diff --git a/cmd/breakglass/breakglass.go b/cmd/breakglass/breakglass.go
index 7a54349..dea8bfd 100644
--- a/cmd/breakglass/breakglass.go
+++ b/cmd/breakglass/breakglass.go
@@ -241,7 +241,7 @@ func breakglass() error {
 	instance := flag.Arg(0)
 	instanceflag.SetInstance(instance)
 
-	cfg, err := config.ReadFromFile()
+	cfg, err := config.ApplyInstanceFlag()
 	if err != nil {
 		if os.IsNotExist(err) {
 			// best-effort compatibility for old setups
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 8233ea1..56da72f 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ go 1.21
 
 require (
 	github.com/gokrazy/gokrazy v0.0.0-20230812092215-346db1998f83
-	github.com/gokrazy/internal v0.0.0-20230211171410-9608422911d0
+	github.com/gokrazy/internal v0.0.0-20250126213949-423a5b587b57
 	github.com/google/renameio/v2 v2.0.0
 	github.com/google/shlex v0.0.0-20191202100458-e7afc7fbc510
 	github.com/kr/pty v1.1.8
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index ce19543..515611c 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ github.com/davecgh/go-spew v1.1.0 h1:ZDRjVQ15GmhC3fiQ8ni8+OwkZQO4DARzQgrnXU1Liz8
 github.com/davecgh/go-spew v1.1.0/go.mod h1:J7Y8YcW2NihsgmVo/mv3lAwl/skON4iLHjSsI+c5H38=
 github.com/gokrazy/gokrazy v0.0.0-20230812092215-346db1998f83 h1:Y4sADvUYd/c0eqnqebipHHl0GMpAxOQeTzPnwI4ievM=
 github.com/gokrazy/gokrazy v0.0.0-20230812092215-346db1998f83/go.mod h1:9q5Tg+q+YvRjC3VG0gfMFut46dhbhtAnvUEp4lPjc6c=
-github.com/gokrazy/internal v0.0.0-20230211171410-9608422911d0 h1:QTi0skQ/OM7he/5jEWA9k/DYgdwGAhw3hrUoiPGGZHM=
-github.com/gokrazy/internal v0.0.0-20230211171410-9608422911d0/go.mod h1:ddHcxXZ/VVQOSAWcRBbkYY58+QOw4L145ye6phyDmRA=
+github.com/gokrazy/internal v0.0.0-20250126213949-423a5b587b57 h1:f5bEvO4we3fbfiBkECrrUgWQ8OH6J3SdB2Dwxid/Yx4=
+github.com/gokrazy/internal v0.0.0-20250126213949-423a5b587b57/go.mod h1:SJG1KwuJQXFEoBgryaNCkMbdISyovDgZd0xmXJRZmiw=
 github.com/google/go-cmp v0.5.9 h1:O2Tfq5qg4qc4AmwVlvv0oLiVAGB7enBSJ2x2DqQFi38=
 github.com/google/go-cmp v0.5.9/go.mod h1:17dUlkBOakJ0+DkrSSNjCkIjxS6bF9zb3elmeNGIjoY=
 github.com/google/renameio/v2 v2.0.0 h1:UifI23ZTGY8Tt29JbYFiuyIU3eX+RNFtUwefq9qAhxg=