diff --git a/build.gradle.kts b/build.gradle.kts
index 094f88a..f79b7c7 100644
--- a/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/build.gradle.kts
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.gradle.tasks.KotlinCompile
 
+val arrowVersion = "0.10.2"
+
+apply {
+    plugin("kotlin-kapt")
+}
 plugins {
     kotlin("jvm") version "1.3.50"
     id("com.github.johnrengelman.shadow") version "5.1.0" apply true
@@ -27,6 +32,9 @@ version = "0.1"
 repositories {
     mavenCentral()
     jcenter()
+    maven {
+        url = uri("https://dl.bintray.com/arrow-kt/arrow-kt/")
+    }
 }
 
 val test by tasks.getting(Test::class) {
@@ -43,6 +51,12 @@ dependencies {
     implementation("org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-reflect:1.3.50")
     implementation("com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-annotations:2.10.0.pr3")
 
+    implementation("io.arrow-kt:arrow-core:$arrowVersion")
+    implementation("io.arrow-kt:arrow-syntax:$arrowVersion")
+    implementation("io.arrow-kt:arrow-optics:$arrowVersion")
+    implementation("io.arrow-kt:arrow-meta:$arrowVersion")
+    implementation("io.arrow-kt:arrow-fx:$arrowVersion")
+
     testImplementation("io.kotlintest:kotlintest-runner-junit5:3.4.2")
     testImplementation("io.mockk:mockk:1.9.3")
     // these two are needed to access javacord internals (such as reading from sent embeds during tests)
diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/moe/kageru/kagebot/Kagebot.kt b/src/main/kotlin/moe/kageru/kagebot/Kagebot.kt
index a02e25a..7b7ac59 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/moe/kageru/kagebot/Kagebot.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/moe/kageru/kagebot/Kagebot.kt
@@ -37,15 +37,12 @@ object Kagebot {
         }
     }
 
-    private val secret by lazy { File("secret").readText().trim() }
-
     fun init() {
+        val secret = File("secret").readText().trim()
         val api = DiscordApiBuilder().setToken(secret).login().join()
         Globals.api = api
-        try {
-            ConfigParser.initialLoad(ConfigParser.DEFAULT_CONFIG_PATH)
-        } catch (e: IllegalArgumentException) {
-            println("Config error:\n$e,\n${e.message},\n${e.stackTrace.joinToString("\n")}")
+        ConfigParser.initialLoad(ConfigParser.DEFAULT_CONFIG_PATH).mapLeft { e ->
+            println("Config parsing error:\n$e,\n${e.message},\n${e.stackTrace.joinToString("\n")}")
             exitProcess(1)
         }
         Runtime.getRuntime().addShutdownHook(Thread {
diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/moe/kageru/kagebot/Log.kt b/src/main/kotlin/moe/kageru/kagebot/Log.kt
index 7120fae..76aaa4f 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/moe/kageru/kagebot/Log.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/moe/kageru/kagebot/Log.kt
@@ -9,12 +9,13 @@ import java.util.logging.Logger
 
 object Log {
     private val log: Logger by lazy {
-        val log = Logger.getGlobal()
-        val fh = FileHandler("kagebot.log", true)
-        val formatter = LogFormatter()
-        fh.formatter = formatter
-        log.addHandler(fh)
-        return@lazy log
+        Logger.getGlobal().apply {
+            addHandler(
+                FileHandler("kagebot.log", true).apply {
+                    formatter = LogFormatter()
+                }
+            )
+        }
     }
 
     fun info(message: String) {
diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/moe/kageru/kagebot/MessageUtil.kt b/src/main/kotlin/moe/kageru/kagebot/MessageUtil.kt
index 906ffab..7f940c6 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/moe/kageru/kagebot/MessageUtil.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/moe/kageru/kagebot/MessageUtil.kt
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 package moe.kageru.kagebot
 
 import moe.kageru.kagebot.Util.failed
-import moe.kageru.kagebot.config.Config
 import moe.kageru.kagebot.Util.toPairs
+import moe.kageru.kagebot.config.Config
 import moe.kageru.kagebot.config.SystemSpec
 import org.javacord.api.entity.message.Message
 import org.javacord.api.entity.message.MessageAuthor
diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/moe/kageru/kagebot/config/ConfigParser.kt b/src/main/kotlin/moe/kageru/kagebot/config/ConfigParser.kt
index 3c1043a..bb2c68a 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/moe/kageru/kagebot/config/ConfigParser.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/moe/kageru/kagebot/config/ConfigParser.kt
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 package moe.kageru.kagebot.config
 
+import arrow.core.Either
+import kotlinx.coroutines.runBlocking
 import moe.kageru.kagebot.Globals
 import moe.kageru.kagebot.config.SystemSpec.serverId
 import java.io.File
@@ -8,15 +10,17 @@ object ConfigParser {
     internal const val DEFAULT_CONFIG_PATH = "config.toml"
     val configFile: File = File(DEFAULT_CONFIG_PATH)
 
-    fun initialLoad(file: String) {
-        val configFile = getFile(file)
-        val config = Config.systemSpec.file(configFile)
-        Config.system = config
-        Config.server = Globals.api.getServerById(config[serverId])
-            .orElseThrow { IllegalArgumentException("Invalid server configured.") }
-        Config.localization = Config.localeSpec.file(configFile)
-        Config.featureConfig = Config.featureSpec.file(configFile)
-        Config.commandConfig = Config.commandSpec.file(configFile)
+    fun initialLoad(file: String) = runBlocking {
+        Either.catch {
+            val configFile = getFile(file)
+            val config = Config.systemSpec.file(configFile)
+            Config.system = config
+            Config.server = Globals.api.getServerById(config[serverId])
+                .orElseThrow { IllegalArgumentException("Invalid server configured.") }
+            Config.localization = Config.localeSpec.file(configFile)
+            Config.featureConfig = Config.featureSpec.file(configFile)
+            Config.commandConfig = Config.commandSpec.file(configFile)
+        }
     }
 
     private fun getFile(path: String): File {