diff --git a/src/config.rs b/src/config.rs
index c78286a..3c79985 100644
--- a/src/config.rs
+++ b/src/config.rs
@@ -15,15 +15,16 @@ use crate::{scripting::create_lua, utils::Describe};
 pub struct SiloConfig {
     /// Diff tool used to display file differences
     pub diff_tool: String,
-    /// Context values for handlebars that are available globally under the `ctx` variable
-    pub template_context: HashMap<String, toml::Value>,
+    /// Additional config options
+    #[serde(flatten)]
+    pub userdata: HashMap<String, toml::Value>,
 }
 
 impl Default for SiloConfig {
     fn default() -> Self {
         Self {
             diff_tool: detect_difftool(),
-            template_context: HashMap::new(),
+            userdata: HashMap::new(),
         }
     }
 }
@@ -50,7 +51,7 @@ pub fn read_config(repo: &Path) -> Result<SiloConfig> {
         let mut lines = vec![
             "local silo = require 'silo'".to_owned(),
             "local utils = require 'utils'".to_owned(),
-            "local config = silo.config".to_owned(),
+            "local config = silo.default_config".to_owned(),
         ];
         if old_config.exists() {
             lines.push("".to_owned());
@@ -86,7 +87,7 @@ pub fn read_config(repo: &Path) -> Result<SiloConfig> {
 }
 
 fn read_lua_config(path: &Path) -> Result<SiloConfig> {
-    let lua = create_lua(&())?;
+    let lua = create_lua(&SiloConfig::default())?;
     let result = lua
         .load(path)
         .eval()
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 77562dc..0f5eada 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ fn main() -> Result<()> {
             let repo = SiloRepo::open(&args.repo)?;
             println!(
                 "{}",
-                serde_json::to_string_pretty(&templating::context(repo.config.template_context))
+                serde_json::to_string_pretty(&templating::context(repo.config.userdata))
                     .into_diagnostic()?
             )
         }
diff --git a/src/repo/contents.rs b/src/repo/contents.rs
index 2461b03..aaed1ba 100644
--- a/src/repo/contents.rs
+++ b/src/repo/contents.rs
@@ -4,14 +4,14 @@ use std::{
     rc::Rc,
 };
 
-use crate::{scripting::create_lua, templating, utils::Describe};
+use crate::{config::SiloConfig, scripting::create_lua, templating, utils::Describe};
 
 use super::{ApplyContext, ParseContext, ReadMode};
 use globset::{Glob, GlobSet, GlobSetBuilder};
 use lazy_static::lazy_static;
 use miette::{Context, IntoDiagnostic, Result};
 use mlua::LuaSerdeExt;
-use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
+use serde::Deserialize;
 
 #[derive(Clone, Debug)]
 pub struct Contents {
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ impl DirEntry {
 
             let metadata = if script_tmpl.exists() {
                 log::debug!("Found script template");
-                let metadata = RootDirData::read_lua(&script_tmpl, &ctx.config.template_context)?;
+                let metadata = RootDirData::read_lua(&script_tmpl, &ctx.config)?;
                 ctx = Rc::new(ParseContext::new(
                     path.clone(),
                     metadata.read_mode(),
@@ -78,8 +78,7 @@ impl DirEntry {
             } else if meta_tmpl.exists() {
                 log::debug!("Found metadata template");
                 log::warn!("Old template metadata files are deprecated. Please migrate to the `silo.dir.lua` syntax");
-                let metadata =
-                    RootDirData::read_template(&meta_tmpl, &ctx.config.template_context)?;
+                let metadata = RootDirData::read_template(&meta_tmpl, &ctx.config)?;
                 ctx = Rc::new(ParseContext::new(
                     path.clone(),
                     metadata.read_mode(),
@@ -132,7 +131,7 @@ impl DirEntry {
                 Ok(())
             }
             DirEntry::Root(_, data, children) => {
-                let rendered_path = templating::render(&data.path, &ctx.config.template_context)?;
+                let rendered_path = templating::render(&data.path, &ctx.config)?;
                 let cwd = PathBuf::from(rendered_path);
 
                 for child in children {
@@ -171,7 +170,7 @@ impl FileEntry {
                 let filename = new_path.file_name().unwrap();
 
                 let dest = cwd.join(filename);
-                let render_contents = templating::render(&contents, &ctx.config.template_context)?;
+                let render_contents = templating::render(&contents, &ctx.config.userdata)?;
 
                 ctx.fs.write_all(&dest, &render_contents.into_bytes())?;
                 ctx.fs
@@ -223,18 +222,18 @@ impl RootDirData {
             .with_context(|| format!("parsing metadata file {path:?}"))
     }
 
-    fn read_template<T: Serialize>(path: &Path, ctx: T) -> Result<Self> {
+    fn read_template(path: &Path, cfg: &SiloConfig) -> Result<Self> {
         let contents = fs::read_to_string(path)
             .into_diagnostic()
             .with_context(|| format!("reading metadata file {path:?}"))?;
-        let rendered = templating::render(&contents, ctx)?;
+        let rendered = templating::render(&contents, cfg)?;
         toml::from_str(&rendered)
             .into_diagnostic()
             .with_context(|| format!("parsing metadata file {path:?}"))
     }
 
