diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 56c9144548..f02d1fc658 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -32,3 +32,5 @@ doc/build
 nosetests.xml
 pylint-report.txt
 etc/local.cfg
+etc/savanna/savanna.conf
+etc/savanna.conf
diff --git a/bin/savanna-api b/bin/savanna-api
index 08fd79419e..a683dca25c 100755
--- a/bin/savanna-api
+++ b/bin/savanna-api
@@ -15,11 +15,22 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-from eventlet import wsgi
+import os
+import sys
 import eventlet
+from eventlet import wsgi
 from oslo.config.cfg import CONF
 
-import sys
+# If ../savanna/__init__.py exists, add ../ to Python search path, so that
+# it will override what happens to be installed in /usr/(local/)lib/python...
+possible_topdir = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.abspath(__file__),
+                                                os.pardir,
+                                                os.pardir))
+if os.path.exists(os.path.join(possible_topdir,
+                               'savanna',
+                               '__init__.py')):
+    sys.path.insert(0, possible_topdir)
+
 from savanna import config
 import savanna.main as server
 from savanna.openstack.common import log as logging
@@ -28,7 +39,15 @@ LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
 def main():
-    config.parse_args(sys.argv[1:])
+    dev_conf = os.path.join(possible_topdir,
+                            'etc',
+                            'savanna',
+                            'savanna.conf')
+    config_files = None
+    if os.path.exists(dev_conf):
+        config_files = [dev_conf]
+
+    config.parse_args(sys.argv[1:], config_files)
     logging.setup("savanna")
 
     app = server.make_app()
diff --git a/savanna/config.py b/savanna/config.py
index bd315d13bf..04f44b0e2a 100644
--- a/savanna/config.py
+++ b/savanna/config.py
@@ -34,5 +34,5 @@ CONF = cfg.CONF
 CONF.register_cli_opts(cli_opts)
 
 
-def parse_args(argv):
-    CONF(argv, project='savanna')
+def parse_args(argv, conf_files):
+    CONF(argv, project='savanna', default_config_files=conf_files)