diff --git a/chatmastermind/configuration.py b/chatmastermind/configuration.py
index 2917865..bc58574 100644
--- a/chatmastermind/configuration.py
+++ b/chatmastermind/configuration.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-from typing import TypedDict
+import pathlib
+from typing import TypedDict, Any
 
 
 class OpenAIConfig(TypedDict):
@@ -14,6 +15,25 @@ class OpenAIConfig(TypedDict):
     presence_penalty: float
 
 
+def openai_config_valid(conf: dict[str, str | float | int]) -> bool:
+    """
+    Checks if the given Open AI configuration dict is complete
+    and contains valid types and values.
+    """
+    try:
+        str(conf['api_key'])
+        str(conf['model'])
+        int(conf['max_tokens'])
+        float(conf['temperature'])
+        float(conf['top_p'])
+        float(conf['frequency_penalty'])
+        float(conf['presence_penalty'])
+        return True
+    except Exception as e:
+        print(f"OpenAI configuration is invalid: {e}")
+        return False
+
+
 class Config(TypedDict):
     """
     The configuration file structure.
@@ -21,3 +41,23 @@ class Config(TypedDict):
     system: str
     db: str
     openai: OpenAIConfig
+
+
+def config_valid(conf: dict[str, Any]) -> bool:
+    """
+    Checks if the given configuration dict is complete
+    and contains valid types and values.
+    """
+    try:
+        str(conf['system'])
+        pathlib.Path(str(conf['db']))
+        return True
+    except Exception as e:
+        print(f"Configuration is invalid: {e}")
+        return False
+    if 'openai' in conf:
+        return openai_config_valid(conf['openai'])
+    else:
+        # required as long as we only support OpenAI
+        print("Section 'openai' is missing in the configuration!")
+        return False
diff --git a/chatmastermind/storage.py b/chatmastermind/storage.py
index ca8ae32..a4648b0 100644
--- a/chatmastermind/storage.py
+++ b/chatmastermind/storage.py
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 import yaml
+import sys
 import io
 import pathlib
 from .utils import terminal_width, append_message, message_to_chat, ChatType
-from .configuration import Config
+from .configuration import Config, config_valid
 from typing import Any, Optional
 
 
@@ -26,6 +27,8 @@ def read_file(fname: pathlib.Path, tags_only: bool = False) -> dict[str, Any]:
 def read_config(path: str) -> Config:
     with open(path, 'r') as f:
         config = yaml.load(f, Loader=yaml.FullLoader)
+    if not config_valid(config):
+        sys.exit(1)
     return config