diff --git a/apps/emqx_config_helper/lib/emqx_config_helper.ex b/apps/emqx_config_helper/lib/emqx_config_helper.ex
index 1f2e0781d..186be4456 100644
--- a/apps/emqx_config_helper/lib/emqx_config_helper.ex
+++ b/apps/emqx_config_helper/lib/emqx_config_helper.ex
@@ -1,2 +1,9 @@
 defmodule EmqxConfigHelper do
+	def hocon_cli(arg) do
+		arg
+		|> String.split()
+		|> Enum.map(&to_charlist/1)
+		|> :hocon_cli.main()
+		:ok
+	end
 end
diff --git a/apps/emqx_release_helper/lib/emqx_release_helper/applications.ex b/apps/emqx_release_helper/lib/emqx_release_helper/applications.ex
index fda0388d7..5ad4e93aa 100644
--- a/apps/emqx_release_helper/lib/emqx_release_helper/applications.ex
+++ b/apps/emqx_release_helper/lib/emqx_release_helper/applications.ex
@@ -7,13 +7,20 @@ defmodule EmqxReleaseHelper.Applications do
     overlay %{release_type: release_type} do
       copy "etc/certs", "etc/certs"
 
-      template "etc/emqx.conf", "etc/emqx.conf"
       template "etc/ssl_dist.conf", "etc/ssl_dist.conf"
       template "etc/emqx_#{release_type}/vm.args", "etc/vm.args"
     end
   end
 
   application :emqx_machine do
+    start_type :permanent
+
+		overlay do
+			template "etc/emqx.conf.all", "etc/emqx.conf"
+		end
+  end
+
+  application :emqx_gateway do
     start_type :permanent
   end
 
diff --git a/rel/overlays/ex_bin/emqx b/rel/overlays/ex_bin/emqx
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..e668b7b64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rel/overlays/ex_bin/emqx
@@ -0,0 +1,247 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+set -e
+
+SELF=$(readlink "$0" || true)
+if [ -z "$SELF" ]; then SELF="$0"; fi
+RELEASE_ROOT="$(CDPATH='' cd "$(dirname "$SELF")/.." && pwd -P)"
+export RELEASE_ROOT
+export RELEASE_NAME="${RELEASE_NAME:-"emqx"}"
+export RELEASE_VSN="${RELEASE_VSN:-"$(cut -d' ' -f2 "$RELEASE_ROOT/releases/start_erl.data")"}"
+export RELEASE_COMMAND="$1"
+export RELEASE_MODE="${RELEASE_MODE:-"embedded"}"
+export RELEASE_PROG="${RELEASE_PROG:-"$(echo "$0" | sed 's/.*\///')"}"
+
+REL_VSN_DIR="$RELEASE_ROOT/releases/$RELEASE_VSN"
+. "$REL_VSN_DIR/env.sh"
+. "$RELEASE_ROOT/releases/emqx_vars"
+
+export RELEASE_COOKIE="${RELEASE_COOKIE:-"$(cat "$RELEASE_ROOT/releases/COOKIE")"}"
+export RELEASE_NODE="${RELEASE_NODE:-"$RELEASE_NAME"}"
+export RELEASE_TMP="${RELEASE_TMP:-"$RELEASE_ROOT/tmp"}"
+export RELEASE_VM_ARGS="${RELEASE_VM_ARGS:-"$REL_VSN_DIR/vm.args"}"
+export RELEASE_REMOTE_VM_ARGS="${RELEASE_REMOTE_VM_ARGS:-"$REL_VSN_DIR/remote.vm.args"}"
+export RELEASE_DISTRIBUTION="${RELEASE_DISTRIBUTION:-"sname"}"
+export RELEASE_BOOT_SCRIPT="${RELEASE_BOOT_SCRIPT:-"start"}"
+export RELEASE_BOOT_SCRIPT_CLEAN="${RELEASE_BOOT_SCRIPT_CLEAN:-"start_clean"}"
+export RELEASE_SYS_CONFIG="${RELEASE_SYS_CONFIG:-"$REL_VSN_DIR/sys"}"
+
+export SCHEMA_MOD=emqx_machine_schema
+export CONFIGS_DIR="$RUNNER_DATA_DIR/configs"
+export NAME='emqx'
+export NAME_TYPE='-sname'
+
+SED_REPLACE="sed -i "
+case $(sed --help 2>&1) in
+    *GNU*) SED_REPLACE="sed -i ";;
+    *BusyBox*) SED_REPLACE="sed -i ";;
+    *) SED_REPLACE="sed -i '' ";;
+esac
+
+rand () {
+  dd count=1 bs=2 if=/dev/urandom 2> /dev/null | od -x | awk 'NR==1{print $2}'
+}
+
+call_hocon () {
