diff --git a/drogon_ctl/version.cc b/drogon_ctl/version.cc
index e4777137..0deb27cb 100644
--- a/drogon_ctl/version.cc
+++ b/drogon_ctl/version.cc
@@ -65,4 +65,9 @@ void version::handleCommand(std::vector<std::string> &parameters)
 #endif
     std::cout << "  c-ares: "
               << (trantor::Resolver::isCAresUsed() ? "yes\n" : "no\n");
+#ifdef HAS_YAML_CPP
+    std::cout << "  yaml-cpp: yes\n";
+#else
+    std::cout << "  yaml-cpp: no\n";
+#endif
 }
diff --git a/lib/src/ConfigAdapter.h b/lib/src/ConfigAdapter.h
index 03f16108..3f9b8a87 100644
--- a/lib/src/ConfigAdapter.h
+++ b/lib/src/ConfigAdapter.h
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 #include <vector>
 #include <string>
 #include <memory>
+#include <fstream>
 
 namespace drogon
 {
@@ -10,7 +11,7 @@ class ConfigAdapter
 {
   public:
     virtual ~ConfigAdapter() = default;
-    virtual Json::Value getJson(const std::string &configFile) const
+    virtual Json::Value getJson(const std::string &content) const
         noexcept(false) = 0;
     virtual std::vector<std::string> getExtensions() const = 0;
 };
diff --git a/lib/src/ConfigAdapterManager.cc b/lib/src/ConfigAdapterManager.cc
index 147fc5e2..d49f7847 100644
--- a/lib/src/ConfigAdapterManager.cc
+++ b/lib/src/ConfigAdapterManager.cc
@@ -20,23 +20,16 @@ ConfigAdapterManager &ConfigAdapterManager::instance()
     return instance;
 }
 
-Json::Value ConfigAdapterManager::getJson(const std::string &configFile) const
-    noexcept(false)
+Json::Value ConfigAdapterManager::getJson(const std::string &content,
+                                          std::string ext) const noexcept(false)
 {
-    auto pos = configFile.find_last_of('.');
-    if (pos == std::string::npos)
-    {
-        throw std::runtime_error("Invalid config file name!");
-    }
-    auto ext = configFile.substr(pos + 1);
-    // convert ext to lower case
     std::transform(ext.begin(), ext.end(), ext.begin(), ::tolower);
     auto it = adapters_.find(ext);
     if (it == adapters_.end())
     {
         throw std::runtime_error("No valid parser for this config file!");
     }
-    return it->second->getJson(configFile);
+    return it->second->getJson(content);
 }
 
 ConfigAdapterManager::ConfigAdapterManager()
diff --git a/lib/src/ConfigAdapterManager.h b/lib/src/ConfigAdapterManager.h
index 73b97178..94f61e26 100644
--- a/lib/src/ConfigAdapterManager.h
+++ b/lib/src/ConfigAdapterManager.h
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ class ConfigAdapterManager
 {
   public:
     static ConfigAdapterManager &instance();
-    Json::Value getJson(const std::string &configFile) const noexcept(false);
+    Json::Value getJson(const std::string &content, std::string ext) const
+        noexcept(false);
 
   private:
     ConfigAdapterManager();
diff --git a/lib/src/ConfigLoader.cc b/lib/src/ConfigLoader.cc
index 3f63853a..585712b9 100644
--- a/lib/src/ConfigLoader.cc
+++ b/lib/src/ConfigLoader.cc
@@ -117,10 +117,21 @@ ConfigLoader::ConfigLoader(const std::string &configFile)
                                  configFile);
     }
     configFile_ = configFile;
+    auto pos = configFile.find_last_of('.');
+    if (pos == std::string::npos)
+    {
+        throw std::runtime_error("Invalid config file name!");
+    }
+    auto ext = configFile.substr(pos + 1);
+    std::ifstream infile(drogon::utils::toNativePath(configFile).c_str(),
+                         std::ifstream::in);
+    // get the content of the infile
+    std::string content((std::istreambuf_iterator<char>(infile)),
+                        std::istreambuf_iterator<char>());
     try
     {
-        auto filename = drogon::utils::toNativePath(configFile);
-        configJsonRoot_ = ConfigAdapterManager::instance().getJson(configFile);
+        configJsonRoot_ =
+            ConfigAdapterManager::instance().getJson(content, std::move(ext));
     }
     catch (std::exception &e)
     {
diff --git a/lib/src/JsonConfigAdapter.cc b/lib/src/JsonConfigAdapter.cc
index 08786e71..2647dfb9 100644
--- a/lib/src/JsonConfigAdapter.cc
+++ b/lib/src/JsonConfigAdapter.cc
@@ -2,17 +2,15 @@
 #include <fstream>
 
 using namespace drogon;
-Json::Value JsonConfigAdapter::getJson(const std::string &configFile) const
+Json::Value JsonConfigAdapter::getJson(const std::string &content) const
     noexcept(false)
 {
     Json::Value root;
     Json::Reader reader;
-    std::ifstream in(configFile, std::ios::binary);
-    if (!in.is_open())
+    if (!reader.parse(content, root))
     {
-        throw std::runtime_error("Cannot open config file!");
+        throw std::runtime_error("Failed to parse JSON");
     }
-    in >> root;
     return root;
 }
 std::vector<std::string> JsonConfigAdapter::getExtensions() const
diff --git a/lib/src/JsonConfigAdapter.h b/lib/src/JsonConfigAdapter.h
index aa1b058c..aca59b47 100644
--- a/lib/src/JsonConfigAdapter.h
+++ b/lib/src/JsonConfigAdapter.h
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ class JsonConfigAdapter : public ConfigAdapter
   public:
     JsonConfigAdapter() = default;
     ~JsonConfigAdapter() override = default;
-    Json::Value getJson(const std::string &configFile) const
+    Json::Value getJson(const std::string &content) const
         noexcept(false) override;
     std::vector<std::string> getExtensions() const override;
 };
diff --git a/lib/src/YamlConfigAdapter.cc b/lib/src/YamlConfigAdapter.cc
index b80eefa4..c6a82ef2 100644
--- a/lib/src/YamlConfigAdapter.cc
+++ b/lib/src/YamlConfigAdapter.cc
@@ -95,12 +95,12 @@ struct convert<Json::Value>
 }  // namespace YAML
 
 #endif
-Json::Value YamlConfigAdapter::getJson(const std::string &configFile) const
+Json::Value YamlConfigAdapter::getJson(const std::string &content) const
     noexcept(false)
 {
 #if HAS_YAML_CPP
     // parse yaml file
-    YAML::Node config = YAML::LoadFile(configFile);
+    YAML::Node config = YAML::Load(content);
     if (!config.IsNull())
     {
         return config.as<Json::Value>();
diff --git a/lib/src/YamlConfigAdapter.h b/lib/src/YamlConfigAdapter.h
index 9a48ae9b..623e28d1 100644
--- a/lib/src/YamlConfigAdapter.h
+++ b/lib/src/YamlConfigAdapter.h
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ class YamlConfigAdapter : public ConfigAdapter
   public:
     YamlConfigAdapter() = default;
     ~YamlConfigAdapter() override = default;
-    Json::Value getJson(const std::string &configFile) const
+    Json::Value getJson(const std::string &content) const
         noexcept(false) override;
     std::vector<std::string> getExtensions() const override;
 };