diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 36e8cf3..08817c7 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -10,3 +10,4 @@ sqz-force
 greenvironment.db
 logs
 logs*
+config/*
diff --git a/.gitkeep b/.gitkeep
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c9d4d01
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitkeep
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+config/default.toml
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 40fdbcb..c6b3178 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - gql field userVote requires a userId
 - default findUser param limit to 20
 - only group admins can create group events
+- config behaviour to use all files that reside in the ./config directory with the .toml format
 
 ### Fixed
 
diff --git a/config/default.toml b/config/default.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..16dc426
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/default.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+# Configuration of the database connection
+[database]
+connectionUri = "sqlite://greenvironment.db"
+
+# Configuration of the http server
+[server]
+port = 8080
+cors = false
+
+# Configuration for the sessions
+[session]
+secret = "REPLACE WITH SAFE RANDOM GENERATED SECRET"
+cookieMaxAge = 6048e+5  # 7 days
+
+# Configuration for markdown rendering
+[markdown]
+plugins = ["markdown-it-emoji"]
+
+# Configuration for logging
+[logging]
+level = "info"
+
+# Configuration for the frontend files
+[frontend]
+angularIndex = "index.html"
+publicPath = "./public"
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 10ab79b..194c873 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -57,7 +57,9 @@
     "typescript": "^3.7.2"
   },
   "dependencies": {
+    "@types/config": "^0.0.36",
     "compression": "^1.7.4",
+    "config": "^3.2.4",
     "connect-session-sequelize": "^6.0.0",
     "cookie-parser": "^1.4.4",
     "cors": "^2.8.5",
@@ -82,6 +84,7 @@
     "socket.io": "^2.2.0",
     "socket.io-redis": "^5.2.0",
     "sqlite3": "^4.1.0",
+    "toml": "^3.0.0",
     "uuid": "^3.3.3",
     "winston": "^3.2.1",
     "winston-daily-rotate-file": "^4.2.1"
diff --git a/src/app.ts b/src/app.ts
index d0e28dd..d5b8ec2 100644
--- a/src/app.ts
+++ b/src/app.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import * as compression from "compression";
+import * as config from "config";
 import * as cookieParser from "cookie-parser";
 import * as cors from "cors";
 import {Request, Response} from "express";
@@ -64,8 +65,8 @@ class App {
         this.app = express();
         this.server = new http.Server(this.app);
         this.io = socketIo(this.server);
-        this.sequelize = new Sequelize(globals.config.database.connectionUri);
-        this.publicPath = globals.config.frontend.publicPath;
+        this.sequelize = new Sequelize(config.get("database.connectionUri"));
+        this.publicPath = config.get("frontend.publicPath");
         if (!path.isAbsolute(this.publicPath)) {
             this.publicPath = path.normalize(path.join(__dirname, this.publicPath));
         }
@@ -79,13 +80,13 @@ class App {
 
         const appSession = session({
             cookie: {
-                maxAge: Number(globals.config.session.cookieMaxAge) || 604800000,
+                maxAge: Number(config.get("session.cookieMaxAge")),
                 // @ts-ignore
                 secure: "auto",
             },
             resave: false,
             saveUninitialized: false,
-            secret: globals.config.session.secret,
+            secret: config.get("session.secret"),
             store: new SequelizeStore({db: this.sequelize}),
         });
 
