config: support reloading config.yaml via fsnotify watcher
Author: charlieegan3Created Sep 9, 2026Updated Sep 16, 2026
What is the underlying problem you're trying to solve?
config.yaml is read once at startup and never re-read.
If users are not using discovery bundles, any config file change needs a restart. In sidecar deployments this means restarting the whole pod, causing downtime to change settings.
Describe the ideal solution
opa run -c config.yaml -w watches the config.yaml as well, and applies changes, the same way the server already watches TLS cert/key/cert-pool files and reloads them without a restart.
We could also consider SIGHUP handling for config reloading.
Additional Context
Related: #3605.
Source: open-policy-agent/opa