diff --git a/src/cmd/root.go b/src/cmd/root.go
index 265cb76c..5c9d85ff 100644
--- a/src/cmd/root.go
+++ b/src/cmd/root.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 
+	"github.com/phasehq/cli/pkg/config"
 	phaseerrors "github.com/phasehq/cli/pkg/errors"
 	"github.com/phasehq/cli/pkg/version"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
@@ -25,9 +26,9 @@ const phaseASCii = `
 const description = "Keep Secrets."
 
 var rootCmd = &cobra.Command{
-	Use:          "phase",
-	Short:        description,
-	Long:         description + "\n" + phaseASCii,
+	Use:           "phase",
+	Short:         description,
+	Long:          description + "\n" + phaseASCii,
 	SilenceUsage:  true,
 	SilenceErrors: true,
 }
@@ -40,6 +41,13 @@ func Execute() {
 }
 
 func init() {
+	// Honor PHASE_VERIFY_SSL=False before any command runs so it applies to
+	// every network call — including pre-auth flows like
+	// `phase auth --mode aws-iam` / `--mode azure` that don't go through
+	// NewPhase(). The SDK caches its HTTP client on first use, so this must
+	// happen before any request is made.
+	config.ConfigureSSLVerification()
+
 	rootCmd.Version = version.Version
 	rootCmd.SetVersionTemplate("{{ .Version }}\n")
 
diff --git a/src/pkg/config/env.go b/src/pkg/config/env.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..619fc75d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/pkg/config/env.go
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+package config
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/phasehq/golang-sdk/v2/phase/misc"
+)
+
+// ConfigureSSLVerification reads the PHASE_VERIFY_SSL environment variable and
+// disables TLS certificate verification in the SDK when it is set to "false"
+// (case-insensitive). Any other value — or the variable being unset — keeps
+// verification enabled. This mirrors the Python CLI's behavior
+// (os.environ.get("PHASE_VERIFY_SSL", "True").lower() != "false") and makes
+// the hint shown in SSL error messages ("You may set PHASE_VERIFY_SSL=False
+// to bypass this check") actually work.
+//
+// It must run before any SDK network call: the SDK caches its HTTP client on
+// first use, so changes to misc.VerifySSL after that have no effect.
+func ConfigureSSLVerification() {
+	if strings.EqualFold(os.Getenv("PHASE_VERIFY_SSL"), "false") {
+		misc.VerifySSL = false
+	}
+}
diff --git a/src/pkg/config/env_test.go b/src/pkg/config/env_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c5728274
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/pkg/config/env_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+package config
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/phasehq/golang-sdk/v2/phase/misc"
+)
+
+func TestConfigureSSLVerification(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name       string
+		value      string
+		unset      bool
+		wantVerify bool
+	}{
+		{name: "unset keeps verification enabled", unset: true, wantVerify: true},
+		{name: "empty keeps verification enabled", value: "", wantVerify: true},
+		{name: "False disables verification", value: "False", wantVerify: false},
+		{name: "false disables verification", value: "false", wantVerify: false},
+		{name: "FALSE disables verification", value: "FALSE", wantVerify: false},
+		{name: "true keeps verification enabled", value: "true", wantVerify: true},
+		{name: "True keeps verification enabled", value: "True", wantVerify: true},
+		{name: "zero keeps verification enabled", value: "0", wantVerify: true},
+		{name: "no keeps verification enabled", value: "no", wantVerify: true},
+		{name: "arbitrary value keeps verification enabled", value: "banana", wantVerify: true},
+	}
+
+	original := misc.VerifySSL
+	t.Cleanup(func() { misc.VerifySSL = original })
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			misc.VerifySSL = true // reset the global before each case
+
+			// t.Setenv registers restoration of the original value; for the
+			// unset case we additionally clear it after registration.
+			t.Setenv("PHASE_VERIFY_SSL", tt.value)
+			if tt.unset {
+				os.Unsetenv("PHASE_VERIFY_SSL")
+			}
+
+			ConfigureSSLVerification()
+
+			if misc.VerifySSL != tt.wantVerify {
+				t.Errorf("PHASE_VERIFY_SSL=%q: misc.VerifySSL = %v, want %v", tt.value, misc.VerifySSL, tt.wantVerify)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}