diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index c86881cbd..938e2affa 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -18,3 +18,4 @@ msgpack-python==0.5.6
 orjson==3.8.0
 boto3==1.24.42
 python-dateutil==2.8.2
+pydantic
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 6096af4ec..3de499302 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
     include_package_data=True,
     install_requires=[
         "setuptools",
+        "pydantic",
         "pymongo>=4.2.0",
         "monty>=1.0.2",
         "mongomock>=3.10.0",
diff --git a/src/maggma/cli/__init__.py b/src/maggma/cli/__init__.py
index c73a0c497..899ce1a34 100644
--- a/src/maggma/cli/__init__.py
+++ b/src/maggma/cli/__init__.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 from maggma.utils import ReportingHandler, TqdmLoggingHandler
 
 sys.meta_path.append(ScriptFinder())
-
+ 
 
 @click.command()
 @click.argument("builders", nargs=-1, type=click.Path(exists=True), required=True)
diff --git a/src/maggma/cli/distributed.py b/src/maggma/cli/distributed.py
index 10dbaf458..5d3143e2b 100644
--- a/src/maggma/cli/distributed.py
+++ b/src/maggma/cli/distributed.py
@@ -13,14 +13,14 @@
 from monty.json import jsanitize
 from monty.serialization import MontyDecoder
 
-from maggma.cli.multiprocessing import multi, MANAGER_TIMEOUT
+from maggma.cli.multiprocessing import multi
+from maggma.cli.settings import CLISettings
 from maggma.core import Builder
 from maggma.utils import tqdm
 
 import zmq
-import zmq.asyncio as azmq
 
-WORKER_TIMEOUT = 5400  # max timeout in seconds for a worker
+settings = CLISettings()
 
 
 def find_port():
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ def handle_dead_workers(workers, socket):
     if len(workers) == 1:
         # Use global timeout
         identity = list(workers.keys())[0]
-        if (perf_counter() - workers[identity]["last_ping"]) >= WORKER_TIMEOUT:
+        if (perf_counter() - workers[identity]["last_ping"]) >= settings.WORKER_TIMEOUT:
             attempt_graceful_shutdown(workers, socket)
             raise RuntimeError("Worker has timed out. Stopping distributed build.")
 
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ def worker(url: str, port: int, num_processes: int, no_bars: bool):
             socket.send("READY_{}".format(hostname).encode("utf-8"))
 
             # Poll for MANAGER_TIMEOUT seconds, if nothing is given then assume manager is dead and timeout
-            connections = dict(poller.poll(MANAGER_TIMEOUT * 1000))
+            connections = dict(poller.poll(settings.MANAGER_TIMEOUT * 1000))
             if not connections:
                 socket.close()
                 raise RuntimeError("Stopping work as manager timed out.")
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@ def ping_manager(socket, poller):
     socket.send_string("PING")
 
     # Poll for MANAGER_TIMEOUT seconds, if nothing is given then assume manager is dead and timeout
-    connections = dict(poller.poll(MANAGER_TIMEOUT * 1000))
+    connections = dict(poller.poll(settings.MANAGER_TIMEOUT * 1000))
     if not connections:
         socket.close()
         raise RuntimeError("Stopping work as manager timed out.")
diff --git a/src/maggma/cli/multiprocessing.py b/src/maggma/cli/multiprocessing.py
index ddc0b583a..8666a3d39 100644
--- a/src/maggma/cli/multiprocessing.py
+++ b/src/maggma/cli/multiprocessing.py
@@ -17,8 +17,6 @@
 
 from maggma.utils import primed
 
-MANAGER_TIMEOUT = 300  # max timeout in seconds for manager
-
 logger = getLogger("MultiProcessor")
 
 
diff --git a/src/maggma/cli/rabbitmq.py b/src/maggma/cli/rabbitmq.py
index 9623574dc..17ab8af22 100644
--- a/src/maggma/cli/rabbitmq.py
+++ b/src/maggma/cli/rabbitmq.py
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@
 from monty.json import jsanitize
 from monty.serialization import MontyDecoder
 
-from maggma.cli.multiprocessing import multi, MANAGER_TIMEOUT
+from maggma.cli.multiprocessing import multi
+from maggma.cli.settings import CLISettings
 from maggma.core import Builder
 from maggma.utils import tqdm, Timeout
 
@@ -22,7 +23,7 @@
 except ImportError:
     raise ImportError("Both pika and aio-pika are required to use RabbitMQ as a broker")
 
-WORKER_TIMEOUT = 3600  # max timeout in seconds for a worker
+settings = CLISettings()
 
 
 def find_port():
@@ -192,7 +193,7 @@ def handle_dead_workers(connection, workers, channel, worker_queue):
     if len(workers) == 1:
         # Use global timeout
         identity = list(workers.keys())[0]
-        if (perf_counter() - workers[identity]["last_ping"]) >= WORKER_TIMEOUT:
+        if (perf_counter() - workers[identity]["last_ping"]) >= settings.WORKER_TIMEOUT:
             attempt_graceful_shutdown(connection, workers, channel, worker_queue)
             raise RuntimeError("Worker has timed out. Stopping distributed build.")
 
@@ -241,7 +242,7 @@ def worker(url: str, port: int, num_processes: int, no_bars: bool, queue_prefix:
         running = True
         while running:
             # Wait for work from manager
-            with Timeout(seconds=MANAGER_TIMEOUT):
+            with Timeout(seconds=settings.MANAGER_TIMEOUT):
                 _, _, body = channel.basic_get(queue=worker_queue, auto_ack=True)
 
             if body is not None:
diff --git a/src/maggma/cli/settings.py b/src/maggma/cli/settings.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..674b6f3a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/maggma/cli/settings.py
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+from pydantic import BaseSettings, Field
+
+
+class CLISettings(BaseSettings):
+
+    WORKER_TIMEOUT: int = Field(
+        3600,
+        description="Timeout in seconds for a distributed worker",
+    )
+
+    MANAGER_TIMEOUT: int = Field(
+        900,
+        description="Timeout in seconds for the worker manager",
+    )
+
+    class Config:
+        env_prefix = "MAGGMA_"
+        extra = "ignore"