diff --git a/invokeai/app/services/config/config_default.py b/invokeai/app/services/config/config_default.py
index 3730b3508d..10d8ba308f 100644
--- a/invokeai/app/services/config/config_default.py
+++ b/invokeai/app/services/config/config_default.py
@@ -436,6 +436,11 @@ def get_config() -> InvokeAIAppConfig:
 
     args = InvokeAIArgs.args
 
+    # This flag serves as a proxy for whether the config was retrieved in the context of the full application or not.
+    # If it is False, we should just return a default config and not set the root, log in to HF, etc.
+    if not InvokeAIArgs.did_parse:
+        return config
+
     # CLI args trump environment variables
     if root := getattr(args, "root", None):
         config.set_root(Path(root))
diff --git a/invokeai/frontend/cli/arg_parser.py b/invokeai/frontend/cli/arg_parser.py
index 7db06fddd9..34f7c462bb 100644
--- a/invokeai/frontend/cli/arg_parser.py
+++ b/invokeai/frontend/cli/arg_parser.py
@@ -34,9 +34,11 @@ class InvokeAIArgs:
     """
 
     args: Optional[Namespace] = None
+    did_parse: bool = False
 
     @staticmethod
     def parse_args() -> Optional[Namespace]:
         """Parse CLI args and store the result."""
         InvokeAIArgs.args = _parser.parse_args()
+        InvokeAIArgs.did_parse = True
         return InvokeAIArgs.args