@@ -112,7 +113,7 @@ class App {
         this.app.use(cookieParser());
         this.app.use(appSession);
         // enable cross origin requests if enabled in the config
-        if (globals.config.server?.cors) {
+        if (config.get("server.cors")) {
             this.app.use(cors());
         }
         // handle authentication via bearer in the Authorization header
@@ -166,8 +167,8 @@ class App {
         });
         // redirect all request to the angular file
         this.app.use((req: any, res: Response) => {
-            if (globals.config.frontend.angularIndex) {
-                const angularIndex = path.join(this.publicPath, globals.config.frontend.angularIndex);
+            if (config.get("frontend.angularIndex")) {
+                const angularIndex = path.join(this.publicPath, config.get("frontend.angularIndex"));
                 if (fsx.existsSync(path.join(angularIndex))) {
                     res.sendFile(angularIndex);
                 } else {
@@ -191,10 +192,10 @@ class App {
      * Starts the web server.
      */
     public start(): void {
-        if (globals.config.server?.port) {
+        if (config.has("server.port")) {
             logger.info(`Starting server...`);
-            this.app.listen(globals.config.server.port);
-            logger.info(`Server running on port ${globals.config.server.port}`);
+            this.app.listen(config.get("server.port"));
+            logger.info(`Server running on port ${config.get("server.port")}`);
         } else {
             logger.error("No port specified in the config." +
                 "Please configure a port in the config.yaml.");
diff --git a/src/default-config.yaml b/src/default-config.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index 6794925..0000000
--- a/src/default-config.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
-# database connection info
-database:
-  connectionUri: "sqlite://greenvironment.db"
-
-# http server configuration
-server:
-  port: 8080
-  cors: false
-
-# configuration of sessions
-session:
-  secret: REPLACE WITH SAFE RANDOM GENERATED SECRET
-  cookieMaxAge: 604800000‬ # 7 days
-
-# configuration of the markdown parser
-markdown:
-  plugins:
-    - 'markdown-it-emoji'
-
-# configuration for logging
-logging:
-  level: info
-
-frontend:
-  angularIndex: index.html
-  publicPath: ./public
diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index 5099ca5..9b9724f 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+process.env.NODE_CONFIG_DIR = __dirname + "/../config";
 // tslint:disable:no-console
 import * as cluster from "cluster";
 import App from "./app";
diff --git a/src/lib/globals.ts b/src/lib/globals.ts
index b6f0502..8847300 100644
--- a/src/lib/globals.ts
+++ b/src/lib/globals.ts
@@ -1,28 +1,13 @@
+import * as config from "config";
 import {EventEmitter} from "events";
-import * as fsx from "fs-extra";
-import * as yaml from "js-yaml";
-import * as path from "path";
 import * as winston from "winston";
 
 require("winston-daily-rotate-file");
 
-const configPath = "config.yaml";
-const defaultConfig = path.join(__dirname, "/../default-config.yaml");
-
-// ensure that the config exists by copying the default config.
-if (!(fsx.pathExistsSync(configPath))) {
-    fsx.copySync(defaultConfig, configPath);
-} else {
-    const conf = yaml.safeLoad(fsx.readFileSync(configPath, "utf-8"));
-    const defConf = yaml.safeLoad(fsx.readFileSync(defaultConfig, "utf-8"));
-    fsx.writeFileSync(configPath, yaml.safeDump(Object.assign(defConf, conf)));
-}
-
 /**
  * Defines global variables to be used.
  */
 namespace globals {
-    export const config: IConfig = yaml.safeLoad(fsx.readFileSync("config.yaml", "utf-8"));
     // @ts-ignore
     export const logger: winston.Logger = winston.createLogger({
         transports: [
@@ -34,7 +19,7 @@ namespace globals {
                         return `${timestamp} ${level}: ${message}`;
                     }),
                 ),
-                level: config.logging?.level ?? "info",
+                level: config.get("logging.level"),
             }),
             // @ts-ignore
             new (winston.transports.DailyRotateFile)({
@@ -47,7 +32,7 @@ namespace globals {
                     }),
                 ),
                 json: false,
-                level: config.logging?.level ?? "info",
+                level: config.get("logging.level"),
                 maxFiles: "7d",
                 zippedArchive: true,
             }),
diff --git a/src/lib/markdown.ts b/src/lib/markdown.ts
index 5515569..8dbbe03 100644
--- a/src/lib/markdown.ts
+++ b/src/lib/markdown.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import * as config from "config";
 import * as MarkdownIt from "markdown-it/lib";
 import globals from "./globals";
 
@@ -5,7 +6,7 @@ namespace markdown {
 
     const md = new MarkdownIt();
 
