diff --git a/examples/vae/README.md b/examples/vae/README.md
index 99c3f57b0a..325aba8ff1 100644
--- a/examples/vae/README.md
+++ b/examples/vae/README.md
@@ -5,9 +5,24 @@ This code follows [pytorch/examples/vae](https://github.com/pytorch/examples/blo
 
 ```bash
 pip install -r requirements.txt
-python main.py
+python main.py --workdir=/tmp/mnist --config=configs/default.py
 ```
 
+## Overriding Hyperparameter configurations
+
+This VAE example allows specifying a hyperparameter configuration by the means of
+setting `--config` flag. Configuration flag is defined using
+[config_flags](https://github.com/google/ml_collections/tree/master#config-flags).
+`config_flags` allows overriding configuration fields. This can be done as
+follows:
+
+```shell
+python main.py \
+--workdir=/tmp/mnist --config=configs/default.py \
+--config.learning_rate=0.01 --config.num_epochs=10
+```
+
+
 ## Examples
 
 If you run the code by above command, you can get some generated images:
diff --git a/examples/vae/configs/default.py b/examples/vae/configs/default.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d96eca220e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/vae/configs/default.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+# Copyright 2023 The Flax Authors.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+"""Default Hyperparameter configuration."""
+
+import ml_collections
+
+
+def get_config():
+  """Get the default hyperparameter configuration."""
+  config = ml_collections.ConfigDict()
+
+  config.learning_rate = 0.001
+  config.latents = 20
+  config.batch_size = 128
+  config.num_epochs = 30
+  return config
diff --git a/examples/vae/main.py b/examples/vae/main.py
index c1c9bbd3f1..7a708feab7 100644
--- a/examples/vae/main.py
+++ b/examples/vae/main.py
@@ -20,7 +20,10 @@
 
 from absl import app
 from absl import flags
+from absl import logging
+from clu import platform
 import jax
+from ml_collections import config_flags
 import tensorflow as tf
 
 import train
@@ -28,20 +31,13 @@
 
 FLAGS = flags.FLAGS
 
-flags.DEFINE_float(
-    'learning_rate',
-    default=1e-3,
-    help='The learning rate for the Adam optimizer.',
+config_flags.DEFINE_config_file(
+    'config',
+    None,
+    'File path to the training hyperparameter configuration.',
+    lock_config=True,
 )
 
-flags.DEFINE_integer('batch_size', default=128, help='Batch size for training.')
-
-flags.DEFINE_integer(
-    'num_epochs', default=30, help='Number of training epochs.'
-)
-
-flags.DEFINE_integer('latents', default=20, help='Number of latent variables.')
-
 
 def main(argv):
   if len(argv) > 1:
@@ -50,10 +46,18 @@ def main(argv):
   # Make sure tf does not allocate gpu memory.
   tf.config.experimental.set_visible_devices([], 'GPU')
 
-  train.train_and_evaluate(
-      FLAGS.batch_size, FLAGS.learning_rate, FLAGS.num_epochs, FLAGS.latents
+  logging.info('JAX process: %d / %d', jax.process_index(), jax.process_count())
+  logging.info('JAX local devices: %r', jax.local_devices())
+
+  # Add a note so that we can tell which task is which JAX host.
+  # (Depending on the platform task 0 is not guaranteed to be host 0)
+  platform.work_unit().set_task_status(
+      f'process_index: {jax.process_index()}, '
+      f'process_count: {jax.process_count()}'
   )
 
+  train.train_and_evaluate(FLAGS.config)
+
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
   app.run(main)
diff --git a/examples/vae/train.py b/examples/vae/train.py
index 6404f07cd5..f8f0e618eb 100644
--- a/examples/vae/train.py
+++ b/examples/vae/train.py
@@ -27,19 +27,19 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 """Traininga and evaluation logic."""
 
-from absl import logging
-
-from flax import linen as nn
-from flax.training import train_state
+import input_pipeline
 import jax
-from jax import random
 import jax.numpy as jnp
+import ml_collections
+import models
 import optax
 import tensorflow_datasets as tfds
-
-import input_pipeline
-import models
 import utils as vae_utils
+from absl import logging
+from jax import random
+
+from flax import linen as nn
+from flax.training import train_state
 
 
 @jax.vmap
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ def eval_model(vae):
   return nn.apply(eval_model, models.model(latents))({'params': params})
 
 
-def train_and_evaluate(batch_size, learning_rate, num_epochs, latents):
+def train_and_evaluate(config: ml_collections.ConfigDict):
   """Train and evaulate pipeline."""
   rng = random.PRNGKey(0)
   rng, key = random.split(rng)
@@ -101,32 +101,34 @@ def train_and_evaluate(batch_size, learning_rate, num_epochs, latents):
   ds_builder.download_and_prepare()
 
   logging.info('Initializing dataset.')
-  train_ds = input_pipeline.build_train_set(batch_size, ds_builder)
+  train_ds = input_pipeline.build_train_set(config.batch_size, ds_builder)
   test_ds = input_pipeline.build_test_set(ds_builder)
 
   logging.info('Initializing model.')
-  init_data = jnp.ones((batch_size, 784), jnp.float32)
-  params = models.model(latents).init(key, init_data, rng)['params']
+  init_data = jnp.ones((config.batch_size, 784), jnp.float32)
+  params = models.model(config.latents).init(key, init_data, rng)['params']
 
   state = train_state.TrainState.create(
-      apply_fn=models.model(latents).apply,
+      apply_fn=models.model(config.latents).apply,
       params=params,
-      tx=optax.adam(learning_rate),
+      tx=optax.adam(config.learning_rate),
   )
 
   rng, z_key, eval_rng = random.split(rng, 3)
-  z = random.normal(z_key, (64, latents))
+  z = random.normal(z_key, (64, config.latents))
 
-  steps_per_epoch = ds_builder.info.splits['train'].num_examples // batch_size
+  steps_per_epoch = (
+      ds_builder.info.splits['train'].num_examples // config.batch_size
+  )
 
-  for epoch in range(num_epochs):
+  for epoch in range(config.num_epochs):
     for _ in range(steps_per_epoch):
       batch = next(train_ds)
       rng, key = random.split(rng)
-      state = train_step(state, batch, key, latents)
+      state = train_step(state, batch, key, config.latents)
 
     metrics, comparison, sample = eval_f(
-        state.params, test_ds, z, eval_rng, latents
+        state.params, test_ds, z, eval_rng, config.latents
     )
     vae_utils.save_image(
         comparison, f'results/reconstruction_{epoch}.png', nrow=8