diff --git a/cmd/pulse-sensor-proxy/config.go b/cmd/pulse-sensor-proxy/config.go
index 874461a..62e7092 100644
--- a/cmd/pulse-sensor-proxy/config.go
+++ b/cmd/pulse-sensor-proxy/config.go
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 package main
 
 import (
+	"bufio"
+	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
 	"net"
 	"os"
@@ -24,6 +26,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	MetricsAddress         string        `yaml:"metrics_address"`
 	LogLevel               string        `yaml:"log_level"`
 	AllowedNodes           []string      `yaml:"allowed_nodes"`
+	AllowedNodesFile       string        `yaml:"allowed_nodes_file"`
 	StrictNodeValidation   bool          `yaml:"strict_node_validation"`
 	ReadTimeout            time.Duration `yaml:"read_timeout"`
 	WriteTimeout           time.Duration `yaml:"write_timeout"`
@@ -55,6 +58,8 @@ type ControlPlaneConfig struct {
 	InsecureSkipVerify bool   `yaml:"insecure_skip_verify"`
 }
 
+const defaultAllowedNodesFile = "/etc/pulse-sensor-proxy/allowed_nodes.yaml"
+
 // PeerConfig represents a peer entry with capabilities.
 type PeerConfig struct {
 	UID          uint32   `yaml:"uid"`
@@ -204,6 +209,29 @@ func loadConfig(configPath string) (*Config, error) {
 		}
 	}
 
+	if cfg.AllowedNodesFile == "" {
+		if _, err := os.Stat(defaultAllowedNodesFile); err == nil {
+			cfg.AllowedNodesFile = defaultAllowedNodesFile
+		}
+	}
+
+	if cfg.AllowedNodesFile != "" {
+		if fileNodes, err := loadAllowedNodesFile(cfg.AllowedNodesFile); err != nil {
+			log.Warn().
+				Err(err).
+				Str("allowed_nodes_file", cfg.AllowedNodesFile).
+				Msg("Failed to load allowed nodes file")
+		} else if len(fileNodes) > 0 {
+			cfg.AllowedNodes = append(cfg.AllowedNodes, fileNodes...)
+			log.Info().
+				Str("allowed_nodes_file", cfg.AllowedNodesFile).
+				Int("allowed_node_count", len(fileNodes)).
+				Msg("Loaded allowed nodes from file")
+		}
+	}
+
+	cfg.AllowedNodes = normalizeNodes(cfg.AllowedNodes)
+
 	// Strict node validation override
 	if envStrict := os.Getenv("PULSE_SENSOR_PROXY_STRICT_NODE_VALIDATION"); envStrict != "" {
 		parsed, err := parseBool(envStrict)
@@ -386,6 +414,64 @@ func splitAndTrim(raw string) []string {
 	return result
 }
 
