diff --git a/cmd/argo/commands/server.go b/cmd/argo/commands/server.go
index f26f6f6b6dab..79aaf2d51b35 100644
--- a/cmd/argo/commands/server.go
+++ b/cmd/argo/commands/server.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"reflect"
 	"strconv"
+	"strings"
 	"time"
 
 	eventsource "github.com/argoproj/argo-events/pkg/client/eventsource/clientset/versioned"
@@ -15,6 +16,8 @@ import (
 	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/skratchdot/open-golang/open"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
+	"github.com/spf13/viper"
 	"golang.org/x/net/context"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/dynamic"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes"
@@ -180,11 +183,7 @@ See %s`, help.ArgoServer),
 	}
 
 	command.Flags().IntVarP(&port, "port", "p", 2746, "Port to listen on")
-	defaultBaseHRef := os.Getenv("BASE_HREF")
-	if defaultBaseHRef == "" {
-		defaultBaseHRef = "/"
-	}
-	command.Flags().StringVar(&baseHRef, "basehref", defaultBaseHRef, "Value for base href in index.html. Used if the server is running behind reverse proxy under subpath different from /. Defaults to the environment variable BASE_HREF.")
+	command.Flags().StringVar(&baseHRef, "basehref", "/", "Value for base href in index.html. Used if the server is running behind reverse proxy under subpath different from /. Defaults to the environment variable BASE_HREF.")
 	// "-e" for encrypt, like zip
 	command.Flags().BoolVarP(&secure, "secure", "e", true, "Whether or not we should listen on TLS.")
 	command.Flags().BoolVar(&htst, "hsts", true, "Whether or not we should add a HTTP Secure Transport Security header. This only has effect if secure is enabled.")
@@ -198,5 +197,19 @@ See %s`, help.ArgoServer),
 	command.Flags().StringVar(&frameOptions, "x-frame-options", "DENY", "Set X-Frame-Options header in HTTP responses.")
 	command.Flags().StringVar(&accessControlAllowOrigin, "access-control-allow-origin", "", "Set Access-Control-Allow-Origin header in HTTP responses.")
 	command.Flags().StringVar(&logFormat, "log-format", "text", "The formatter to use for logs. One of: text|json")
+
+	viper.AutomaticEnv()
+	viper.SetEnvPrefix("ARGO")
+	viper.SetEnvKeyReplacer(strings.NewReplacer("-", "_", ".", "_"))
+	if err := viper.BindPFlags(command.Flags()); err != nil {
+		log.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	command.Flags().VisitAll(func(f *pflag.Flag) {
+		if !f.Changed && viper.IsSet(f.Name) {
+			val := viper.Get(f.Name)
+			command.Flags().Set(f.Name, fmt.Sprintf("%v", val))
+		}
+	})
+
 	return &command
 }
diff --git a/cmd/workflow-controller/main.go b/cmd/workflow-controller/main.go
index 77f520a745f8..bff509701965 100644
--- a/cmd/workflow-controller/main.go
+++ b/cmd/workflow-controller/main.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"net/http"
 	"os"
+	"strings"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/argoproj/pkg/cli"
@@ -13,6 +14,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/argoproj/pkg/stats"
 	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
+	"github.com/spf13/viper"
 	runtimeutil "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/runtime"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes"
 
@@ -135,6 +138,20 @@ func NewRootCommand() *cobra.Command {
 	command.Flags().Float32Var(&qps, "qps", 20.0, "Queries per second")
 	command.Flags().BoolVar(&namespaced, "namespaced", false, "run workflow-controller as namespaced mode")
 	command.Flags().StringVar(&managedNamespace, "managed-namespace", "", "namespace that workflow-controller watches, default to the installation namespace")
+
+	viper.AutomaticEnv()
+	viper.SetEnvPrefix("ARGO")
+	viper.SetEnvKeyReplacer(strings.NewReplacer("-", "_", ".", "_"))
+	if err := viper.BindPFlags(command.Flags()); err != nil {
+		log.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	command.Flags().VisitAll(func(f *pflag.Flag) {
+		if !f.Changed && viper.IsSet(f.Name) {
+			val := viper.Get(f.Name)
+			command.Flags().Set(f.Name, fmt.Sprintf("%v", val))
+		}
+	})
+
 	return &command
 }
 
diff --git a/docs/environment-variables.md b/docs/environment-variables.md
index dfee85c59bcf..d2fa61f42848 100644
--- a/docs/environment-variables.md
+++ b/docs/environment-variables.md
@@ -37,7 +37,19 @@ Note that these environment variables may be removed at any time.
 | `WORKFLOW_GC_PERIOD` | `time.Duration` | `5m` | The periodicity for GC of workflows. |
 | `BUBBLE_ENTRY_TEMPLATE_ERR` | `bool` | `true` | Whether to bubble up template errors to workflow. |
 | `INFORMER_WRITE_BACK` | `bool` | `true` | Whether to write back to informer instead of catching up. |
-| `GRPC_MESSAGE_SIZE` | `string` | Use different GRPC Max message size for Argo server deployment (supporting huge workflows) |
+| `GRPC_MESSAGE_SIZE` | `string` | Use different GRPC Max message size for Argo server deployment (supporting huge workflows). |
+
+CLI parameters of the `argo-server` and `workflow-controller` can be specified as environment variables with the `ARGO_` prefix. For example:
+
+```
+workflow-controller --managed-namespace=argo
+```
+
+Can be expressed as:
+
+```
+ARGO_MANAGED_NAMESPACE=argo workflow-controller
+```
 
 You can set environment variable for the argo-server deployment, for example:
 
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 51205995444a..f0e3ef5a4679 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ require (
 	github.com/skratchdot/open-golang v0.0.0-20200116055534-eef842397966
 	github.com/soheilhy/cmux v0.1.4
 	github.com/spf13/cobra v1.2.1
+	github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.5
+	github.com/spf13/viper v1.8.1
 	github.com/stretchr/testify v1.7.0
 	github.com/tidwall/gjson v1.7.5
 	github.com/valyala/fasthttp v1.22.0 // indirect