+  eval_elixir "EmqxConfigHelper.hocon_cli(\"$1 $2 $3 $4 $5 $6 $7 $8 $9\")"
+}
+
+generate_config () {
+  local name_type="$NAME_TYPE"
+  local node_name="$NAME"
+
+  ## Delete the *.siz files first or it cann't start after
+  ## changing the config 'log.rotation.size'
+  rm -rf "${RUNNER_LOG_DIR}"/*.siz
+
+  EMQX_LICENSE_CONF_OPTION=""
+  if [ "${EMQX_LICENSE_CONF:-}" != "" ]; then
+      EMQX_LICENSE_CONF_OPTION="-c ${EMQX_LICENSE_CONF}"
+  fi
+
+  ## timestamp for each generation
+  local NOW_TIME
+  NOW_TIME="$(call_hocon now_time)"
+
+  ## ths command populates two files: app.<time>.config and vm.<time>.args
+  ## disable SC2086 to allow EMQX_LICENSE_CONF_OPTION to split
+  # shellcheck disable=SC2086
+  call_hocon -v -t "$NOW_TIME" -s $SCHEMA_MOD -c "$RUNNER_ETC_DIR"/emqx.conf $EMQX_LICENSE_CONF_OPTION -d "$RUNNER_DATA_DIR"/configs generate
+
+  ## filenames are per-hocon convention
+  RELEASE_SYS_CONFIG="$CONFIGS_DIR/app.$NOW_TIME.config"
+  RELEASE_VM_ARGS="$CONFIGS_DIR/vm.$NOW_TIME.args"
+
+  # TODO: migrate vm.args logic
+
+  # local CONF_FILE="$CONFIGS_DIR/app.$NOW_TIME.config"
+  # local HOCON_GEN_ARG_FILE="$CONFIGS_DIR/vm.$NOW_TIME.args"
+  # CONFIG_ARGS="--erl-config $CONF_FILE --vm-args $HOCON_GEN_ARG_FILE"
+
+  # ## Merge hocon generated *.args into the vm.args
+  # TMP_ARG_FILE="$CONFIGS_DIR/vm.args.tmp"
+  # cp "$RUNNER_ETC_DIR/vm.args" "$TMP_ARG_FILE"
+  # echo "" >> "$TMP_ARG_FILE"
+  # echo "-pa ${REL_DIR}/consolidated" >> "$TMP_ARG_FILE"
+  # ## read lines from generated vm.<time>.args file
+  # ## drop comment lines, and empty lines using sed
+  # ## pipe the lines to a while loop
+  # sed '/^#/d' "$HOCON_GEN_ARG_FILE" | sed '/^$/d' | while IFS='' read -r ARG_LINE || [ -n "$ARG_LINE" ]; do
+  #     ## in the loop, split the 'key[:space:]value' pair
+  #     ARG_KEY=$(echo "$ARG_LINE" | awk '{$NF="";print}')
+  #     ARG_VALUE=$(echo "$ARG_LINE" | awk '{print $NF}')
+  #     ## use the key to look up in vm.args file for the value
+  #     TMP_ARG_VALUE=$(grep "^$ARG_KEY" "$TMP_ARG_FILE" || true | awk '{print $NF}')
+  #     ## compare generated (to override) value to original (to be overriden) value
+  #     if [ "$ARG_VALUE" != "$TMP_ARG_VALUE" ] ; then
+  #         ## if they are different
+  #         if [ -n "$TMP_ARG_VALUE" ]; then
+  #             ## if the old value is present, replace it with generated value
+  #             sh -c "$SED_REPLACE 's|^$ARG_KEY.*$|$ARG_LINE|' $TMP_ARG_FILE"
+  #         else
+  #             ## otherwise append generated value to the end
+  #             echo "$ARG_LINE" >> "$TMP_ARG_FILE"
+  #         fi
+  #     fi
+  # done
+  # echo "$name_type $node_name" >> "$TMP_ARG_FILE"
+  # ## rename the generated vm.<time>.args file
+  # mv -f "$TMP_ARG_FILE" "$HOCON_GEN_ARG_FILE"
+
+ #  # # shellcheck disable=SC2086
+  # if ! relx_nodetool chkconfig $CONFIG_ARGS; then
+  #     die "failed_to_check_config $CONFIG_ARGS"
+  # fi
+}
+
+
+release_distribution () {
+  case $RELEASE_DISTRIBUTION in
+    none)
+      ;;
+
+    name | sname)
+      echo "--$RELEASE_DISTRIBUTION $1"
+      ;;
+
+    *)
+      echo "ERROR: Expected sname, name, or none in RELEASE_DISTRIBUTION, got: $RELEASE_DISTRIBUTION" >&2
+      exit 1
