diff --git a/default_config_generator.go b/default_config_generator.go
index 03ea3ac6..c5ca900c 100644
--- a/default_config_generator.go
+++ b/default_config_generator.go
@@ -24,6 +24,21 @@ func NewDefaultConfigGenerator(logs scribe.Emitter) DefaultConfigGenerator {
 }
 
 func (g DefaultConfigGenerator) Generate(config Configuration) error {
+	g.logs.Process("Check: %s", config.NGINXConfLocation)
+	if info, err := os.Stat(config.NGINXConfLocation); err == nil {
+		g.logs.Subprocess("Configuration file already exists")
+		if info.Size() > 0 {
+			userConf, err := os.ReadFile(config.NGINXConfLocation)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+
+			g.logs.Subprocess("Set configuration (in %s) as template", config.NGINXConfLocation)
+
+			DefaultConfigTemplate = string(userConf)
+		}
+	}
+
 	g.logs.Process("Generating %s", config.NGINXConfLocation)
 	t := template.Must(template.New("template.conf").Delims("$((", "))").Parse(DefaultConfigTemplate))
 
diff --git a/default_config_generator_test.go b/default_config_generator_test.go
index 3d453033..0e72a7cc 100644
--- a/default_config_generator_test.go
+++ b/default_config_generator_test.go
@@ -360,6 +360,53 @@ error_log stderr;
 `)))
 		})
 
+		context("existing nginx.conf, BP_WEB_SERVER=nginx", func() {
+			it("doesn't overwrite an existing nginx.conf", func() {
+				confPath := filepath.Join(workingDir, "nginx-exists-non-empty.conf")
+				Expect(os.WriteFile(confPath, []byte("port {{port}};"), 0644)).To(Succeed())
+
+				Expect(generator.Generate(nginx.Configuration{
+					NGINXConfLocation: confPath,
+					WebServer:         "htdocs",
+				})).To(Succeed())
+
+				Expect(confPath).
+					To(matchers.BeAFileMatching(ContainSubstring(string("port {{port}}"))))
+
+				Expect(os.Remove(confPath)).To(Succeed())
+			})
+
+			it("sets variables inside the supplied nginx.conf", func() {
+				confPath := filepath.Join(workingDir, "nginx-exists.conf")
+				Expect(os.WriteFile(confPath, []byte("root $(( .WebServerRoot -));"), 0644)).To(Succeed())
+
+				Expect(generator.Generate(nginx.Configuration{
+					NGINXConfLocation: confPath,
+					WebServerRoot:     "/a/very/specific/path",
+				})).To(Succeed())
+
+				Expect(confPath).
+					To(matchers.BeAFileMatching(ContainSubstring("root /a/very/specific/path;")))
+
+				Expect(os.Remove(confPath)).To(Succeed())
+			})
+
+			it("overwrites an empty nginx.conf", func() {
+				confPath := filepath.Join(workingDir, "nginx-exists-empty.conf")
+				Expect(os.WriteFile(confPath, []byte(""), 0644)).To(Succeed())
+
+				Expect(generator.Generate(nginx.Configuration{
+					NGINXConfLocation: confPath,
+				})).To(Succeed())
+
+				// check that there's anything inthere
+				Expect(confPath).
+					To(matchers.BeAFileMatching(BeEquivalentTo(`root {{ env "APP_ROOT" }};`)))
+
+				Expect(os.Remove(confPath)).To(Succeed())
+			})
+		})
+
 		context("failure cases", func() {
 			context("destination file already exists and it's read-only", func() {
 				it.Before(func() {