# When it is useful to have multiple config files for a single Kibana instance?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/when-it-is-useful-to-have-multiple-config-files-for-a-single-kibana-instance/266363>\
**Category:** Kibana\
**Created:** [March 5, 2021, 12:04pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/when-it-is-useful-to-have-multiple-config-files-for-a-single-kibana-instance/266363 "2021-03-05T12:04:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![trex](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/trex/32/34230_2.png) [@trex](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/trex)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 12:04pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/when-it-is-useful-to-have-multiple-config-files-for-a-single-kibana-instance/266363/1 "2021-03-05T12:04:12Z")

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When is it useful to have multiple config files for a single Kibana instance?

```auto
$ ./bin/kibana --help
    -c, --config <path> Path to the config file, use multiple --config args to include multiple config files

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![flash1293](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/flash1293/32/41227_2.png) [@flash1293](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/flash1293)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 4:26pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/when-it-is-useful-to-have-multiple-config-files-for-a-single-kibana-instance/266363/2 "2021-03-05T16:26:06Z")

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It's a classic pattern for config files if you have different environments, but they share most of the settings.  
There's a "base.kibana.yml" with the shared stuff, then a "prod.kibana.yml" filling in the prod ES clust and a "dev.kibana.yml" filling in the dev ES cluster

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![trex](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/trex/32/34230_2.png) [@trex](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/trex)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 5:03pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/when-it-is-useful-to-have-multiple-config-files-for-a-single-kibana-instance/266363/3 "2021-03-05T17:03:24Z")

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@flash1293 So Kibana joins the configs, right?

```auto
./bin/kibana -c base.kibana.yml -c prod.kibana.yml

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![flash1293](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/flash1293/32/41227_2.png) [@flash1293](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/flash1293)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 7:04pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/when-it-is-useful-to-have-multiple-config-files-for-a-single-kibana-instance/266363/4 "2021-03-05T19:04:58Z")

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Yes, that's the idea AFAIK

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 7:05pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/when-it-is-useful-to-have-multiple-config-files-for-a-single-kibana-instance/266363/5 "2021-04-02T19:05:05Z")

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