diff --git a/spacy/cli/_util.py b/spacy/cli/_util.py
index 040434c05..0dd2ee380 100644
--- a/spacy/cli/_util.py
+++ b/spacy/cli/_util.py
@@ -7,13 +7,15 @@ import srsly
 import hashlib
 import typer
 from click import NoSuchOption
+from click.parser import split_arg_string
 from typer.main import get_command
 from contextlib import contextmanager
 from thinc.config import Config, ConfigValidationError
 from configparser import InterpolationError
+import os
 
 from ..schemas import ProjectConfigSchema, validate
-from ..util import import_file, run_command, make_tempdir, registry
+from ..util import import_file, run_command, make_tempdir, registry, logger
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from pathy import Pathy  # noqa: F401
@@ -37,6 +39,7 @@ commands to check and validate your config files, training and evaluation data,
 and custom model implementations.
 """
 INIT_HELP = """Commands for initializing configs and pipeline packages."""
+OVERRIDES_ENV_VAR = "SPACY_CONFIG_OVERRIDES"
 
 # Wrappers for Typer's annotations. Initially created to set defaults and to
 # keep the names short, but not needed at the moment.
@@ -61,24 +64,41 @@ def setup_cli() -> None:
     command(prog_name=COMMAND)
 
 
-def parse_config_overrides(args: List[str]) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+def parse_config_overrides(
+    args: List[str], env_var: Optional[str] = OVERRIDES_ENV_VAR
+) -> Dict[str, Any]:
     """Generate a dictionary of config overrides based on the extra arguments
     provided on the CLI, e.g. --training.batch_size to override
     "training.batch_size". Arguments without a "." are considered invalid,
     since the config only allows top-level sections to exist.
 
-    args (List[str]): The extra arguments from the command line.
+    env_vars (Optional[str]): Optional environment variable to read from.
     RETURNS (Dict[str, Any]): The parsed dict, keyed by nested config setting.
     """
+    env_string = os.environ.get(env_var, "") if env_var else ""
+    env_overrides = _parse_overrides(split_arg_string(env_string))
+    cli_overrides = _parse_overrides(args, is_cli=True)
+    if cli_overrides:
+        keys = [k for k in cli_overrides if k not in env_overrides]
+        logger.debug(f"Config overrides from CLI: {keys}")
+    if env_overrides:
+        logger.debug(f"Config overrides from env variables: {list(env_overrides)}")
+    return {**cli_overrides, **env_overrides}
+
+
+def _parse_overrides(args: List[str], is_cli: bool = False) -> Dict[str, Any]:
     result = {}
     while args:
         opt = args.pop(0)
-        err = f"Invalid CLI argument '{opt}'"
+        err = f"Invalid config override '{opt}'"
         if opt.startswith("--"):  # new argument
             orig_opt = opt
             opt = opt.replace("--", "")
             if "." not in opt:
-                raise NoSuchOption(orig_opt)
+                if is_cli:
+                    raise NoSuchOption(orig_opt)
+                else:
+                    msg.fail(f"{err}: can't override top-level sections", exits=1)
             if "=" in opt:  # we have --opt=value
                 opt, value = opt.split("=", 1)
                 opt = opt.replace("-", "_")
@@ -97,7 +117,7 @@ def parse_config_overrides(args: List[str]) -> Dict[str, Any]:
             except ValueError:
                 result[opt] = str(value)
         else:
-            msg.fail(f"{err}: override option should start with --", exits=1)
+            msg.fail(f"{err}: name should start with --", exits=1)
     return result
 
 
diff --git a/spacy/tests/test_cli.py b/spacy/tests/test_cli.py
index 422ae74b4..a9c9d8ca5 100644
--- a/spacy/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/spacy/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -1,15 +1,15 @@
 import pytest
 from click import NoSuchOption
-
 from spacy.training import docs_to_json, biluo_tags_from_offsets
 from spacy.training.converters import iob2docs, conll_ner2docs, conllu2docs
 from spacy.schemas import ProjectConfigSchema, RecommendationSchema, validate
 from spacy.cli.init_config import init_config, RECOMMENDATIONS
 from spacy.cli._util import validate_project_commands, parse_config_overrides
 from spacy.cli._util import load_project_config, substitute_project_variables
-from spacy.cli._util import string_to_list
+from spacy.cli._util import string_to_list, OVERRIDES_ENV_VAR
 from thinc.config import ConfigValidationError
 import srsly
+import os
 
 from .util import make_tempdir
 
@@ -341,6 +341,24 @@ def test_parse_config_overrides_invalid_2(args):
         parse_config_overrides(args)
 
 
+def test_parse_cli_overrides():
+    os.environ[OVERRIDES_ENV_VAR] = "--x.foo bar --x.bar=12 --x.baz false --y.foo=hello"
+    result = parse_config_overrides([])
+    assert len(result) == 4
+    assert result["x.foo"] == "bar"
+    assert result["x.bar"] == 12
+    assert result["x.baz"] is False
+    assert result["y.foo"] == "hello"
+    os.environ[OVERRIDES_ENV_VAR] = "--x"
+    assert parse_config_overrides([], env_var=None) == {}
+    with pytest.raises(SystemExit):
+        parse_config_overrides([])
+    os.environ[OVERRIDES_ENV_VAR] = "hello world"
+    with pytest.raises(SystemExit):
+        parse_config_overrides([])
+    del os.environ[OVERRIDES_ENV_VAR]
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("lang", ["en", "nl"])
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     "pipeline", [["tagger", "parser", "ner"], [], ["ner", "textcat", "sentencizer"]]