+func normalizeNodes(nodes []string) []string {
+	seen := make(map[string]struct{})
+	var result []string
+	for _, node := range nodes {
+		trimmed := strings.TrimSpace(node)
+		if trimmed == "" {
+			continue
+		}
+		key := strings.ToLower(trimmed)
+		if _, exists := seen[key]; exists {
+			continue
+		}
+		seen[key] = struct{}{}
+		result = append(result, trimmed)
+	}
+	return result
+}
+
+func loadAllowedNodesFile(path string) ([]string, error) {
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	type wrapper struct {
+		AllowedNodes []string `yaml:"allowed_nodes"`
+	}
+
+	var w wrapper
+	if err := yaml.Unmarshal(data, &w); err == nil && len(w.AllowedNodes) > 0 {
+		return normalizeNodes(w.AllowedNodes), nil
+	}
+
+	var list []string
+	if err := yaml.Unmarshal(data, &list); err == nil && len(list) > 0 {
+		return normalizeNodes(list), nil
+	}
+
+	scanner := bufio.NewScanner(bytes.NewReader(data))
+	var plain []string
+	for scanner.Scan() {
+		line := strings.TrimSpace(scanner.Text())
+		if line == "" || strings.HasPrefix(line, "#") {
+			continue
+		}
+		if strings.HasPrefix(line, "-") {
+			line = strings.TrimSpace(strings.TrimPrefix(line, "-"))
+		}
+		if line != "" {
+			plain = append(plain, line)
+		}
+	}
+	if err := scanner.Err(); err != nil {
+		return normalizeNodes(plain), err
+	}
+	return normalizeNodes(plain), nil
+}
+
 // detectHostCIDRs detects local host IP addresses as /32 (IPv4) or /128 (IPv6) CIDRs
 func detectHostCIDRs() []string {
 	var cidrs []string
diff --git a/scripts/install-sensor-proxy.sh b/scripts/install-sensor-proxy.sh
index b925da6..4703d87 100755
--- a/scripts/install-sensor-proxy.sh
+++ b/scripts/install-sensor-proxy.sh
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
+CONFIG_FILE="/etc/pulse-sensor-proxy/config.yaml"
+ALLOWED_NODES_FILE="/etc/pulse-sensor-proxy/allowed_nodes.yaml"
+
 # Colors for output
 RED='\033[0;31m'
 GREEN='\033[0;32m'
@@ -79,44 +82,27 @@ EOF
     fi
 }
 
-# Helper function to safely update allowed_nodes section in config file
-# Removes any existing allowed_nodes section before adding new one to prevent duplicates
-update_allowed_nodes() {
-    local config_file="/etc/pulse-sensor-proxy/config.yaml"
-    local comment_line="$1"
-    shift
-    local nodes=("$@")
-
-    mkdir -p "$(dirname "$config_file")"
-    touch "$config_file"
-
-    # Gather existing nodes (if any) to preserve manual edits
-    local existing_nodes=()
-    if command -v perl >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-        mapfile -t existing_nodes < <(perl -0ne 'if (m/allowed_nodes:\n((?:[ \t]+-[^\n]*\n)+)/m) { @lines = split /\n/, $1; for (@lines) { s/^[ \t-]+//; s/\s+$//; next unless $_; print "$_\n"; } }' "$config_file" 2>/dev/null || true)
+ensure_allowed_nodes_file_reference() {
+    if [[ ! -f "$CONFIG_FILE" ]]; then
+        return
     fi
+    if ! grep -q "allowed_nodes_file" "$CONFIG_FILE" 2>/dev/null; then
+        echo 'allowed_nodes_file: "/etc/pulse-sensor-proxy/allowed_nodes.yaml"' >> "$CONFIG_FILE"
+    fi
+}
 
-    # Merge and de-duplicate nodes
-    local merged_nodes=()
-    declare -A seen_nodes=()
-    for node in "${existing_nodes[@]}" "${nodes[@]}"; do
-        node=$(echo "$node" | awk '{$1=$1;print}')
-        if [[ -z "$node" ]]; then
-            continue
-        fi
-        if [[ -z "${seen_nodes[$node]+set}" ]]; then
-            merged_nodes+=("$node")
-            seen_nodes["$node"]=1
-        fi
-    done
-
-    # Remove any existing allowed_nodes block (including descriptive comments) to prevent duplicates
-    if command -v python3 >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-        python3 - "$config_file" <<'PY'
+remove_allowed_nodes_block() {
+    if ! command -v python3 >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+        sed -i '/allowed_nodes:/d' "$CONFIG_FILE" 2>/dev/null || true
+        return
+    fi
+    python3 - "$CONFIG_FILE" <<'PY'
 import sys
 from pathlib import Path
 
