diff --git a/scripts/submit.py b/scripts/submit.py
index b86cbc2..5087eac 100644
--- a/scripts/submit.py
+++ b/scripts/submit.py
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@
 
 import argparse
 import logging
+import os
+import re
 import sys
 from pathlib import Path
 
@@ -25,10 +27,53 @@
 from post_training.utils.guardrails import run_guardrails
 from post_training.utils.logging import setup_logging
 from post_training.utils.paths import setup_run_directory
-from post_training.utils.prefetch import prefetch_assets
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
+_HF_CACHE_VARS = frozenset(
+    {
+        "HF_HOME",
+        "HF_HUB_CACHE",
+        "HUGGINGFACE_HUB_CACHE",
+        "HF_DATASETS_CACHE",
+        "TRANSFORMERS_CACHE",
+    }
+)
+
+
+def _apply_hf_env_from_file(env_file: str) -> None:
+    """Parse HF cache vars from a shell env file and apply them to os.environ.
+
+    Ensures prefetch_assets() downloads to the same cache root that the
+    container will use (set via container.env_file sourced in the SLURM script).
+    """
+    path = Path(env_file)
+    if not path.exists():
+        raise FileNotFoundError(f"container.env_file '{env_file}' not found.")
+
+    parsed: dict[str, str] = {}
+    export_re = re.compile(r"^export\s+([A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*)=(.*)$")
+    with path.open() as f:
+        for line in f:
+            m = export_re.match(line.strip())
+            if not m:
+                continue
+            key, value = m.group(1), m.group(2).strip("\"'")
+            value = re.sub(
+                r"\$\{?([A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*)\}?",
+                lambda mv: parsed.get(mv.group(1), os.environ.get(mv.group(1), "")),
+                value,
+            )
+            parsed[key] = value
+
+    applied = []
+    for key in _HF_CACHE_VARS:
+        if key in parsed:
+            os.environ[key] = parsed[key]
+            applied.append(f"{key}={parsed[key]}")
+    if applied:
+        logger.info("Applied HF cache vars from %s: %s", env_file, ", ".join(applied))
+
 
 def _parse_args() -> tuple[str, list[str], bool]:
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Submit a SLURM training job.")
@@ -64,10 +109,16 @@ def main() -> None:
         config.slurm.gpus_per_node = 1
 
     if config.offline:
+        if config.container.env_file:
+            _apply_hf_env_from_file(config.container.env_file)
         logger.info(
             "offline=True: pre-fetching models and datasets on the login node "
             "before submitting the job."
         )
+        # Lazy import: must come after _apply_hf_env_from_file so that
+        # huggingface_hub and datasets read the correct HF_HOME on first import.
+        from post_training.utils.prefetch import prefetch_assets
+
         prefetch_assets(config)
 
     # Set up the run directory (so the SLURM script can reference it).