diff --git a/bin/_helpers b/bin/_helpers
index 33caa48..e0bd47b 100644
--- a/bin/_helpers
+++ b/bin/_helpers
@@ -94,6 +94,10 @@ function output_info {
     output_tagged_string "$BG_B" "INFO" "$1"
 }
 
+function output_warning {
+    output_tagged_string "$BG_Y" "WARNING" "$1"
+}
+
 export BG_R
 export BG_G
 export BG_Y
diff --git a/bin/proxy b/bin/proxy
index f1015ba..98ea3b3 100755
--- a/bin/proxy
+++ b/bin/proxy
@@ -1,5 +1,16 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
+# Enable auto-export
+set -a
+
+if [ -f ".env" ]; then
+    # shellcheck source=/dev/null
+    source ".env"
+fi
+
+# Disable auto-export
+set +a
+
 HOP_PATH=$(cd -- "$( dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" &> /dev/null && pwd)
 TOOLKIT_PATH=$(dirname "$HOP_PATH")
 
@@ -147,6 +158,16 @@ function pick_one_virtual_host_from_file() {
 
     HOST_STRING=$(sed -nr 's/.*VIRTUAL_HOST=(.*)/\1/p' "$FILE")
 
+    # Trim double quotes from HOST_STRING
+    HOST_STRING=$(echo "$HOST_STRING" | tr -d '"')
+
+    # Pipe HOST_STRING through envsubst if available
+    if command -v envsubst &> /dev/null; then
+        HOST_STRING=$(echo "$HOST_STRING" | envsubst)
+    else
+        >&2 output_warning "envsubst not found. Skipping environment variable substitution."
+    fi
+
     IFS="," read -ra HOSTS <<< "$HOST_STRING"
 
     for HOST_ENTRY in "${HOSTS[@]}"; do