 path = Path(sys.argv[1])
+if not path.exists():
+    sys.exit(0)
 lines = path.read_text().splitlines()
 out = []
 pending = []
@@ -131,49 +117,93 @@ i = 0
 while i < len(lines):
     line = lines[i]
     stripped = line.lstrip()
-
     if skip:
-        # Keep skipping until a non-indented, non-comment line appears
         if stripped == '' or stripped.startswith('#') or stripped.startswith('-') or line.startswith((' ', '\t')):
             i += 1
             continue
         skip = False
-
     if stripped.startswith('allowed_nodes:'):
         pending.clear()
         skip = True
         i += 1
         continue
-
     if stripped == '' or stripped.startswith('#'):
         pending.append(line)
         i += 1
         continue
-
     flush_pending()
     out.append(line)
     i += 1
-
 flush_pending()
 path.write_text('\n'.join(out) + ('\n' if out else ''))
 PY
-    else
-        # Fallback: truncate the file to remove duplicates if python3 is unavailable
-        grep -v '^allowed_nodes:' "$config_file" > "${config_file}.tmp" && mv "${config_file}.tmp" "$config_file"
+}
+
+update_allowed_nodes() {
+    local comment_line="$1"
+    shift
+    local nodes=("$@")
+
+    ensure_allowed_nodes_file_reference
+    remove_allowed_nodes_block
+
+    if ! command -v python3 >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+        print_warn "python3 is required to manage allowed_nodes; skipping update"
+        return
     fi
 
-    {
-        echo ""
-        echo "# ${comment_line}"
-        echo "# These nodes are allowed to request temperature data when cluster IPC validation is unavailable"
-        echo "allowed_nodes:"
-        for node in "${merged_nodes[@]}"; do
-            echo "  - $node"
-        done
-    } >> "$config_file"
+    python3 - "$ALLOWED_NODES_FILE" "$comment_line" "${nodes[@]}" <<'PY'
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+import yaml
 
-    chmod 0644 "$config_file" 2>/dev/null || true
-    chown pulse-sensor-proxy:pulse-sensor-proxy "$config_file" 2>/dev/null || true
+path = Path(sys.argv[1])
+comment = sys.argv[2]
+new_nodes = [n.strip() for n in sys.argv[3:] if n.strip()]
+existing = []
+if path.exists():
+    text = path.read_text()
+    try:
+        data = yaml.safe_load(text)
+    except yaml.YAMLError:
+        data = None
+    if isinstance(data, dict):
+        arr = data.get('allowed_nodes')
+        if isinstance(arr, list):
+            existing = [str(x).strip() for x in arr if str(x).strip()]
+    elif isinstance(data, list):
+        existing = [str(x).strip() for x in data if str(x).strip()]
+    else:
+        for line in text.splitlines():
+            line = line.strip()
+            if not line or line.startswith('#'):
+                continue
+            if line.startswith('-'):
+                line = line[1:].strip()
+            if line:
+                existing.append(line)
+
+seen = set()
+merged = []
+for entry in existing + new_nodes:
+    entry = entry.strip()
+    if not entry:
+        continue
+    key = entry.lower()
+    if key in seen:
+        continue
+    seen.add(key)
+    merged.append(entry)
+
+path.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+with path.open('w') as fh:
+    fh.write("# Managed by install-sensor-proxy.sh\n")
+    fh.write(f"# {comment}\n")
+    yaml.safe_dump({'allowed_nodes': merged}, fh, default_flow_style=False, sort_keys=False)
+PY
+
+    chmod 0644 "$ALLOWED_NODES_FILE" 2>/dev/null || true
+    chown pulse-sensor-proxy:pulse-sensor-proxy "$ALLOWED_NODES_FILE" 2>/dev/null || true
 }
 
 
@@ -1125,6 +1155,8 @@ EOF
     chmod 0644 /etc/pulse-sensor-proxy/config.yaml
 fi
 
+ensure_allowed_nodes_file_reference
+
 # Register socket-mode proxy with Pulse if server provided
 if [[ "$HTTP_MODE" != true ]]; then
     if [[ -z "$PULSE_SERVER" ]]; then