diff --git a/__init__.py b/__init__.py
index c4dd3f5..0a3a627 100644
--- a/__init__.py
+++ b/__init__.py
@@ -199,6 +199,12 @@ class Mem0LocalMemoryProvider(MemoryProvider):
         with self._client_lock:
             if self._client is not None:
                 return self._client
+            # Lazy config loading if initialize() wasn't called
+            if self._config is None:
+                self._config = _load_config()
+                self._user_id = self._config.get("user_id", "hermes-user")
+                self._agent_id = self._config.get("agent_id", "hermes")
+                self._rerank = self._config.get("rerank", True)
             base_url = self._config.get("base_url", "http://localhost:8000")
             timeout = float(self._config.get("timeout", 10.0))
             self._client = LocalMem0Client(base_url, timeout=timeout)