-    for (const pluginName of globals.config.markdown.plugins) {
+    for (const pluginName of config.get("markdown.plugins") as string[]) {
         try {
             const plugin = require(pluginName);
             if (plugin) {
diff --git a/src/lib/models/Post.ts b/src/lib/models/Post.ts
index af67f06..7aac135 100644
--- a/src/lib/models/Post.ts
+++ b/src/lib/models/Post.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 import * as sqz from "sequelize";
 import {BelongsTo, BelongsToMany, Column, CreatedAt, ForeignKey, Model, NotNull, Table} from "sequelize-typescript";
-import globals from "../globals";
 import markdown from "../markdown";
 import {Activity} from "./Activity";
 import {PostVote, VoteType} from "./PostVote";
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index ff3abbf..778cba0 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -55,6 +55,11 @@
   dependencies:
     "@types/express" "*"
 
+"@types/config@^0.0.36":
+  version "0.0.36"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/config/-/config-0.0.36.tgz#bf53ca640f3a1a6a2072a9f33e02a44def07a40b"
+  integrity sha512-EoAeT1MyFWh2BJvBDEFInY714bQBbHOAucqxqqhprhbBFqr+B7fuN5T9CJqUIGDzvwubnKKRqmSo6yPo0aSpNw==
+
 "@types/connect-pg-simple@^4.2.0":
   version "4.2.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/connect-pg-simple/-/connect-pg-simple-4.2.0.tgz#cb0d85701fa73d16be7a4050e4c95fe070a6df7f"
@@ -1200,6 +1205,13 @@ concat-stream@^1.6.0:
     readable-stream "^2.2.2"
     typedarray "^0.0.6"
 
+config@^3.2.4:
+  version "3.2.4"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/config/-/config-3.2.4.tgz#e60a908582991e800852f9cb60fcf424f3274a6c"
+  integrity sha512-H1XIGfnU1EAkfjSLn9ZvYDRx9lOezDViuzLDgiJ/lMeqjYe3q6iQfpcLt2NInckJgpAeekbNhQkmnnbdEDs9rw==
+  dependencies:
+    json5 "^1.0.1"
+
 connect-session-sequelize@^6.0.0:
   version "6.0.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/connect-session-sequelize/-/connect-session-sequelize-6.0.0.tgz#afd4456c65d92c9b6b955fdff00afff795e8a420"
@@ -2988,6 +3000,13 @@ json-stringify-safe@~5.0.1:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/json-stringify-safe/-/json-stringify-safe-5.0.1.tgz#1296a2d58fd45f19a0f6ce01d65701e2c735b6eb"
   integrity sha1-Epai1Y/UXxmg9s4B1lcB4sc1tus=
 
+json5@^1.0.1:
+  version "1.0.1"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/json5/-/json5-1.0.1.tgz#779fb0018604fa854eacbf6252180d83543e3dbe"
+  integrity sha512-aKS4WQjPenRxiQsC93MNfjx+nbF4PAdYzmd/1JIj8HYzqfbu86beTuNgXDzPknWk0n0uARlyewZo4s++ES36Ow==
+  dependencies:
+    minimist "^1.2.0"
+
 jsonfile@^4.0.0:
   version "4.0.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/jsonfile/-/jsonfile-4.0.0.tgz#8771aae0799b64076b76640fca058f9c10e33ecb"
@@ -5320,6 +5339,11 @@ token-stream@0.0.1:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/token-stream/-/token-stream-0.0.1.tgz#ceeefc717a76c4316f126d0b9dbaa55d7e7df01a"
   integrity sha1-zu78cXp2xDFvEm0LnbqlXX598Bo=
 
+toml@^3.0.0:
+  version "3.0.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/toml/-/toml-3.0.0.tgz#342160f1af1904ec9d204d03a5d61222d762c5ee"
+  integrity sha512-y/mWCZinnvxjTKYhJ+pYxwD0mRLVvOtdS2Awbgxln6iEnt4rk0yBxeSBHkGJcPucRiG0e55mwWp+g/05rsrd6w==
+
 toposort-class@^1.0.1:
   version "1.0.1"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/toposort-class/-/toposort-class-1.0.1.tgz#7ffd1f78c8be28c3ba45cd4e1a3f5ee193bd9988"