-    fn read_lua<T: Serialize>(path: &Path, ctx: T) -> Result<Self> {
-        let lua = create_lua(&ctx)?;
+    fn read_lua(path: &Path, cfg: &SiloConfig) -> Result<Self> {
+        let lua = create_lua(&cfg)?;
         let cfg: Self = lua
             .from_value(lua.load(path).eval().describe("evaluating script")?)
             .describe("deserialize lua value")?;
diff --git a/src/repo/hooks.rs b/src/repo/hooks.rs
index 4c923ed..3a0a474 100644
--- a/src/repo/hooks.rs
+++ b/src/repo/hooks.rs
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ use std::{
 
 use miette::{IntoDiagnostic, Result};
 
-use crate::{scripting::create_lua, utils::Describe};
+use crate::{config::SiloConfig, scripting::create_lua, utils::Describe};
 
 #[derive(Clone, Debug)]
 pub struct Hooks {
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ impl Hooks {
         }
     }
 
-    pub fn load(path: &Path) -> Result<Self> {
+    pub fn load(config: &SiloConfig, path: &Path) -> Result<Self> {
         log::debug!("Parsing hooks in {path:?}");
         let readdir = fs::read_dir(path).into_diagnostic()?;
         let mut scripts = Vec::new();
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ impl Hooks {
                     .is_some_and(|f| f.to_string_lossy().ends_with(".hook.lua"))
             {
                 log::debug!("Found hook {path:?}");
-                scripts.push(Arc::new(HookScript::load(&path)?))
+                scripts.push(Arc::new(HookScript::load(config, &path)?))
             }
         }
 
@@ -107,8 +107,8 @@ impl Hooks {
 }
 
 impl HookScript {
-    pub fn load(path: &Path) -> Result<Self> {
-        let lua = create_lua(&())?;
+    pub fn load(config: &SiloConfig, path: &Path) -> Result<Self> {
+        let lua = create_lua(&config)?;
         let module: OwnedTable = lua
             .load(path)
             .eval()
diff --git a/src/repo/mod.rs b/src/repo/mod.rs
index 427a7ba..b6c70ce 100644
--- a/src/repo/mod.rs
+++ b/src/repo/mod.rs
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ impl SiloRepo {
         let hook_path = path.join("hooks");
 
         let hooks = if hook_path.exists() {
-            Hooks::load(&hook_path)?
+            Hooks::load(&config, &hook_path)?
         } else {
             Hooks::empty()
         };
diff --git a/src/scripting/mod.rs b/src/scripting/mod.rs
index 05e1151..1312d36 100644
--- a/src/scripting/mod.rs
+++ b/src/scripting/mod.rs
@@ -5,19 +5,19 @@ pub mod utils_module;
 
 use miette::Result;
 use mlua::{Lua, LuaSerdeExt};
-use serde::Serialize;
 
-use crate::utils::Describe;
+use crate::{config::SiloConfig, utils::Describe};
 
-pub fn create_lua<T: Serialize>(ctx: &T) -> Result<Lua> {
+pub fn create_lua(config: &SiloConfig) -> Result<Lua> {
     let lua = Lua::new();
     {
         let globals = lua.globals();
         require::register_require(&lua).describe("registering custom require")?;
         globals
             .set(
-                "silo_ctx",
-                lua.to_value(ctx).describe("serializing context to lua")?,
+                "__silo_config",
+                lua.to_value(config)
+                    .describe("serializing context to lua")?,
             )
             .describe("registering silo context")?;
     }
diff --git a/src/scripting/silo_module.rs b/src/scripting/silo_module.rs
index c3be412..eb0f501 100644
--- a/src/scripting/silo_module.rs
+++ b/src/scripting/silo_module.rs
@@ -9,8 +9,9 @@ pub fn silo_module(lua: &Lua) -> Result<Table> {
     exports.set("dirs", lua.to_value(&silo_ctx.dirs)?)?;
     exports.set("flags", lua.to_value(&silo_ctx.flags)?)?;
     exports.set("system", lua.to_value(&silo_ctx.system)?)?;
-    exports.set("usercfg", lua.globals().get::<_, mlua::Value>("silo_ctx")?)?;
-    exports.set("config", lua.to_value(&SiloConfig::default())?)?;
+    let config = lua.globals().get::<_, mlua::Value>("__silo_config")?;
+    exports.set("config", config)?;
+    exports.set("default_config", lua.to_value(&SiloConfig::default())?)?;
 
     Ok(exports)
 }
diff --git a/src/templating/mod.rs b/src/templating/mod.rs
index 68eb24d..852b24b 100644
--- a/src/templating/mod.rs
+++ b/src/templating/mod.rs
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ use miette::{Context, IntoDiagnostic, Result};
 use serde::Serialize;
 mod helpers;
 
-pub fn render<T: Serialize>(template: &str, ctx: T) -> Result<String> {
+pub fn render<T: Serialize + Clone>(template: &str, ctx: T) -> Result<String> {
     engine()
         .render_template(template, &context(ctx))
         .into_diagnostic()
@@ -28,11 +28,15 @@ fn engine<'a>() -> Handlebars<'a> {
     hb
 }
 
-pub fn context<'a, T: Serialize>(ctx: T) -> WrappedContext<'a, T> {
+pub fn context<'a, T: Serialize + Clone>(cfg: T) -> WrappedContext<'a, T> {
     lazy_static! {
         static ref CTX: ContextData = ContextData::default();
     }
-    WrappedContext { data: &CTX, ctx }
+    WrappedContext {
+        data: &CTX,
+        ctx: cfg.clone(),
+        cfg,
+    }
 }
 
 #[derive(Serialize)]
@@ -40,6 +44,7 @@ pub struct WrappedContext<'a, T: Serialize> {
     #[serde(flatten)]
     data: &'a ContextData,
     ctx: T,
+    cfg: T,
 }
 
 #[derive(Clone, Debug, Serialize, Default)]