---
title: "Appsettings can Reference an External Config File"
url: "https://osherove.com/blog/2003/9/29/appsettings-can-reference-an-external-config-file.md"
canonical: "https://osherove.com/blog/2003/9/29/appsettings-can-reference-an-external-config-file.html"
published: "2003-09-29T15:21:00"
updated: "2003-09-29T15:21:00"
tags: [".Net Quotations", "Tips & Tricks"]
author: "Roy Osherove"
description: "I did not know this! “I recently discovered that the app/web.config file can reference an external config file to get some or all of its appsettings. .. “ [ Paul Wilson ] (follow the link to learn how) Excellent tip!"
usage: "Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page)."
license: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
---

# Appsettings can Reference an External Config File

By Roy Osherove September 29, 2003 In [.Net Quotations](https://osherove.com/blog/category/net-quotations), [Tips & Tricks](https://osherove.com/blog/category/tips-tricks)

**Historical article** · Originally published September 29, 2003; technical details may be outdated.

I did not know this!

_“I recently discovered that the app/web.config file can reference an external config file to get some or all of its appsettings. .. “_

\[[Paul Wilson](http://weblogs.asp.net/pwilson/posts/5261.aspx)\] (follow the link to learn how)

Excellent tip!

## More in .Net Quotations

[All posts in .Net Quotations](https://osherove.com/blog/category/net-quotations)

- Sep 30, 2003

    ### [Responses to agile concerns](https://osherove.com/blog/2003/9/30/responses-to-agile-concerns.html)

- Sep 29, 2003

    ### [Creating Doc-Centric Apps in WinForms, part 1 of 3](https://osherove.com/blog/2003/9/29/creating-doc-centric-apps-in-winforms-part-1-of-3.html)

- Sep 27, 2003

    ### [nsh - A tool to run .NET source files like script files.](https://osherove.com/blog/2003/9/27/nsh-a-tool-to-run-net-source-files-like-script-files.html)

- Sep 26, 2003

    ### [Excellent ASP.NET Identity Matrix reference](https://osherove.com/blog/2003/9/26/excellent-aspnet-identity-matrix-reference.html)


---

## About the author

**Roy Osherove**: Senior Solutions Architect at AWS working on AI for production and AI-driven development; author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership, with about 20 years of consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery.

### Sites

- [RobotPaper](https://robotpaper.ai/): This blog: AI patterns and anti-patterns, AI and coding agents, and engineering leadership.
- [osherove.com](https://osherove.com): Roy's personal site. Author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership; consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery, plus about 20 years of blog posts.
- [The Art of Unit Testing](https://www.artofunittesting.com): The Art of Unit Testing, 3rd Edition (Manning): readable, maintainable, trustworthy unit tests, plus TDD workshops in C#, JavaScript, Java and Kotlin.
- [5whys.com](https://www.5whys.com): Roy's writing on software team leadership: self-organizing teams, surviving chaos, learning mode and the Elastic Leadership model.
- [Pipeline Driven](https://pipelinedriven.org): Continuous delivery and DevOps practices: build patterns, pipeline-friendly testing, DevOps metrics and enterprise DevOps.
- [Elastic Leadership](https://www.elasticleadership.com): Elastic Leadership, Roy's framework for software team leaders (survival, learning and self-organizing modes).

### Social

- X: https://x.com/royosherove
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/osherove/

### Contact

- Contact form: https://forms.gle/jQSx5KoXvrVA1JCK7

### License

Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page). License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/