kpse.init_prog("LUATEX", 400, "nexthi", nil)
 status.init_kpse = 1
+require'luametalatex-init-config'
 status.safer_option = 0
 local read_tfm = require'luametalatex-font-tfm'
 read_vf = require'luametalatex-font-vf'