diff --git a/fastapi_startkit/src/fastapi_startkit/fastapi/commands/serve_command.py b/fastapi_startkit/src/fastapi_startkit/fastapi/commands/serve_command.py
index be268cd5..e4552368 100644
--- a/fastapi_startkit/src/fastapi_startkit/fastapi/commands/serve_command.py
+++ b/fastapi_startkit/src/fastapi_startkit/fastapi/commands/serve_command.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 from fastapi_startkit.console.command import Command
+from fastapi_startkit.environment import env as _env
 from cleo.helpers import option
 
 
@@ -51,7 +52,8 @@ def handle(self):
 
         host = self.option("host") or cfg_host
         port = int(self.option("port") or cfg_port)
-        reload = cfg_reload if self.option("reload") is None else self.option("reload")
+        cli_reload = self.option("reload")
+        reload = cfg_reload if cli_reload is None else _env(cli_reload, cli_reload)
         app = self.option("app")
 
         exist = self.is_app_exist()
diff --git a/fastapi_startkit/tests/fastapi/test_serve_command.py b/fastapi_startkit/tests/fastapi/test_serve_command.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..84371549
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fastapi_startkit/tests/fastapi/test_serve_command.py
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+"""Tests for ServeCommand --reload bool coercion (using Cleo CommandTester)."""
+
+from unittest.mock import patch
+
+from cleo.testers.command_tester import CommandTester
+
+from fastapi_startkit.configuration.config import Config
+from fastapi_startkit.fastapi.commands.serve_command import ServeCommand
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Helpers
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+_CONFIG_DEFAULTS = {
+    "fastapi.host": "127.0.0.1",
+    "fastapi.port": 8000,
+    "fastapi.reload": True,
+    "fastapi.reload_dirs": None,
+    "fastapi.reload_excludes": None,
+}
+
+
+def _run(args: str, cfg_reload: bool = True) -> dict:
+    """
+    Execute ServeCommand via CommandTester and return the kwargs dict that
+    was passed to uvicorn.run().
+
+    CommandTester drives the full handle() path — option() is resolved by
+    Cleo from the parsed *args* string, so we never patch option() here.
+    External I/O (uvicorn, Config, is_app_exist) is patched so the server
+    never actually starts.
+    """
+    cfg = {**_CONFIG_DEFAULTS, "fastapi.reload": cfg_reload}
+
+    cmd = ServeCommand()
+    tester = CommandTester(cmd)
+
+    with (
+        patch.object(Config, "get", side_effect=lambda key, default=None: cfg.get(key, default)),
+        patch("uvicorn.run") as mock_uvicorn,
+        patch.object(ServeCommand, "is_app_exist", return_value=True),
+    ):
+        tester.execute(args)
+        return mock_uvicorn.call_args[1]
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Tests
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+class TestServeCommandReloadCoercion:
+    def test_reload_string_false_becomes_bool_false(self):
+        """--reload False (string) must be coerced to bool False."""
+        kwargs = _run("--reload False")
+        assert kwargs["reload"] is False
+
+    def test_reload_string_true_becomes_bool_true(self):
+        """--reload True (string) must be coerced to bool True."""
+        kwargs = _run("--reload True")
+        assert kwargs["reload"] is True
+
+    def test_no_reload_flag_uses_cfg_default_true(self):
+        """No --reload flag: reload should inherit the fastapi config value (True)."""
+        kwargs = _run("", cfg_reload=True)
+        assert kwargs["reload"] is True
+
+    def test_no_reload_flag_uses_cfg_default_false(self):
+        """No --reload flag with cfg=False: reload should be False."""
+        kwargs = _run("", cfg_reload=False)
+        assert kwargs["reload"] is False
+
+    def test_reload_string_false_lowercase_becomes_bool_false(self):
+        """--reload false (lowercase) must also be coerced to bool False."""
+        kwargs = _run("--reload false")
+        assert kwargs["reload"] is False