diff --git a/internal/config/config.go b/internal/config/config.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b98091f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/config/config.go
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+// Package config loads the user-specific, non-versioned kctl-tui
+// configuration (context pairs, team label key) from a YAML file.
+package config
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+
+	"gopkg.in/yaml.v3"
+
+	"github.com/skoelle/kctl-tui/internal/kctl"
+)
+
+// Config is the root structure of ~/.kctl-tui/config.yaml
+type Config struct {
+	ContextPairs []kctl.ContextPair `yaml:"context_pairs"`
+	TeamLabelKey string              `yaml:"team_label_key"`
+}
+
+// DefaultPath returns the default config file location: ~/.kctl-tui/config.yaml
+func DefaultPath() (string, error) {
+	home, err := os.UserHomeDir()
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	return filepath.Join(home, ".kctl-tui", "config.yaml"), nil
+}
+
+// Load reads and parses the config file at path. If the file does not
+// exist, it returns a zero-value Config (no pairs, empty label key) and no
+// error, so the tool can run with sane defaults before the user has set up
+// a config file.
+func Load(path string) (Config, error) {
+	cfg := Config{}
+
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(path)
+	if os.IsNotExist(err) {
+		return cfg, nil
+	}
+	if err != nil {
+		return cfg, err
+	}
+
+	if err := yaml.Unmarshal(data, &cfg); err != nil {
+		return cfg, err
+	}
+	return cfg, nil
+}
diff --git a/internal/config/config_test.go b/internal/config/config_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..af72074
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/config/config_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+package config
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestLoad_MissingFileReturnsDefaults(t *testing.T) {
+	cfg, err := Load(filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "does-not-exist.yaml"))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(cfg.ContextPairs) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected no context pairs, got %v", cfg.ContextPairs)
+	}
+	if cfg.TeamLabelKey != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty team label key, got %q", cfg.TeamLabelKey)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestLoad_ValidFile(t *testing.T) {
+	content := []byte(`
+context_pairs:
+  - name: "env-pair-1"
+    contexts: ["ctx-a", "ctx-b"]
+team_label_key: "example.org/team"
+`)
+	path := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "config.yaml")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(path, content, 0o600); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to write test config: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	cfg, err := Load(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if cfg.TeamLabelKey != "example.org/team" {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected team label key: %q", cfg.TeamLabelKey)
+	}
+	if len(cfg.ContextPairs) != 1 || cfg.ContextPairs[0].Name != "env-pair-1" {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected context pairs: %v", cfg.ContextPairs)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/kctl/labels.go b/internal/kctl/labels.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..54fd0b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/kctl/labels.go
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+package kctl
+
+import "sort"
+
+// DistinctLabelValues returns the sorted, unique, non-empty values of the
+// given label key across a set of namespaces (name -> labels map).
+func DistinctLabelValues(namespaces map[string]map[string]string, labelKey string) []string {
+	seen := map[string]bool{}
+	for _, labels := range namespaces {
+		if v, ok := labels[labelKey]; ok && v != "" {
+			seen[v] = true
+		}
+	}
+	result := make([]string, 0, len(seen))
+	for v := range seen {
+		result = append(result, v)
+	}
+	sort.Strings(result)
+	return result
+}
+
+// NamespacesForLabelValue returns the sorted namespace names whose labelKey
+// matches the given value exactly.
