diff --git a/apisix/cli/ngx_tpl.lua b/apisix/cli/ngx_tpl.lua
index 3b9b841d3ff5..4bc02fccb911 100644
--- a/apisix/cli/ngx_tpl.lua
+++ b/apisix/cli/ngx_tpl.lua
@@ -189,6 +189,11 @@ http {
     lua_shared_dict access-tokens {* http.lua_shared_dict["access-tokens"] *}; # cache for service account access tokens
 
     # for custom shared dict
+    {% if http.custom_lua_shared_dict then %}
+    {% for cache_key, cache_size in pairs(http.custom_lua_shared_dict) do %}
+    lua_shared_dict {*cache_key*} {*cache_size*};
+    {% end %}
+    {% end %}
     {% if http.lua_shared_dicts then %}
     {% for cache_key, cache_size in pairs(http.lua_shared_dicts) do %}
     lua_shared_dict {*cache_key*} {*cache_size*};
diff --git a/apisix/cli/ops.lua b/apisix/cli/ops.lua
index 0fcfa13ef805..ef0be7f427e5 100644
--- a/apisix/cli/ops.lua
+++ b/apisix/cli/ops.lua
@@ -265,7 +265,7 @@ local config_schema = {
         http = {
             type = "object",
             properties = {
-                lua_shared_dicts = {
+                custom_lua_shared_dict = {
                     type = "object",
                 }
             }
@@ -750,6 +750,11 @@ Please modify "admin_key" in conf/config.yaml .
         sys_conf["worker_processes"] = floor(tonumber(env_worker_processes))
     end
 
+    if sys_conf["http"]["lua_shared_dicts"] then
+        stderr:write("lua_shared_dicts is deprecated, " ..
+                     "use custom_lua_shared_dict instead\n")
+    end
+
     local exported_vars = file.get_exported_vars()
     if exported_vars then
         if not sys_conf["envs"] then
diff --git a/conf/config-default.yaml b/conf/config-default.yaml
index 781239bdeff4..5e3a0db3080d 100644
--- a/conf/config-default.yaml
+++ b/conf/config-default.yaml
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ nginx_config:                     # config for render the template to generate n
     real_ip_from:                  # http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_realip_module.html#set_real_ip_from
       - 127.0.0.1
       - "unix:"
-    #lua_shared_dicts:             # add custom shared cache to nginx.conf
+    #custom_lua_shared_dict:       # add custom shared cache to nginx.conf
     #  ipc_shared_dict: 100m       # custom shared cache, format: `cache-key: cache-size`
 
     # Enables or disables passing of the server name through TLS Server Name Indication extension (SNI, RFC 6066)
diff --git a/t/cli/test_http_config.sh b/t/cli/test_http_config.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..6e87741bdbba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/cli/test_http_config.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+#
+# Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+# contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+# this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+# The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+# (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+# the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+#
+
+. ./t/cli/common.sh
+
+git checkout conf/config.yaml
+
+echo '
+nginx_config:
+  http:
+    custom_lua_shared_dict:
+      my_dict: 1m
+' > conf/config.yaml
+
+make init
+
+if ! grep "lua_shared_dict my_dict 1m;" conf/nginx.conf > /dev/null; then
+    echo "failed: define custom shdict"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "passed: define custom shdict"
+
+git checkout conf/config.yaml
+
+echo '
+nginx_config:
+  http:
+    lua_shared_dicts:
+      my_dict: 1m
+' > conf/config.yaml
+
+make init
+
+if ! grep "lua_shared_dict my_dict 1m;" conf/nginx.conf > /dev/null; then
+    echo "failed: define custom shdict in the old way"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "passed: define custom shdict in the old way"
diff --git a/t/cli/test_main.sh b/t/cli/test_main.sh
index d267f6f1c997..ec1476b81121 100755
--- a/t/cli/test_main.sh
+++ b/t/cli/test_main.sh
@@ -514,26 +514,6 @@ fi
 rm conf/config_original.yaml conf/customized_config.yaml
 echo "passed: customized config.yaml copied and reverted succeeded"
 
-# allow to merge configuration without middle layer
-
-git checkout conf/config.yaml
-
-echo '
-nginx_config:
-  http:
-    lua_shared_dicts:
-      my_dict: 1m
-' > conf/config.yaml
-
-make init
-
-if ! grep "lua_shared_dict my_dict 1m;" conf/nginx.conf > /dev/null; then
-    echo "failed: 'my_dict' not in nginx.conf"
-    exit 1
-fi
-
-echo "passed: found 'my_dict' in nginx.conf"
-
 # check disable cpu affinity
 git checkout conf/config.yaml