diff --git a/configs/airootfs/usr/local/bin/omarchy-iso-install b/configs/airootfs/usr/local/bin/omarchy-iso-install
index 9307046..ae3a680 100755
--- a/configs/airootfs/usr/local/bin/omarchy-iso-install
+++ b/configs/airootfs/usr/local/bin/omarchy-iso-install
@@ -6,10 +6,24 @@
 
 set -eEo pipefail
 
-# Patch archinstall BEFORE Python loads it. orchestrator/main.py top-level
-# imports archinstall_adapter, which top-level imports archinstall.*; patching
-# inside a phase would be too late (bytecode already loaded).
+# Patch archinstall BEFORE Python loads it. phases_impl.py imports
+# archinstall_adapter, which imports archinstall.*; patching inside a phase
+# would be too late (bytecode already loaded).
 omarchy-iso-patch-archinstall
 
+# Parse our args; convert to env vars before exec'ing Python so archinstall's
+# own argparse (which runs at module import time inside the orchestrator)
+# doesn't choke on flags it doesn't recognize.
+while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
+  case $1 in
+    --config)           export OMARCHY_INSTALL_CONFIG="$2"; shift 2 ;;
+    --creds)            export OMARCHY_INSTALL_CREDS="$2"; shift 2 ;;
+    --full-name-file)   export OMARCHY_INSTALL_FULL_NAME_FILE="$2"; shift 2 ;;
+    --email-file)       export OMARCHY_INSTALL_EMAIL_FILE="$2"; shift 2 ;;
+    --encrypt-file)     export OMARCHY_INSTALL_ENCRYPT_FILE="$2"; shift 2 ;;
+    *)                  echo "omarchy-iso-install: unknown arg $1" >&2; exit 2 ;;
+  esac
+done
+
 cd /usr/share/omarchy-iso
-exec python -m orchestrator.main "$@"
+exec python -m orchestrator.main
diff --git a/configs/airootfs/usr/share/omarchy-iso/orchestrator/context.py b/configs/airootfs/usr/share/omarchy-iso/orchestrator/context.py
index 910eb13..78cb99e 100644
--- a/configs/airootfs/usr/share/omarchy-iso/orchestrator/context.py
+++ b/configs/airootfs/usr/share/omarchy-iso/orchestrator/context.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ archinstall config handler and mirror list handler)."""
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import json
+import os
 from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any
@@ -32,16 +33,21 @@ class InstallContext:
     state: dict[str, Any] = field(default_factory=dict)
 
     @classmethod
-    def from_args(cls, args) -> "InstallContext":
-        config_path = Path(args.config)
-        creds_path = Path(args.creds)
+    def from_env(cls) -> "InstallContext":
+        config_str = os.environ.get("OMARCHY_INSTALL_CONFIG")
+        creds_str = os.environ.get("OMARCHY_INSTALL_CREDS")
+        if not config_str or not creds_str:
+            raise RuntimeError("OMARCHY_INSTALL_CONFIG and OMARCHY_INSTALL_CREDS must be set")
+
+        config_path = Path(config_str)
+        creds_path = Path(creds_str)
         user_configuration = json.loads(config_path.read_text())
         ctx = cls(
             config_path=config_path,
             creds_path=creds_path,
-            full_name=_read_text(args.full_name_file),
-            email=_read_text(args.email_file),
-            encrypt=_read_text(args.encrypt_file).lower() in ("true", "yes", "1"),
+            full_name=_read_text(os.environ.get("OMARCHY_INSTALL_FULL_NAME_FILE")),
+            email=_read_text(os.environ.get("OMARCHY_INSTALL_EMAIL_FILE")),
+            encrypt=_read_text(os.environ.get("OMARCHY_INSTALL_ENCRYPT_FILE")).lower() in ("true", "yes", "1"),
             user_configuration=user_configuration,
             user_credentials=json.loads(creds_path.read_text()),
         )
diff --git a/configs/airootfs/usr/share/omarchy-iso/orchestrator/main.py b/configs/airootfs/usr/share/omarchy-iso/orchestrator/main.py
index 85fe56b..a1135ea 100644
--- a/configs/airootfs/usr/share/omarchy-iso/orchestrator/main.py
+++ b/configs/airootfs/usr/share/omarchy-iso/orchestrator/main.py
@@ -3,22 +3,14 @@
 Single tool that owns the full install phase ordering, with archinstall used as
 a library subsystem (not as the top-level installer).
 
-Usage (typically invoked by bin/omarchy-install on the live ISO):
-
-    omarchy-install \\
-        --config user_configuration.json \\
-        --creds user_credentials.json \\
-        --full-name-file user_full_name.txt \\
-        --email-file user_email_address.txt \\
-        --encrypt-file user_encrypt_installation.txt
+The live-ISO wrapper consumes CLI args and passes configuration paths via
+OMARCHY_INSTALL_* environment variables before Python starts. This keeps
+archinstall's import-time CLI parsing from seeing Omarchy-specific flags.
 """
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
-import argparse
 import sys
-
-from . import archinstall_adapter as arch
 from .context import InstallContext
 from .phases import PhaseError, run
 from .ui import error, info
@@ -71,19 +63,12 @@ def build_phases(ctx: InstallContext):
     ]
 
 
-def parse_args(argv):
-    p = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog="omarchy-install")
-    p.add_argument("--config", required=True, help="archinstall user_configuration.json")
-    p.add_argument("--creds", required=True, help="archinstall user_credentials.json")
-    p.add_argument("--full-name-file", help="text file with the user's full name")
-    p.add_argument("--email-file", help="text file with the user's email address")
-    p.add_argument("--encrypt-file", help="text file holding 'true' if root encryption enabled")
-    return p.parse_args(argv)
-
-
-def main(argv=None) -> int:
-    args = parse_args(argv or sys.argv[1:])
-    ctx = InstallContext.from_args(args)
+def main() -> int:
+    try:
+        ctx = InstallContext.from_env()
+    except RuntimeError as e:
+        error(f"Configuration error: {e}")
+        return 2
 
     info(f"Installing Omarchy for {ctx.username} → {ctx.target}")