+func NamespacesForLabelValue(namespaces map[string]map[string]string, labelKey, value string) []string {
+	result := make([]string, 0)
+	for ns, labels := range namespaces {
+		if labels[labelKey] == value {
+			result = append(result, ns)
+		}
+	}
+	sort.Strings(result)
+	return result
+}
diff --git a/internal/kctl/labels_test.go b/internal/kctl/labels_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9e73ebe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/kctl/labels_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+package kctl
+
+import (
+	"reflect"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func testNamespaces() map[string]map[string]string {
+	return map[string]map[string]string{
+		"ns-one":   {"team-label": "team-a"},
+		"ns-two":   {"team-label": "team-b"},
+		"ns-three": {"team-label": "team-a"},
+		"ns-four":  {}, // no label at all
+	}
+}
+
+func TestDistinctLabelValues(t *testing.T) {
+	got := DistinctLabelValues(testNamespaces(), "team-label")
+	want := []string{"team-a", "team-b"}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, want) {
+		t.Fatalf("got %v, want %v", got, want)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestDistinctLabelValues_UnknownKey(t *testing.T) {
+	got := DistinctLabelValues(testNamespaces(), "does-not-exist")
+	if len(got) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty result, got %v", got)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestNamespacesForLabelValue(t *testing.T) {
+	got := NamespacesForLabelValue(testNamespaces(), "team-label", "team-a")
+	want := []string{"ns-one", "ns-three"}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, want) {
+		t.Fatalf("got %v, want %v", got, want)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestNamespacesForLabelValue_NoMatch(t *testing.T) {
+	got := NamespacesForLabelValue(testNamespaces(), "team-label", "team-z")
+	if len(got) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty result, got %v", got)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/kctl/pairs.go b/internal/kctl/pairs.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..26e5656
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/kctl/pairs.go
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+// Package kctl contains the core, non-interactive logic of kctl-tui.
+// Functions here are pure (no kubectl/tmux side effects) so they can be
+// unit tested without a live cluster.
+package kctl
+
+// ContextPair groups a set of related kubectl contexts that should be
+// switchable via TAB while keeping the same namespace (e.g. staging/prod).
+type ContextPair struct {
+	Name     string   `yaml:"name"`
+	Contexts []string `yaml:"contexts"`
+}
+
+// FindNextContext returns the next context in the same pair/group as
+// current, cycling through the group. Returns "", false if current is not
+// part of any configured pair.
+func FindNextContext(current string, pairs []ContextPair) (string, bool) {
+	for _, pair := range pairs {
+		idx := indexOf(pair.Contexts, current)
+		if idx == -1 {
+			continue
+		}
+		next := pair.Contexts[(idx+1)%len(pair.Contexts)]
+		return next, true
+	}
+	return "", false
+}
+
+func indexOf(items []string, target string) int {
+	for i, v := range items {
+		if v == target {
+			return i
+		}
+	}
+	return -1
+}
diff --git a/internal/kctl/pairs_test.go b/internal/kctl/pairs_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..80d2144
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/kctl/pairs_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+package kctl
+
+import "testing"
+
+func TestFindNextContext_TwoWayToggle(t *testing.T) {
+	pairs := []ContextPair{
+		{Name: "env-pair-1", Contexts: []string{"ctx-a", "ctx-b"}},
+	}
+
+	next, ok := FindNextContext("ctx-a", pairs)
+	if !ok || next != "ctx-b" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected ctx-b, got %q (ok=%v)", next, ok)
+	}
+
+	next, ok = FindNextContext("ctx-b", pairs)
+	if !ok || next != "ctx-a" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected ctx-a, got %q (ok=%v)", next, ok)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestFindNextContext_Rotation(t *testing.T) {
+	pairs := []ContextPair{
+		{Name: "rotation", Contexts: []string{"a", "b", "c"}},
+	}
+
+	next, ok := FindNextContext("c", pairs)
+	if !ok || next != "a" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected wraparound to a, got %q (ok=%v)", next, ok)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestFindNextContext_NotConfigured(t *testing.T) {
+	pairs := []ContextPair{
+		{Name: "env-pair-1", Contexts: []string{"ctx-a", "ctx-b"}},
+	}
+
+	_, ok := FindNextContext("unrelated-context", pairs)
+	if ok {
+		t.Fatalf("expected ok=false for a context with no configured pair")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestFindNextContext_NoPairsConfigured(t *testing.T) {
+	_, ok := FindNextContext("ctx-a", nil)
+	if ok {
+		t.Fatalf("expected ok=false when no pairs are configured")
+	}
+}