+      ;;
+  esac
+}
+
+rpc () {
+  # TODO: remote vm args
+  exec "$REL_VSN_DIR/elixir" \
+       --hidden --cookie "$RELEASE_COOKIE" \
+       $(release_distribution "rpc-$(rand)-$RELEASE_NODE") \
+       --boot "$REL_VSN_DIR/$RELEASE_BOOT_SCRIPT_CLEAN" \
+       --boot-var RELEASE_LIB "$RELEASE_ROOT/lib" \
+       --vm-args "$RELEASE_REMOTE_VM_ARGS" \
+       --rpc-eval "$RELEASE_NODE" "$1"
+}
+
+start () {
+  generate_config
+  REL_EXEC="$1"
+  shift
+  exec "$REL_VSN_DIR/$REL_EXEC" \
+       --cookie "$RELEASE_COOKIE" \
+       $(release_distribution "$RELEASE_NODE") \
+       --erl "-mode $RELEASE_MODE" \
+       --erl-config "$RELEASE_SYS_CONFIG" \
+       --boot "$REL_VSN_DIR/$RELEASE_BOOT_SCRIPT" \
+       --boot-var RELEASE_LIB "$RELEASE_ROOT/lib" \
+       --vm-args "$RELEASE_VM_ARGS" "$@"
+}
+
+eval_elixir () {
+  "$REL_VSN_DIR/elixir" \
+    --cookie "$RELEASE_COOKIE" \
+    --erl-config "$RELEASE_SYS_CONFIG" \
+    --boot "$REL_VSN_DIR/$RELEASE_BOOT_SCRIPT_CLEAN" \
+    --boot-var RELEASE_LIB "$RELEASE_ROOT/lib" \
+    --vm-args "$RELEASE_VM_ARGS" --eval "$1"
+}
+
+case $1 in
+  start)
+    start "elixir" --no-halt
+    ;;
+
+  start_iex)
+    start "iex" --werl
+    ;;
+
+  daemon)
+    start "elixir" --no-halt --pipe-to "${RELEASE_TMP}/pipe" "${RELEASE_TMP}/log"
+    ;;
+
+  daemon_iex)
+    start "iex" --pipe-to "${RELEASE_TMP}/pipe" "${RELEASE_TMP}/log"
+    ;;
+
+  eval)
+    if [ -z "$2" ]; then
+      echo "ERROR: EVAL expects an expression as argument" >&2
+      exit 1
+    fi
+    generate_config
+    eval_elixir "$2"
+    ;;
+
+  remote)
+    generate_config
+    exec "$REL_VSN_DIR/iex" \
+         --werl --hidden --cookie "$RELEASE_COOKIE" \
+         $(release_distribution "rem-$(rand)-$RELEASE_NODE") \
+         --boot "$REL_VSN_DIR/$RELEASE_BOOT_SCRIPT_CLEAN" \
+         --boot-var RELEASE_LIB "$RELEASE_ROOT/lib" \
+         --vm-args "$RELEASE_REMOTE_VM_ARGS" \
+         --remsh "$RELEASE_NODE"
+    ;;
+
+  rpc)
+    if [ -z "$2" ]; then
+      echo "ERROR: RPC expects an expression as argument" >&2
+      exit 1
+    fi
+    rpc "$2"
+    ;;
+
+  restart|stop)
+    rpc "System.$1()"
+    ;;
+
+  pid)
+    rpc "IO.puts System.pid()"
+    ;;
+
+  version)
+    echo "$RELEASE_NAME $RELEASE_VSN"
+    ;;
+
+  *)
+    echo "Usage: $(basename "$0") COMMAND [ARGS]
+
+The known commands are:
+
+    start          Starts the system
+    start_iex      Starts the system with IEx attached
+    daemon         Starts the system as a daemon
+    daemon_iex     Starts the system as a daemon with IEx attached
+    eval \"EXPR\"    Executes the given expression on a new, non-booted system
+    rpc \"EXPR\"     Executes the given expression remotely on the running system
+    remote         Connects to the running system via a remote shell
+    restart        Restarts the running system via a remote command
+    stop           Stops the running system via a remote command
+    pid            Prints the operating system PID of the running system via a remote command
+    version        Prints the release name and version to be booted
+" >&2
+
+    if [ -n "$1" ]; then
+      echo "ERROR: Unknown command $1" >&2
+      exit 1
+    fi
+    ;;
+esac