Consul provides a Key/Value Store for storing configuration and other metadata. Spring Cloud Consul Config is an alternative to the Config Server and Client. Configuration is loaded into the Spring Environment during the special "bootstrap" phase. Configuration is stored in the /config folder by default. Multiple PropertySource instances are created based on the application’s name and the active profiles that mimicks the Spring Cloud Config order of resolving properties. For example, an application with the name "testApp" and with the "dev" profile will have the following property sources created:

The most specific property source is at the top, with the least specific at the bottom. Properties in the config/application folder are applicable to all applications using consul for configuration. Properties in the config/testApp folder are only available to the instances of the service named "testApp".

Configuration is currently read on startup of the application. Sending a HTTP POST to /refresh will cause the configuration to be reloaded. spring-cloud-consul-config-watch will also automatically detect changes and reload the application context.