diff --git a/packages/cli/package.json b/packages/cli/package.json
index 4ce046d1d6..6ead7a58b6 100644
--- a/packages/cli/package.json
+++ b/packages/cli/package.json
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@
   "dependencies": {
     "chalk": "5.2.0",
     "commander": "^10.0.0",
+    "cosmiconfig": "^8.1.3",
     "execa": "^7.0.0",
     "fs-extra": "^11.1.0",
     "https-proxy-agent": "^6.2.0",
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/index.ts b/packages/cli/src/index.ts
index dda137a1fd..75626ac119 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/index.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import ora from "ora"
 import prompts from "prompts"
 
 import { Component, getAvailableComponents } from "./utils/get-components"
+import { Config, getCliConfig } from "./utils/get-config"
 import { getPackageInfo } from "./utils/get-package-info"
 import { getPackageManager } from "./utils/get-package-manager"
 import { getProjectInfo } from "./utils/get-project-info"
@@ -27,6 +28,8 @@ const PROJECT_DEPENDENCIES = [
 async function main() {
   const packageInfo = await getPackageInfo()
   const projectInfo = await getProjectInfo()
+  const cliConfig = await getCliConfig()
+
   const packageManager = getPackageManager()
 
   const program = new Command()
@@ -144,11 +147,7 @@ async function main() {
         selectedComponents = await promptForComponents(availableComponents)
       }
 
-      const dir = await promptForDestinationDir(
-        projectInfo?.srcComponentsUiDir
-          ? "./src/components/ui"
-          : "./components/ui"
-      )
+      const dir = await promptForDestinationDir(cliConfig)
 
       if (!selectedComponents?.length) {
         logger.warn("No components selected. Nothing to install.")
@@ -171,10 +170,16 @@ async function main() {
 
         // Write the files.
         for (const file of component.files) {
-          // Replace alias with the project's alias.
-          if (projectInfo?.alias) {
-            file.content = file.content.replace(/@\//g, projectInfo.alias)
-          }
+          // because these are the predefined routes for the utils and components we can
+          // use them as a replacer for the defined routes on the installed file.
+          file.content = file.content.replace(
+            "@/lib/utils",
+            cliConfig.utilsLocation
+          )
+          file.content = file.content.replace(
+            "@/components/ui/",
+            cliConfig.componentDirAlias
+          )
 
           const filePath = path.resolve(dir, file.name)
           await fs.writeFile(filePath, file.content)
@@ -210,13 +215,17 @@ async function promptForComponents(components: Component[]) {
   return selectedComponents
 }
 
-async function promptForDestinationDir(installDir = "./components/ui") {
+async function promptForDestinationDir(cliConfig: Config) {
+  if (!cliConfig.askForDir) {
+    return cliConfig.componentsDirInstallation
+  }
+
   const { dir } = await prompts([
     {
       type: "text",
       name: "dir",
       message: "Where would you like to install the component(s)?",
-      initial: installDir,
+      initial: cliConfig.componentsDirInstallation,
     },
   ])
 
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/utils/get-config.ts b/packages/cli/src/utils/get-config.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ac518f260d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli/src/utils/get-config.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+import { cosmiconfig } from "cosmiconfig"
+import * as z from "zod"
+
+export const COMPONENTS_DIR = "./components/ui/"
+export const UTILS_LOCATION = "@/lib/utils"
+export const COMPONENT_ALIAS = "@/components/ui/"
+
+/**
+ * this is the name of the key we are looking for, the following are the intended values to look for:
+ * - shadcn-ui property in package.json
+ * - .shadcn-uirc file in JSON or YAML format
+ * - .shadcn-uirc.json, .shadcn-uirc.yaml, .shadcn-uirc.yml, .shadcn-uirc.js, or .shadcn-uirc.cjs file
+ * - shadcn-uirc, shadcn-uirc.json, shadcn-uirc.yaml, shadcn-uirc.yml, shadcn-uirc.js or shadcn-uirc.cjs file inside a .config subdirectory
+ * - shadcn-ui.config.js or shadcn-ui.config.cjs CommonJS module exporting an object
+ */
+const explorer = cosmiconfig("shadcn-ui")
+
+const configSchema = z.object({
+  componentsDirInstallation: z.string(),
+  askForDir: z.boolean(),
+  utilsLocation: z.string(),
+  componentDirAlias: z.string(),
+})
+
+export type Config = z.infer<typeof configSchema>
+
+export async function getCliConfig(): Promise<Config> {
+  const defaultConfig: Config = {
+    componentsDirInstallation: COMPONENTS_DIR,
+    askForDir: true,
+    utilsLocation: UTILS_LOCATION,
+    componentDirAlias: COMPONENT_ALIAS,
+  }
+
+  const userDefinedConfig = await getConfigFromEverywhere()
+
+  return {
+    ...defaultConfig,
+    ...userDefinedConfig,
+    askForDir: !userDefinedConfig.componentsDirInstallation,
+  }
+}
+
+export async function getConfigFromEverywhere() {
+  try {
+    const configResult = await explorer.search()
+
+    if (!configResult) {
+      // we should always return an object so we can then merge with
+      // the base config
+      return {}
+    }
+
+    const { config } = configResult
+
+    const parsedConfig = configSchema.partial().parse(config)
+    return parsedConfig
+  } catch (e) {
+    // lets just show the error to the user to aware about the issue, but lets not handle it.
+    console.log(e)
+    return {}
+  }
+}
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/utils/get-project-info.ts b/packages/cli/src/utils/get-project-info.ts
index eb451aa6e1..7f361f8ca1 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/utils/get-project-info.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/utils/get-project-info.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import fs from "fs-extra"
 export async function getProjectInfo() {
   const info = {
     tsconfig: null,
-    alias: null,
     srcDir: false,
     appDir: false,
     srcComponentsUiDir: false,
@@ -14,12 +13,9 @@ export async function getProjectInfo() {
 
   try {
     const tsconfig = await getTsConfig()
-    const paths = tsconfig?.compilerOptions?.paths
-    const alias = paths ? Object.keys(paths)[0].replace("*", "") : null
 
     return {
       tsconfig,
-      alias,
       srcDir: existsSync(path.resolve("./src")),
       appDir:
         existsSync(path.resolve("./app")) ||
diff --git a/pnpm-lock.yaml b/pnpm-lock.yaml
index 422d936fe0..16fd130d17 100644
--- a/pnpm-lock.yaml
+++ b/pnpm-lock.yaml
@@ -317,6 +317,9 @@ importers:
       commander:
         specifier: ^10.0.0
         version: 10.0.0
+      cosmiconfig:
+        specifier: ^8.1.3
+        version: 8.1.3
       execa:
         specifier: ^7.0.0
         version: 7.0.0