diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 472e6d593df..b25eccba055 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ require (
 )
 
 require (
+	dario.cat/mergo v1.0.2 // indirect
 	github.com/Azure/go-ansiterm v0.0.0-20230124172434-306776ec8161 // indirect
 	github.com/MakeNowJust/heredoc v1.0.0 // indirect
 	github.com/beorn7/perks v1.0.1 // indirect
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index dddab9f7e86..07da4c64ee9 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 cloud.google.com/go v0.26.0/go.mod h1:aQUYkXzVsufM+DwF1aE+0xfcU+56JwCaLick0ClmMTw=
+dario.cat/mergo v1.0.2 h1:85+piFYR1tMbRrLcDwR18y4UKJ3aH1Tbzi24VRW1TK8=
+dario.cat/mergo v1.0.2/go.mod h1:E/hbnu0NxMFBjpMIE34DRGLWqDy0g5FuKDhCb31ngxA=
 github.com/Azure/go-ansiterm v0.0.0-20230124172434-306776ec8161 h1:L/gRVlceqvL25UVaW/CKtUDjefjrs0SPonmDGUVOYP0=
 github.com/Azure/go-ansiterm v0.0.0-20230124172434-306776ec8161/go.mod h1:xomTg63KZ2rFqZQzSB4Vz2SUXa1BpHTVz9L5PTmPC4E=
 github.com/BurntSushi/toml v0.3.1/go.mod h1:xHWCNGjB5oqiDr8zfno3MHue2Ht5sIBksp03qcyfWMU=
diff --git a/kubectl-plugin/pkg/util/generation/generation.go b/kubectl-plugin/pkg/util/generation/generation.go
index 564fbedca6c..9a83e93d0b4 100644
--- a/kubectl-plugin/pkg/util/generation/generation.go
+++ b/kubectl-plugin/pkg/util/generation/generation.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 
+	"dario.cat/mergo"
 	"gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
 	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/resource"
@@ -444,11 +445,45 @@ func ParseConfigFile(filePath string) (*RayClusterConfig, error) {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to read config file: %w", err)
 	}
 
-	config := newRayClusterConfigWithDefaults()
-	if err := yaml.UnmarshalStrict(data, &config); err != nil {
+	var overrideConfig RayClusterConfig
+	if err := yaml.UnmarshalStrict(data, &overrideConfig); err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to parse YAML: %w", err)
 	}
+	config, err := mergeWithDefaultConfig(&overrideConfig)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return config, nil
+}
+
+func mergeWithDefaultConfig(overrideConfig *RayClusterConfig) (*RayClusterConfig, error) {
+	// detach worker groups from default config
+	overrideConfigWG := overrideConfig.WorkerGroups
+	overrideConfig.WorkerGroups = nil
 
