diff --git a/docs/query_proxy.md b/docs/query_proxy.md
index c413721c74..0f56fedaf2 100644
--- a/docs/query_proxy.md
+++ b/docs/query_proxy.md
@@ -179,6 +179,26 @@ If this flag is specified, then `allowedCalls` must not be specified.
 }
 ```
 
+### Validating Permissions File Changes
+
+The query server automatically detects changes to the permissions file and attempts to reload them. If there are errors in the updated
+file, the server rejects the update and continues running on the old version. However, if the file is not fixed, those errors will prevent
+the server from coming up on the next restart. You can avoid this problem by verifying any file updates before attempting to reload.
+
+To do this, you can copy the permissions file to some other file, make your changes to the copy, and then do the following:
+
+```sh
+$ guardiand query-server --verifyPermissions --permFile new.permissions.file.json --allowAnything
+```
+
+where `new.permissions.file.json` is the path to the updated file. Additionally, if your permission file includes the `allowAnything`
+flag for any of the users, you must specify that flag on the command line when doing the verify.
+
+If the updated file is good, the program will exit immediately with no output and an exit code of zero. If the file contains
+errors, the first error will be printed, and the exit code will be one.
+
+Once you are satisfied with your updates, you can copy the updated file to the official location.
+
 ## Telemetry
 
 The proxy server provides two types of telemetry data, logs and metrics.
diff --git a/node/cmd/ccq/query_server.go b/node/cmd/ccq/query_server.go
index 1ae79b2cd1..c8907a587f 100644
--- a/node/cmd/ccq/query_server.go
+++ b/node/cmd/ccq/query_server.go
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ var (
 	monitorPeers           *bool
 	gossipAdvertiseAddress *string
 	allowAnything          *bool
+	verifyPermissions      *bool
 )
 
 const DEV_NETWORK_ID = "/wormhole/dev"
@@ -71,6 +72,7 @@ func init() {
 	monitorPeers = QueryServerCmd.Flags().Bool("monitorPeers", false, "Should monitor bootstrap peers and attempt to reconnect")
 	gossipAdvertiseAddress = QueryServerCmd.Flags().String("gossipAdvertiseAddress", "", "External IP to advertize on P2P (use if behind a NAT or running in k8s)")
 	allowAnything = QueryServerCmd.Flags().Bool("allowAnything", false, `Should allow API keys with the "allowAnything" flag (only allowed in testnet and devnet)`)
+	verifyPermissions = QueryServerCmd.Flags().Bool("verifyPermissions", false, `parse and verify the permissions file and then exit with 0 if success, 1 if failure`)
 
 	// The default health check monitoring is every five seconds, with a five second timeout, and you have to miss two, for 20 seconds total.
 	shutdownDelay1 = QueryServerCmd.Flags().Uint("shutdownDelay1", 25, "Seconds to delay after disabling health check on shutdown")
@@ -86,6 +88,15 @@ var QueryServerCmd = &cobra.Command{
 }
 
 func runQueryServer(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
+	if *verifyPermissions {
+		_, err := parseConfigFile(*permFile, *allowAnything)
+		if err != nil {
+			fmt.Println(err)
+			os.Exit(1)
+		}
+		os.Exit(0)
+	}
+
 	common.SetRestrictiveUmask()
 
 	// Setup logging