diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index bc6812fbf..ac7e62ebe 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ DRONE_DOCKER_ADDR="tcp://10.0.0.1:2375"     # for [docker] section, 'addr' setti
 DRONE_AUTH_CLIENT="0123456789abcdef0123AA"  # for [auth] section, 'client' setting
 DRONE_AUTH_SECRET="<sha-1 hash secret>"     # for [auth] section, 'secret' setting
 
-exec bin/drone -config=drone.toml
+exec ./drone -config=drone.toml
 ```
 
 _NOTE: Configuration settings from environment variables override values set in the TOML file._
diff --git a/pkg/config/config.go b/pkg/config/config.go
index 074b9c6d0..8f7d96343 100644
--- a/pkg/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/config/config.go
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ type Config struct {
 // Load loads the configuration file and reads
 // parameters from environment variables.
 func Load(path string) (*Config, error) {
-	data, err := ioutil.ReadFile("drone.toml")
+	data, err := ioutil.ReadFile(path)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -85,5 +85,15 @@ func LoadBytes(data []byte) (*Config, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	return conf, nil
+	return applyDefaults(conf), nil
+}
+
+func applyDefaults(c *Config) *Config {
+	// if no session token is provided we can
+	// instead use the client secret to sign
+	// our sessions and tokens.
+	if len(c.Session.Secret) == 0 {
+		c.Session.Secret = c.Auth.Secret
+	}
+	return c
 }
diff --git a/pkg/remote/client/client.go b/pkg/remote/client/client.go
index 638580b99..392c97839 100644
--- a/pkg/remote/client/client.go
+++ b/pkg/remote/client/client.go
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"net/http"
 	"net/rpc"
 
-	"github.com/drone/drone/pkg/settings"
+	"github.com/drone/drone/pkg/config"
 	common "github.com/drone/drone/pkg/types"
 )
 
@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@ type Client struct {
 
 // New returns a new, remote datastore backend that connects
 // via tcp and exchanges data using Go's RPC mechanism.
-func New(service *settings.Service) (*Client, error) {
-	conn, err := net.Dial("tcp", service.Address)
+func New(conf *config.Config) (*Client, error) {
+	conn, err := net.Dial("tcp", conf.Server.Addr)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}