diff --git a/userspace/engine/falco_engine.cpp b/userspace/engine/falco_engine.cpp
index 7f3d18f3..45f455c2 100644
--- a/userspace/engine/falco_engine.cpp
+++ b/userspace/engine/falco_engine.cpp
@@ -444,6 +444,11 @@ void falco_engine::clear_filters()
 	}
 }
 
+void falco_engine::clear_loader()
+{
+	m_rule_loader.clear();
+}
+
 void falco_engine::set_sampling_ratio(uint32_t sampling_ratio)
 {
 	m_sampling_ratio = sampling_ratio;
diff --git a/userspace/engine/falco_engine.h b/userspace/engine/falco_engine.h
index 9d8d7cce..8a558f51 100644
--- a/userspace/engine/falco_engine.h
+++ b/userspace/engine/falco_engine.h
@@ -118,6 +118,15 @@ public:
 	// Clear all existing filters.
 	void clear_filters();
 
+	//
+	// Clear all the definitions of the internal rule loader (e.g. defined
+	// rules, macros, lists, engine/plugin version requirements). This is meant
+	// to be used to free-up memory at runtime when the definitions are not
+	// used anymore. Calling this between successive invocations of load_rules
+	// or load_rules_file can cause failures of features like appending.
+	//
+	void clear_loader();
+
 	//
 	// Set the sampling ratio, which can affect which events are
 	// matched against the set of rules.
diff --git a/userspace/falco/falco.cpp b/userspace/falco/falco.cpp
index 0255e028..308cb6b7 100644
--- a/userspace/falco/falco.cpp
+++ b/userspace/falco/falco.cpp
@@ -763,6 +763,9 @@ int falco_init(int argc, char **argv)
 			}
 		}
 
+		// Free-up memory for the rule loader, which is not used from now on
+		engine->clear_loader();
+
 		for (auto substring : app.options().disabled_rule_substrings)
 		{
 			falco_logger::log(LOG_INFO, "Disabling rules matching substring: " + substring + "\n");