Hi there,
I’m in the process of making some changes to my configuration, and one massive annoyance seems to be how long it takes to instigate that change. This is possibly due to my misunderstanding!
So, If I make a change to a binary sensor or the config file, can I just reload the core, or do I need to do a full restart of hassio??
Cheers people!
A restart of Hassio.
Should only take 2 or 3 mins.
That is a long time when you are making lots of changes!
I’m a web dev, and used to making changes and instantly seeing the result - forgive me 
You’re right, it is when your restarting 10 times in 2 hours.
I’ve setup notifications on shutdown and restart so I don’t have to sit and wait, check and recheck if the system is back up.
The good news is automations, scripts, groups, and customisations don’t require a restart.
In my experience, change a group or automation then just restart group or automation. If you are changing anything else in configuration.yaml or customize.yaml then in most cases it needs a full reboot. 
You can always run it on another machine. I have mine running on my little Xeon box in Docker, not a crazy machine either, think it’s like a 7500’ish CPU passmark. If I hit full restart in the GUI, it only takes about 3 or 4 seconds to come back up with the new change with a decent variety of components. I may not have as many as some of the pros though.
When I make changes I normally hit the ‘Check Config’ first before I do a full restart - this gives me a good indication if trying to restart is even worth a try.
I’m working with WinSCP - and I guess it would be the same or even easier with Samba - and Notepad++.
I keep the Notepad++ windows open until I made all the changes in all files because it gives me the great option of quickly ‘undoing’ all my changes and to get back to the previously working config (which I have backed up of course before I add something new).
This combination allows me to minimize the number of restarts and still be able to revert to the last working setup quickly if necessary.