Config Server is a centralized, externalized configuration service — instead of each microservice bundling its own application.yml, they fetch their configuration at startup (or on refresh) from a central Config Server backed by a Git repository (or another supported backend), letting configuration changes be managed, versioned, and audited in one place, and enabling a single config change to propagate to every instance of a service without redeploying it.

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#Spring Cloud Config

Refreshing Config Without a Restart Needs Extra Wiring

By default, a service only fetches its configuration once, at startup — picking up a Config Server change afterward requires either restarting the service or triggering a refresh explicitly (via the `/actuator/refresh` endpoint on beans annotated `@RefreshScope`, or broadcasting a refresh event across instances via Spring Cloud Bus). Without this extra piece, 'centralized config' still means a redeploy/restart is needed to actually pick up most changes.