diff --git a/config.yaml b/config.yaml
index 4c877d8..672f4c7 100644
--- a/config.yaml
+++ b/config.yaml
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ chat_backend: local # Select the primary chat backend (azure, openai, google_ver
 emb_backend: local # Select the primary embedding backend (azure, openai, google_vertex, aws, local, huggingface)
 
 use_conditional_graph: false  # Use a conditional RAG model with historical chat context, or a non-conditional model without access to the current conversation
+use_reranker: false # Use a LLM to rerank the retrieved context documents
 
 # --- Provider Specific Settings ---
 
diff --git a/generic_rag/app.py b/generic_rag/app.py
index 3f6e68d..fbde75a 100644
--- a/generic_rag/app.py
+++ b/generic_rag/app.py
@@ -67,9 +67,9 @@ else:
         chat_model=chat_function,
         embedding_model=embedding_function,
         system_prompt=system_prompt,
-        compression_model=get_compression_model(
-            "BAAI/bge-reranker-base", vector_store
-        ),  # TODO: implement in config parser
+        compression_model=(
+            get_compression_model("BAAI/bge-reranker-base", vector_store) if settings.use_reranker else None
+        ),
     )
 
 
diff --git a/generic_rag/parsers/config.py b/generic_rag/parsers/config.py
index 7ef2dee..d7f14f5 100644
--- a/generic_rag/parsers/config.py
+++ b/generic_rag/parsers/config.py
@@ -119,6 +119,7 @@ class AppSettings(BaseModel):
     chat_backend: ChatBackend = Field(default=ChatBackend.local)
     emb_backend: EmbeddingBackend = Field(default=EmbeddingBackend.huggingface)
     use_conditional_graph: bool = Field(default=False)
+    use_reranker: bool = Field(default=False)
 
     # --- Provider-specific settings ---
     azure: Optional[AzureSettings] = None