diff --git a/agent-node/bootstrap_installer.py b/agent-node/bootstrap_installer.py
index 8f1faa9..8275c9e 100644
--- a/agent-node/bootstrap_installer.py
+++ b/agent-node/bootstrap_installer.py
@@ -200,6 +200,18 @@
             with open(config_path) as f:
                 existing_config = yaml.safe_load(f) or {}
             _print(f"Loaded existing config from {config_path}")
+        except ImportError:
+            # Resilient fallback for fresh environments: manual parsing
+            try:
+                with open(config_path) as f:
+                    for line in f:
+                        if ":" in line:
+                            k, v = line.split(":", 1)
+                            # Strip quotes/spaces
+                            existing_config[k.strip()] = v.strip().strip('"').strip("'")
+                _print(f"Loaded existing config (manual parse) from {config_path}")
+            except Exception:
+                pass
         except Exception:
             pass