diff --git a/alphatrion/envs.py b/alphatrion/envs.py
index 4062fe3..cb404f3 100644
--- a/alphatrion/envs.py
+++ b/alphatrion/envs.py
@@ -6,3 +6,6 @@
 ENABLE_TRACING = "ALPHATRION_ENABLE_TRACING"
 ROOT_PATH = "ALPHATRION_ROOT_PATH"
 AUTO_CLEANUP = "ALPHATRION_AUTO_CLEANUP"
+
+# Dashboard only related envs
+DASHBOARD_USER_ID = "ALPHATRION_DASHBOARD_USER_ID"
diff --git a/alphatrion/server/cmd/main.py b/alphatrion/server/cmd/main.py
index ffdebd7..60cbfe1 100644
--- a/alphatrion/server/cmd/main.py
+++ b/alphatrion/server/cmd/main.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # ruff: noqa: E501
 
 import argparse
+import os
 import threading
 import time
 import webbrowser
@@ -17,6 +18,7 @@
 from rich.console import Console
 from rich.text import Text
 
+from alphatrion import envs
 from alphatrion.storage import runtime
 
 load_dotenv()
@@ -59,7 +61,7 @@ def main():
     dashboard.add_argument(
         "--userid",
         type=str,
-        required=True,
+        default=os.getenv(envs.DASHBOARD_USER_ID),
         help="User ID to scope the dashboard (required)",
     )
     dashboard.set_defaults(func=start_dashboard)
@@ -140,7 +142,13 @@ def init_command(args):
         console.print(Text("   Your team ID:", style="bold yellow"))
         console.print(Text(f"   {team_id}", style="bold cyan"))
         console.print()
-        console.print(Text("💡 Use this user ID to launch the dashboard:", style="dim"))
+        console.print(
+            Text(
+                "💡 Use this user ID to launch the dashboard, "
+                "or set the ALPHATRION_DASHBOARD_USER_ID environment variable",
+                style="dim",
+            )
+        )
         console.print(
             Text(f"   alphatrion dashboard --userid {user_id}", style="magenta")
         )
@@ -154,7 +162,7 @@ def init_command(args):
         console.print(Text("   import alphatrion as alpha", style="white"))
         console.print(
             Text(
-                f"   alpha.init(user_id='{user_id}', team_id='{team_id}')",
+                f"   alpha.init(user_id='{user_id}')",
                 style="white",
             )
         )
@@ -264,6 +272,26 @@ def start_dashboard(args):
 
     app = FastAPI()
 
+    if not args.userid:
+        console.print(
+            Text(
+                "❌ Error: User ID is required to launch the dashboard!",
+                style="bold red",
+            )
+        )
+        console.print(
+            Text(
+                "Please provide a user ID using the --userid argument or set the ALPHATRION_DASHBOARD_USER_ID environment variable.",
+                style="yellow",
+            )
+        )
+        console.print(
+            Text(
+                "You can create a user and get their ID by running: alphatrion init",
+                style="cyan",
+            )
+        )
+        return
     # Store user ID in app state
     app.state.user_id = args.userid
 
diff --git a/file:testdb b/file:testdb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fd99bce
Binary files /dev/null and b/file:testdb differ