diff --git a/src/cfgparse.y b/src/cfgparse.y
index 22747108..64be7908 100644
--- a/src/cfgparse.y
+++ b/src/cfgparse.y
@@ -258,9 +258,9 @@ static void start_configerror_nagbar(const char *config_path) {
     if (configerror_pid == 0) {
         char *editaction,
              *pageraction;
-        if (asprintf(&editaction, TERM_EMU " -e $EDITOR \"%s\"", config_path) == -1)
+        if (asprintf(&editaction, TERM_EMU " -e ${EDITOR:-vi} \"%s\"", config_path) == -1)
             exit(1);
-        if (asprintf(&pageraction, TERM_EMU " -e $PAGER \"%s\"", errorfilename) == -1)
+        if (asprintf(&pageraction, TERM_EMU " -e ${PAGER:-less} \"%s\"", errorfilename) == -1)
             exit(1);
         char *argv[] = {
             NULL, /* will be replaced by the executable path */