diff --git a/ooniapi/common/src/common/config.py b/ooniapi/common/src/common/config.py
index 6512af33..f2c9c406 100644
--- a/ooniapi/common/src/common/config.py
+++ b/ooniapi/common/src/common/config.py
@@ -33,6 +33,9 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
 
     vpn_credential_refresh_hours: int = 24
 
+    # Bucket used to store configuration files
+    config_bucket: str = ""
+
     # Where the geoip DBs are downloaded to
     geoip_db_dir: str = "/var/lib/ooni/geoip"
     # Ooniprobe only
diff --git a/ooniapi/services/ooniprobe/src/ooniprobe/utils.py b/ooniapi/services/ooniprobe/src/ooniprobe/utils.py
index 4a6dc663..83504d74 100644
--- a/ooniapi/services/ooniprobe/src/ooniprobe/utils.py
+++ b/ooniapi/services/ooniprobe/src/ooniprobe/utils.py
@@ -9,9 +9,11 @@
 from datetime import datetime, timezone
 import itertools
 import logging
-from typing import Dict, List, Mapping, TypedDict, Tuple
+from typing import List, TypedDict, Tuple
+import io
 
 from fastapi import Request
+from mypy_boto3_s3 import S3Client
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
 import pem
 import httpx
@@ -145,7 +147,7 @@ def lookup_probe_network(ipaddr: str, asn_reader: ASNReaderDep) -> Tuple[str, st
         "AS{}".format(resp.autonomous_system_number),
         resp.autonomous_system_organization or "0",
     )
-
+  
 def get_first_ip(headers: str) -> str:
     """
     parse the first ip from a comma-separated list of ips encoded as a string
@@ -154,5 +156,14 @@ def get_first_ip(headers: str) -> str:
     in: '123.123.123, 1.1.1.1'
     out: '123.123.123'
     """
+    return headers.partition(',')[0]
+
+def read_file(s3_client : S3Client, bucket: str, file : str) -> str:
+    """
+    Reads the content of `file` within `bucket` into a  string
 
-    return headers.partition(',')[0]
\ No newline at end of file
+    Useful for reading config files from the s3 bucket
+    """
+    buff = io.BytesIO()
+    s3_client.download_fileobj(bucket, file, buff)
+    return buff.getvalue().decode()
\ No newline at end of file