diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index d2c9701..146c5dc 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -65,6 +65,9 @@ Changelog = "https://github.com/initial-d/ml-quant-trading/blob/main/CHANGELOG.m
 [tool.setuptools.packages.find]
 where = ["src"]
 
+[tool.setuptools.package-data]
+"mlquant.configs" = ["*.yaml"]
+
 [tool.pytest.ini_options]
 testpaths = ["tests"]
 addopts   = "-ra -q --strict-markers"
diff --git a/src/mlquant/cli/main.py b/src/mlquant/cli/main.py
index e4581ad..3953703 100644
--- a/src/mlquant/cli/main.py
+++ b/src/mlquant/cli/main.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 import json
 import math
 import pickle
+from importlib.resources import as_file, files
 from pathlib import Path
 
 import click
@@ -104,13 +105,25 @@ def cli() -> None:
 @click.option(
     "--config",
     "config_path",
-    default="configs/small.yaml",
-    show_default=True,
+    default=None,
+    show_default="packaged small config",
     type=click.Path(exists=True),
 )
 @click.pass_context
-def cmd_demo(ctx: click.Context, config_path: str) -> None:
+def cmd_demo(ctx: click.Context, config_path: str | None) -> None:
     """Run the complete synthetic factor-to-backtest pipeline."""
+    if config_path is not None:
+        _run_demo(ctx, config_path)
+        return
+
+    default_config = files("mlquant.configs").joinpath("small.yaml")
+    with as_file(default_config) as default_path:
+        click.echo("Using packaged default config (override with --config PATH).\n")
+        _run_demo(ctx, str(default_path))
+
+
+def _run_demo(ctx: click.Context, config_path: str) -> None:
+    """Run all demo stages with an explicit, existing config path."""
     stages = (
         ("1/5 Generate deterministic synthetic data", cmd_gen_data),
         ("2/5 Compute the 213-factor tensor", cmd_features),
diff --git a/src/mlquant/configs/__init__.py b/src/mlquant/configs/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b8765f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/mlquant/configs/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+"""Packaged configuration files for zero-setup CLI entry points."""
diff --git a/src/mlquant/configs/small.yaml b/src/mlquant/configs/small.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9debc5d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/mlquant/configs/small.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+# Small synthetic config — runs end-to-end in <1 minute on a laptop CPU.
+# This is the configuration that `make paper` and CI exercise.
+
+seed: 42
+artifacts_dir: artifacts/small
+limit_pct: 0.098
+costs_bps: 5.0
+cov_lookback: 60
+hidden: 64
+loss_gamma: 0.1
+
+synthetic:
+  n_stocks:     200
+  n_dates:      500
+  start_date:   "2022-01-04"
+  annual_drift: 0.05
+  annual_vol:   0.30
+  market_beta:  0.6
+  halt_prob:    0.005
+  limit_pct:    0.10
+  seed:         42
+  device:       cpu
+
+train:
+  epochs:       8
+  batch_size:   1024
+  lr:           1.0e-3
+  weight_decay: 1.0e-5
+  grad_clip:    1.0
+  device:       cpu
+  log_every:    50
+  save_dir:     artifacts/small/checkpoints
+  val_split:    0.1
+
+portfolio:
+  risk_aversion: 5.0
+  weight_cap:    0.05
+  long_only:     true
+  cash_weight:   0.0
+  solver:        SCS
+  shrinkage:     true
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
index 9074ce8..1f8db31 100644
--- a/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import json
+from pathlib import Path
 
 from click.testing import CliRunner
 
@@ -47,6 +48,34 @@ def test_demo_is_visible_in_cli_help():
     assert "demo" in result.output
 
 
+def test_demo_uses_packaged_config_outside_repository(monkeypatch, tmp_path):
+    calls = []
+
+    for command in (cmd_gen_data, cmd_features, cmd_train, cmd_portfolio, cmd_backtest):
+        name = command.name
+
+        def callback(config_path, stage=name):
+            calls.append((stage, config_path, Path(config_path).read_text()))
+
+        monkeypatch.setattr(command, "callback", callback)
+
+    with CliRunner().isolated_filesystem(temp_dir=tmp_path):
+        result = CliRunner().invoke(cli, ["demo"])
+
+    assert result.exit_code == 0
+    assert len(calls) == 5
+    assert all(Path(path).name == "small.yaml" for _, path, _ in calls)
+    assert all("n_stocks:     200" in content for _, _, content in calls)
+    assert "Using packaged default config" in result.output
+
+
+def test_packaged_demo_config_matches_repository_config():
+    packaged = Path(__file__).parents[1] / "src" / "mlquant" / "configs" / "small.yaml"
+    repository = Path(__file__).parents[1] / "configs" / "small.yaml"
+
+    assert packaged.read_text() == repository.read_text()
+
+
 def test_backtest_summary_is_shareable_and_strict_json(tmp_path):
     markdown_path, json_path = _write_backtest_summary(
         tmp_path,