diff --git a/data.c b/data.c
index 383cd38..c56b6a0 100644
--- a/data.c
+++ b/data.c
@@ -130,6 +130,7 @@ void user_free(snac *snac)
     xs_free(snac->uid);
     xs_free(snac->basedir);
     xs_free(snac->config);
+    xs_free(snac->config_o);
     xs_free(snac->key);
     xs_free(snac->actor);
     xs_free(snac->md5);
@@ -172,7 +173,22 @@ int user_open(snac *snac, const char *uid)
                     if ((snac->key = xs_json_loads(key_data)) != NULL) {
                         snac->actor = xs_fmt("%s/%s", srv_baseurl, uid);
                         snac->md5   = xs_md5_hex(snac->actor, strlen(snac->actor));
+
+                        /* everything is ok right now */
                         ret = 1;
+
+                        /* does it have a configuration override? */
+                        xs *cfg_file_o = xs_fmt("%s/user_o.json", snac->basedir);
+                        if ((f = fopen(cfg_file_o, "r")) != NULL) {
+                            xs *j = xs_readall(f);
+                            fclose(f);
+
+                            if ((snac->config_o = xs_json_loads(j)) == NULL)
+                                srv_log(xs_fmt("cannot parse '%s'", cfg_file_o));
+                        }
+
+                        if (snac->config_o == NULL)
+                            snac->config_o = xs_dict_new();
                     }
                     else
                         srv_log(xs_fmt("cannot parse '%s'", key_file));
diff --git a/snac.h b/snac.h
index 017ccea..be205d2 100644
--- a/snac.h
+++ b/snac.h
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /* snac - A simple, minimalistic ActivityPub instance */
 /* copyright (c) 2022 - 2023 grunfink / MIT license */
 
-#define VERSION "2.22"
+#define VERSION "2.23-dev"
 
 #define USER_AGENT "snac/" VERSION
 
@@ -30,12 +30,13 @@ int srv_open(char *basedir, int auto_upgrade);
 void srv_free(void);
 
 typedef struct _snac {
-    d_char *uid;        /* uid */
-    d_char *basedir;    /* user base directory */
-    d_char *config;     /* user configuration */
-    d_char *key;        /* keypair */
-    d_char *actor;      /* actor url */
-    d_char *md5;        /* actor url md5 */
+    xs_str *uid;        /* uid */
+    xs_str *basedir;    /* user base directory */
+    xs_dict *config;    /* user configuration */
+    xs_dict *config_o;  /* user configuration admin override */
+    xs_dict *key;       /* keypair */
+    xs_str *actor;      /* actor url */
+    xs_str *md5;        /* actor url md5 */
 } snac;
 
 int user_open(snac *snac, const char *uid);