diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6c81a34..cd6726f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -10,8 +10,13 @@ Notifies of available updates.
 notify-updates --help
 ```
 
+## Configuration
+
+Example configuration file: `notify-updates.config`.
+
+Configuration directory (hardcoded for now): `~/.config/notify-updates`.
+
 ## TODO
 
 * `notify-updates` triggered to run after `pacman-update-count`
-* config file for `notify-updates`
 * `update.sh` script
diff --git a/notify-updates b/notify-updates
index 25e59a7..69ff8c2 100755
--- a/notify-updates
+++ b/notify-updates
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ _notify_none=0
 _error_code=0
 _show_help=0
 _hostname=$(hostname)
+_config_file="$HOME/.config/notify-updates/notify-updates.config"
 
 if ! [ -f "$_target_file" ] ;
 then
@@ -37,6 +38,19 @@ if [ "$_error_code" -gt 0 ] ; then
   exit "$_error_code"
 fi
 
+# TODO use $XDG_CONFIG_HOME
+if [ -f "$_config_file" ] ; then
+  .  "$_config_file"
+else
+  echo "notify-updates: warning - config file not found: $_config_file"
+fi
+
+if [ "$notifynone" = "true" ] ; then
+  _notify_none=1
+elif [ "$notifynone" = "false" ] ; then
+  _notify_none=0
+fi
+
 _updates_available=$(cat $_target_file)
 
 if [ "$_updates_available" -gt 0 ] ; then
diff --git a/notify-updates.config b/notify-updates.config
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2fc0af9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/notify-updates.config
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# notify if no updates available
+notifynone=true