diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 0600fe35125..33d73ca468f 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@ $ pipx install --suffix=@next 'tmuxp' --pip-args '\--pre' --force
 
 <!-- Maintainers, insert changes / features for the next release here -->
 
+### Bug fix
+
+- cli: `tmuxp load`: Fix pass-through of config files (#843)
+
 ## tmuxp 1.18.0 (2022-10-30)
 
 We now refer to configs as workspaces. Other than just, just maintenance.
diff --git a/src/tmuxp/cli/load.py b/src/tmuxp/cli/load.py
index 6443bcb05f0..945463fc3f4 100644
--- a/src/tmuxp/cli/load.py
+++ b/src/tmuxp/cli/load.py
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ def load_workspace(
     workspace_file: StrPath,
     socket_name: t.Optional[str] = None,
     socket_path: None = None,
-    tmux_config_file: None = None,
+    tmux_config_file: t.Optional[str] = None,
     new_session_name: t.Optional[str] = None,
     colors: t.Optional[int] = None,
     detached: bool = False,
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@ def load_workspace(
     t = Server(  # create tmux server object
         socket_name=socket_name,
         socket_path=socket_path,
-        workspace_file=tmux_config_file,
+        config_file=tmux_config_file,
         colors=colors,
     )
 
diff --git a/tests/fixtures/tmux/tmux.conf b/tests/fixtures/tmux/tmux.conf
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ed2abd7ef9f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/fixtures/tmux/tmux.conf
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+display-message "Hello World"
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
index 7e4651572a1..4d1f8d89546 100644
--- a/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 import libtmux
 from libtmux.common import has_lt_version
 from libtmux.exc import LibTmuxException
+from libtmux.server import Server
 from libtmux.session import Session
 from tmuxp import cli, exc
 from tmuxp.cli.import_config import get_teamocil_dir, get_tmuxinator_dir
@@ -35,8 +36,6 @@
 if t.TYPE_CHECKING:
     import _pytest.capture
 
-    from libtmux.server import Server
-
 
 def test_creates_config_dir_not_exists(tmp_path: pathlib.Path) -> None:
     """cli.startup() creates config dir if not exists."""
@@ -80,6 +79,28 @@ def test_load_workspace(server: "Server", monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch) -> No
     assert session.name == "sample workspace"
 
 
+def test_load_workspace_passes_tmux_config(
+    server: "Server", monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch
+) -> None:
+    # this is an implementation test. Since this testsuite may be ran within
+    # a tmux session by the developer himself, delete the TMUX variable
+    # temporarily.
+    monkeypatch.delenv("TMUX", raising=False)
+    session_file = FIXTURE_PATH / "workspace/builder" / "two_pane.yaml"
+
+    # open it detached
+    session = load_workspace(
+        session_file,
+        socket_name=server.socket_name,
+        tmux_config_file=str(FIXTURE_PATH / "tmux" / "tmux.conf"),
+        detached=True,
+    )
+
+    assert isinstance(session, Session)
+    assert isinstance(session.server, Server)
+    assert session.server.config_file == str(FIXTURE_PATH / "tmux" / "tmux.conf")
+
+
 def test_load_workspace_named_session(
     server: "Server", monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch
 ) -> None: