From 8dc193b3d5336ed3c293f05a825bc3433ea6b645 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: robinbraemer <robin.braemer@web.de>
Date: Mon, 8 Dec 2025 13:36:35 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] feat: add option to disable auto config reload

Add --no-auto-reload flag, GATE_NO_AUTO_RELOAD env var, and
noAutoReload config option to disable automatic config file reloading.

This addresses issue #602 where auto reload fails with permission
denied errors in environments like NixOS with sops-nix where file
watching is not available or causes issues.

Changes:
- Added NoAutoReload field to Config struct
- Added --no-auto-reload CLI flag
- Added GATE_NO_AUTO_RELOAD env var support
- Updated documentation

Fixes #602
---
 .web/docs/guide/config/reload.md | 30 +++++++++++++++++++++++++-----
 cmd/gate/root.go                 | 27 +++++++++++++++++++--------
 pkg/gate/config/config.go        |  3 +++
 3 files changed, 47 insertions(+), 13 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.web/docs/guide/config/reload.md b/.web/docs/guide/config/reload.md
index c1458eaa4..2147851a2 100644
--- a/.web/docs/guide/config/reload.md
+++ b/.web/docs/guide/config/reload.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
-title: "Gate Auto Config Reload - Live Configuration Updates"
-description: "Learn about Gate automatic config reloading feature. Update server settings without restarting or disconnecting players."
+title: 'Gate Auto Config Reload - Live Configuration Updates'
+description: 'Learn about Gate automatic config reloading feature. Update server settings without restarting or disconnecting players.'
 ---
 
 # Auto Config Reload
@@ -41,6 +41,26 @@ This feature is always enabled by default, given that you have a config file.
 
 ## How to disable it
 
-Please note that the auto config reload feature cannot be disabled.
-If you feel a compelling need to do so, please don't hesitate to [open an issue](https://github.com/minekube/gate/issues/new?title=Disable%20auto%20config%20reload&body=I%20want%20to%20disable%20auto%20config%20reload%20because%20...)
-on our GitHub repository.
+You can disable auto config reload in several ways:
+
+### Command line flag
+
+```bash
+gate --no-auto-reload
+```
+
+### Environment variable
+
+```bash
+GATE_NO_AUTO_RELOAD=true gate
+```
+
+### Config file
+
+Add to your `config.yml`:
+
+```yaml
+noAutoReload: true
+```
+
+This is useful in environments where file watching is not available or causes permission issues (e.g., NixOS with sops-nix).
diff --git a/cmd/gate/root.go b/cmd/gate/root.go
index 567c9b505..3c337156c 100644
--- a/cmd/gate/root.go
+++ b/cmd/gate/root.go
@@ -50,10 +50,11 @@ func App() *cli.App {
 Visit the website https://gate.minekube.com/ for more information.`
 
 	var (
-		debug       bool
-		configFile  string
-		verbosity   int
-		showVersion bool
+		debug        bool
+		configFile   string
+		verbosity    int
+		showVersion  bool
+		noAutoReload bool
 	)
 	app.Flags = []cli.Flag{
 		&cli.StringFlag{
@@ -83,6 +84,12 @@ Visit the website https://gate.minekube.com/ for more information.`
 			Usage:       "Show version information",
 			Destination: &showVersion,
 		},
+		&cli.BoolFlag{
+			Name:        "no-auto-reload",
+			Usage:       "Disable automatic config file reloading",
+			Destination: &noAutoReload,
+			EnvVars:     []string{"GATE_NO_AUTO_RELOAD"},
+		},
 	}
 
 	app.Action = func(c *cli.Context) error {
@@ -134,11 +141,15 @@ Visit the website https://gate.minekube.com/ for more information.`
 		log.Info("logging verbosity", "verbosity", verbosity)
 		log.Info("using config file", "config", v.ConfigFileUsed())
 
+		// Check if auto reload is disabled (via flag, env var, or config)
+		disableAutoReload := noAutoReload || cfg.NoAutoReload
+
 		// Start Gate
-		if err = gate.Start(c.Context,
-			gate.WithConfig(*cfg),
-			gate.WithAutoConfigReload(v.ConfigFileUsed()),
-		); err != nil {
+		startOpts := []gate.StartOption{gate.WithConfig(*cfg)}
+		if !disableAutoReload && v.ConfigFileUsed() != "" {
+			startOpts = append(startOpts, gate.WithAutoConfigReload(v.ConfigFileUsed()))
+		}
+		if err = gate.Start(c.Context, startOpts...); err != nil {
 			return cli.Exit(fmt.Errorf("error running Gate: %w", err), 1)
 		}
 		return nil
diff --git a/pkg/gate/config/config.go b/pkg/gate/config/config.go
index 412319d5e..81bfe8572 100644
--- a/pkg/gate/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/gate/config/config.go
@@ -33,6 +33,9 @@ type Config struct {
 	Connect connect.Config `json:"connect,omitempty" yaml:"connect,omitempty"`
 	// See API struct.
 	API API `json:"api,omitempty" yaml:"api,omitempty"`
+	// NoAutoReload disables automatic config file reloading.
+	// This is useful in environments where file watching causes issues.
+	NoAutoReload bool `json:"noAutoReload,omitempty" yaml:"noAutoReload,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // HealthService is a GRPC health probe service for use with Kubernetes pods.