+	config := newRayClusterConfigWithDefaults()
+	err := mergo.Merge(config, overrideConfig, mergo.WithOverride)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to merge config with defaults: %w", err)
+	}
+	// merge WorkerGroups and keep the default values for missing fields
+	// if overrideConfigWG is not nil, we will merge the worker groups from the config file
+	// and keep the default values for missing fields
+	if overrideConfigWG != nil {
+		for len(config.WorkerGroups) < len(overrideConfigWG) {
+			config.WorkerGroups = append(config.WorkerGroups, WorkerGroup{
+				Replicas: util.DefaultWorkerReplicas,
+				CPU:      ptr.To(util.DefaultWorkerCPU),
+				Memory:   ptr.To(util.DefaultWorkerMemory),
+			})
+		}
+		for i, workerGroup := range overrideConfigWG {
+			err := mergo.Merge(&config.WorkerGroups[i], workerGroup, mergo.WithOverride)
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to merge worker group %d: %w", i, err)
+			}
+		}
+	}
 	return config, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/kubectl-plugin/pkg/util/generation/generation_test.go b/kubectl-plugin/pkg/util/generation/generation_test.go
index 2c16d0d1a31..2125c5c3faf 100644
--- a/kubectl-plugin/pkg/util/generation/generation_test.go
+++ b/kubectl-plugin/pkg/util/generation/generation_test.go
@@ -875,8 +875,11 @@ func TestParseConfigFile(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 				WorkerGroups: []WorkerGroup{
 					{
+						Name:     ptr.To("default-group"),
 						Replicas: int32(1),
+						CPU:      ptr.To("2"),
 						GPU:      ptr.To("1"),
+						Memory:   ptr.To("4Gi"),
 					},
 				},
 			},
@@ -984,6 +987,145 @@ gke:
 				},
 			},
 		},
+		"override ray-version, image, service-account": {
+			config: `
+ray-version: 4.16.0
+image: custom/image:tag
+service-account: svcacct
+`,
+			expected: &RayClusterConfig{
+				RayVersion:     ptr.To("4.16.0"),
+				Image:          ptr.To("custom/image:tag"),
+				ServiceAccount: ptr.To("svcacct"),
+				Head: &Head{
+					CPU:    ptr.To("2"),
+					Memory: ptr.To("4Gi"),
+				},
+				WorkerGroups: []WorkerGroup{
+					{
+						Name:     ptr.To("default-group"),
+						Replicas: 1,
+						CPU:      ptr.To("2"),
+						Memory:   ptr.To("4Gi"),
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		},
+		"override only head CPU": {
+			config: `
+head:
+  cpu: "8"
+`,
+			expected: &RayClusterConfig{
+				RayVersion: ptr.To(util.RayVersion),
+				Image:      ptr.To(fmt.Sprintf("rayproject/ray:%s", util.RayVersion)),
+				Head: &Head{
+					CPU:    ptr.To("8"),
+					Memory: ptr.To("4Gi"),
+				},
+				WorkerGroups: []WorkerGroup{
+					{
+						Name:     ptr.To("default-group"),
+						Replicas: 1,
+						CPU:      ptr.To("2"),
+						Memory:   ptr.To("4Gi"),
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		},
+		"override worker group with only CPU": {
+			config: `
+worker-groups:
+- cpu: "1"
+`,
+			expected: &RayClusterConfig{
+				RayVersion: ptr.To(util.RayVersion),
+				Image:      ptr.To(fmt.Sprintf("rayproject/ray:%s", util.RayVersion)),
+				Head: &Head{
+					CPU:    ptr.To("2"),
+					Memory: ptr.To("4Gi"),
+				},
+				WorkerGroups: []WorkerGroup{
+					{
+						Name:     ptr.To("default-group"),
+						Replicas: 1,
+						CPU:      ptr.To("1"),
+						Memory:   ptr.To("4Gi"),
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		},
+		"override worker group with empty name": {
+			config: `
+worker-groups:
+- name: ""
+  replicas: 2
+`,
+			expected: &RayClusterConfig{
+				RayVersion: ptr.To(util.RayVersion),
+				Image:      ptr.To(fmt.Sprintf("rayproject/ray:%s", util.RayVersion)),
+				Head: &Head{
+					CPU:    ptr.To("2"),
+					Memory: ptr.To("4Gi"),
+				},
+				WorkerGroups: []WorkerGroup{
+					{
+						Name:     ptr.To("default-group"),
+						Replicas: 2,
+						CPU:      ptr.To("2"),
+						Memory:   ptr.To("4Gi"),
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		},
+		"override worker group with replicas = 0": {
+			config: `
+worker-groups:
+- name: "wg1"
+  replicas: 0
+`,
+			expected: &RayClusterConfig{
+				RayVersion: ptr.To(util.RayVersion),
+				Image:      ptr.To(fmt.Sprintf("rayproject/ray:%s", util.RayVersion)),
+				Head: &Head{
+					CPU:    ptr.To("2"),
+					Memory: ptr.To("4Gi"),
+				},
+				WorkerGroups: []WorkerGroup{
+					{
+						Name:     ptr.To("wg1"),
+						Replicas: 1, // fallback to default
+						CPU:      ptr.To("2"),
+						Memory:   ptr.To("4Gi"),
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		},
+		"override autoscaler": {
+			config: `
+autoscaler:
+  version: v2
+`,
+			expected: &RayClusterConfig{
+				RayVersion: ptr.To(util.RayVersion),
+				Image:      ptr.To(fmt.Sprintf("rayproject/ray:%s", util.RayVersion)),
+				Head: &Head{
+					CPU:    ptr.To("2"),
+					Memory: ptr.To("4Gi"),
+				},
+				WorkerGroups: []WorkerGroup{
+					{
+						Name:     ptr.To("default-group"),
+						Replicas: 1,
+						CPU:      ptr.To("2"),
+						Memory:   ptr.To("4Gi"),
+					},
+				},
+				Autoscaler: &Autoscaler{
+					Version: AutoscalerV2,
+				},
+			},
+		},
 	}
 
 	for name, test := range tests {