diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 3468317b..5c11250a 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1242,8 +1242,13 @@ dependencies = [
 name = "cosmic-panel-button"
 version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
+ "cosmic-config",
  "freedesktop-desktop-entry",
  "libcosmic",
+ "serde",
+ "tracing",
+ "tracing-log",
+ "tracing-subscriber",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 7c8b6fb0..e520d3a5 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -52,6 +52,8 @@ zbus = { version = "3.15", default-features = false, features = ["tokio"] }
 tracing = "0.1"
 tracing-subscriber = { version = "0.3.18", features = ["env-filter"] }
 tracing-log = "0.2.0"
+cosmic-config = { git = "https://github.com/pop-os/libcosmic" }
+serde = { version = "1.0.152", features = ["derive"] }
 
 [profile.release]
 lto = "fat"
diff --git a/cosmic-panel-button/Cargo.toml b/cosmic-panel-button/Cargo.toml
index 7690c2d0..4e1cb399 100644
--- a/cosmic-panel-button/Cargo.toml
+++ b/cosmic-panel-button/Cargo.toml
@@ -7,3 +7,8 @@ license = "GPL-3.0"
 [dependencies]
 freedesktop-desktop-entry = "0.5.1"
 libcosmic.workspace = true
+tracing-log.workspace = true
+tracing-subscriber.workspace = true
+tracing.workspace = true
+cosmic-config.workspace = true
+serde.workspace = true
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/cosmic-panel-button/src/config.rs b/cosmic-panel-button/src/config.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..41727ab9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cosmic-panel-button/src/config.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+use std::collections::HashMap;
+
+use cosmic_config::{cosmic_config_derive::CosmicConfigEntry, CosmicConfigEntry};
+use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
+
+#[derive(Debug, Deserialize, Serialize, PartialEq, Clone, CosmicConfigEntry)]
+#[version = 1]
+#[serde(deny_unknown_fields)]
+pub struct CosmicPanelButtonConfig {
+    /// configs indexed by panel name
+    pub configs: HashMap<String, IndividualConfig>,
+}
+
+impl Default for CosmicPanelButtonConfig {
+    fn default() -> Self {
+        Self {
+            configs: HashMap::from([
+                (
+                    "Panel".to_string(),
+                    IndividualConfig {
+                        force_presentation: None,
+                    },
+                ),
+                (
+                    "Dock".to_string(),
+                    IndividualConfig {
+                        force_presentation: Some(Override::Icon),
+                    },
+                ),
+            ]),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug, Deserialize, Serialize, PartialEq, Default, Clone)]
+pub struct IndividualConfig {
+    pub force_presentation: Option<Override>,
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Clone, Serialize, Deserialize)]
+pub enum Override {
+    Icon,
+    Text,
+}
diff --git a/cosmic-panel-button/src/main.rs b/cosmic-panel-button/src/main.rs
index 7ac9be19..bd6bfab6 100644
--- a/cosmic-panel-button/src/main.rs
+++ b/cosmic-panel-button/src/main.rs
@@ -1,15 +1,21 @@
 // Copyright 2023 System76 <info@system76.com>
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-only
 
+use config::{CosmicPanelButtonConfig, IndividualConfig, Override};
 use cosmic::applet::cosmic_panel_config::PanelAnchor;
 use cosmic::iced::Length;
 use cosmic::iced_widget::{row, text};
 use cosmic::widget::vertical_space;
 use cosmic::{app, iced, iced_style::application, theme::Theme};
+use cosmic_config::{Config, CosmicConfigEntry};
 use freedesktop_desktop_entry::DesktopEntry;
 use std::{env, fs, process::Command};
 
-#[derive(Clone, Default)]
+mod config;
+
+const VERSION: &str = env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION");
+
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, Default)]
 struct Desktop {
     name: String,
     icon: Option<String>,
@@ -19,11 +25,13 @@ struct Desktop {
 struct Button {
     core: cosmic::app::Core,
     desktop: Desktop,
+    config: IndividualConfig,
 }
 
 #[derive(Debug, Clone)]
 enum Msg {
     Press,
+    ConfigUpdated(CosmicPanelButtonConfig),
 }
 
 impl cosmic::Application for Button {
@@ -33,7 +41,22 @@ impl cosmic::Application for Button {
     const APP_ID: &'static str = "com.system76.CosmicPanelButton";
 
     fn init(core: cosmic::app::Core, desktop: Desktop) -> (Self, app::Command<Msg>) {
-        (Self { core, desktop }, app::Command::none())
+        let config = Config::new(Self::APP_ID, CosmicPanelButtonConfig::VERSION)
+            .ok()
+            .and_then(|c| CosmicPanelButtonConfig::get_entry(&c).ok())
+            .unwrap_or_default()
+            .configs
+            .get(&core.applet.panel_type.to_string())
+            .cloned()
+            .unwrap_or_default();
+        (
+            Self {
+                core,
+                desktop,
+                config,
+            },
+            app::Command::none(),
+        )
     }
 
     fn core(&self) -> &cosmic::app::Core {
@@ -53,15 +76,27 @@ impl cosmic::Application for Button {
             Msg::Press => {
                 let _ = Command::new("sh").arg("-c").arg(&self.desktop.exec).spawn();
             }
+            Msg::ConfigUpdated(conf) => {
+                self.config = conf
+                    .configs
+                    .get(&self.core.applet.panel_type.to_string())
+                    .cloned()
+                    .unwrap_or_default();
+            }
         }
         app::Command::none()
     }
 
     fn view(&self) -> cosmic::Element<Msg> {
-        if matches!(
-            self.core.applet.anchor,
-            PanelAnchor::Left | PanelAnchor::Right
-        ) && self.desktop.icon.is_some()
+        // currently, panel being anchored to the left or right is a hard
+        // override for icon, later if text is updated to wrap, we may
+        // use Override::Text to override this behavior
+        if self.desktop.icon.is_some()
+            && matches!(
+                self.core.applet.anchor,
+                PanelAnchor::Left | PanelAnchor::Right
+            )
+            || matches!(self.config.force_presentation, Some(Override::Icon))
         {
             self.core
                 .applet
@@ -82,13 +117,25 @@ impl cosmic::Application for Button {
         .on_press(Msg::Press)
         .into()
     }
+
+    fn subscription(&self) -> iced::Subscription<Self::Message> {
+        self.core.watch_config(Self::APP_ID).map(|u| {
+            for why in u.errors {
+                tracing::error!(why = why.to_string(), "Error watching config");
+            }
+            Msg::ConfigUpdated(u.config)
+        })
+    }
 }
 
 pub fn main() -> iced::Result {
+    tracing_subscriber::fmt::init();
+    let _ = tracing_log::LogTracer::init();
+    tracing::info!("Starting panel button applet with version {VERSION}");
+
     let id = env::args()
         .nth(1)
         .expect("Requires desktop file id as argument.");
-
     let filename = format!("{id}.desktop");
     let mut desktop = None;
     for mut path in freedesktop_desktop_entry::default_paths() {