diff --git a/code/setup_logging.py b/code/setup_logging.py
index a5a78aa..06d0c9c 100644
--- a/code/setup_logging.py
+++ b/code/setup_logging.py
@@ -1,11 +1,22 @@
 from dotenv import load_dotenv
 import logging
 import os
+from configparser import ConfigParser
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Literal
 
-def setup_logging():
+
+# load default values
+config = ConfigParser()
+config.read(Path(__file__).parent / 'defaults.ini')
+LOGGER_LEVEL = config.get('main', 'logger_level')
+
+
+def setup_logging(
+    logger_level: Literal['debug', 'info', 'warning', 'error'] = LOGGER_LEVEL
+):
     fmt = '%(asctime)s | %(levelname)s | %(filename)s | %(funcName)s | %(message)s'
     datefmt = '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'
-    logger_level = os.getenv('LOGGER_LEVEL', default='info')
     level = getattr(logging, logger_level.upper())
     logging.basicConfig(format=fmt, datefmt=datefmt, level=level)
     logging.debug('finished')