Route Reload

The route reload functionality in Camel is capable of watching a directory folder for file changes, and then automatic trigger reload of the running routes in the Camel application.

This functionality is intended for development purposes, and not for production use.

This feature is not supported when using Camel Quarkus, as you should be using the hot-reloading functionality that comes with Quarkus instead. This functionality can also reload Java source code changes and much more.

Using route reloading

You cannot watch for file changes in the Java classpath. It is only possible to watch for file changes in the file system (i.e. using file and not classpath).

The route reloading can be configured in Java or with Spring Boot, Quarkus in the following way:

CamelContext context = ...

RouteWatcherReloadStrategy reload = new RouteWatcherReloadStrategy();
reload.setFolder("myfolder/routes");
reload.setPattern("*.xml");

context.addService(reload);

And with Camel Quarkus / Camel Main you can configure this in application.properties:

# turn on route reloading on file changes
camel.main.routes-reload-enabled = true
# the base directory to watch
camel.main.routes-reload-directory = myfolder/routes
# pattern(s) for files to watch
camel.main.routes-reload-pattern = *.xml

And in Spring Boot:

# turn on route reloading on file changes
camel.springboot.routes-reload-enabled = true
# the base directory to watch
camel.springboot.routes-reload-directory = myfolder/routes
# pattern(s) for files to watch
camel.springboot.routes-reload-pattern = *.xml

Route Reload Options

You can configure the RouteWatcherReloadStrategy using the following options:

Name	Description	Default	Type
routesReloadDirectory	Directory to scan for route changes. Camel cannot scan the classpath, so this must be configured to a file directory. Development with Maven as build tool, you can configure the directory to be src/main/resources to scan for Camel routes in XML or YAML files.	src/main/resources/camel	String
routesReloadDirectoryRecursive	Whether the directory to scan should include sub-directories. Depending on the number of sub-directories, then this can cause the JVM to startup slower as Camel uses the JDK file-watch service to scan for file changes.	false	boolean
routesReloadEnabled	Used for enabling automatic routes reloading. If enabled then Camel will watch for file changes in the given reload directory, and trigger reloading routes if files are changed.	false	boolean
routesReloadPattern	Used for inclusive filtering of routes from directories. Typical used for specifying to accept routes in XML or YAML files. The default pattern is .yaml,.xml Multiple patterns can be specified separated by comma.	.yaml,.xml	String
routesReloadRemoveAllRoutes	When reloading routes should all existing routes be stopped and removed. By default, Camel will stop and remove all existing routes before reloading routes. This ensures that only the reloaded routes will be active. If disabled then only routes with the same route id is updated, and any existing routes are continued to run.	true	boolean

Name

Description

Default

Type

routesReloadDirectory

Directory to scan for route changes. Camel cannot scan the classpath, so this must be configured to a file directory. Development with Maven as build tool, you can configure the directory to be src/main/resources to scan for Camel routes in XML or YAML files.

src/main/resources/camel

String

routesReloadDirectoryRecursive

Whether the directory to scan should include sub-directories. Depending on the number of sub-directories, then this can cause the JVM to startup slower as Camel uses the JDK file-watch service to scan for file changes.

false

boolean

routesReloadEnabled

Used for enabling automatic routes reloading. If enabled then Camel will watch for file changes in the given reload directory, and trigger reloading routes if files are changed.

false

boolean

routesReloadPattern

Used for inclusive filtering of routes from directories. Typical used for specifying to accept routes in XML or YAML files. The default pattern is *.yaml,*.xml Multiple patterns can be specified separated by comma.

*.yaml,*.xml

String

routesReloadRemoveAllRoutes

When reloading routes should all existing routes be stopped and removed. By default, Camel will stop and remove all existing routes before reloading routes. This ensures that only the reloaded routes will be active. If disabled then only routes with the same route id is updated, and any existing routes are continued to run.

true

boolean

Must use route id’s

When using route reload then it is recommended to assign id’s to your routes, so Camel knows exactly which routes have been updated. This is necessary because Camel must stop the existing routes from running, before they can be updated.

And adding new routes is therefore possible as they would have a new unique route id specified.

Route Reload

Using route reloading

Route Reload Options

Must use route id’s

See Also