diff --git a/.env b/.env
index 82ab841..bce43f4 100644
--- a/.env
+++ b/.env
@@ -4,12 +4,12 @@
 # The timezone to use, find your timezone database name from 
 # https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones
 # Use the value from the 'TZ identifier' column
-TZ=Etc/UTC
+TZ=${TZ:-Etc/UTC}
 
 # Directory configuration. This .env file should be in /opt/docker, using the defaults below.
 # You MUST use absolute paths, otherwise each bind mount would be created relative to each compose file, and not 
 # the current directory
-DOCKER_DIR=/opt/docker
+DOCKER_DIR=${DOCKER_DIR:-/opt/docker}
 DOCKER_DATA_DIR=${DOCKER_DIR}/data
 DOCKER_APP_DIR=${DOCKER_DIR}/apps
 
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@ DOCKER_APP_DIR=${DOCKER_DIR}/apps
 # You can run 
 #   sudo chown $PUID:$PGID -R $DOCKER_DATA_DIR
 # replacing the variables with the actual values e.g sudo chown 1001:1001 -R /opt/docker/data
-PUID=1000
-PGID=1000
+PUID=${PUID:-1000}
+PGID=${PGID:-1000}
 
 
 # =========================================================
@@ -62,13 +62,13 @@ COMPOSE_PROFILES="required"
 # Traefik is the reverse proxy which provides external access to our apps. 
 
 # Email provided to Let's Encrypt for notifications
-LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL=
+LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL=${LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL:-}
 # The domain name to use for all services that are going to be exposed with Traefik.
 # This will be the default domain used for all services that are exposed with Traefik.
 # You can modify the domain used for specific services by editing the app specific hostname variables below.
 # If you have multiple domains, I would recommend providing a second domain here (e.g. 'DOMAIN2=example.io') and then editing the app specific hostname variables to use `DOMAIN2` instead of `DOMAIN`.
 # FOR DUCKDNS USERS: create only 1 record at duckdns e.g. example.duckdns.org and set the DOMAIN variable below to that value. You will access your apps via subdomains of it e.g. aiostreams.example.duckdns.org
-DOMAIN=example.com
+DOMAIN=${DOMAIN:-example.com}
 
 
 # =========================================================
@@ -79,9 +79,9 @@ DOMAIN=example.com
 # These should all be different random strings of at least 64 characters.
 # You can use the following command to generate them:
 # echo "$(openssl rand -base64 64 | tr -d '=/' | tr -d '\n')"
-AUTHELIA_SESSION_SECRET=""
-AUTHELIA_STORAGE_ENCRYPTION_KEY=""
-AUTHELIA_JWT_SECRET=""
+AUTHELIA_SESSION_SECRET=${AUTHELIA_SESSION_SECRET:-}
+AUTHELIA_STORAGE_ENCRYPTION_KEY=${AUTHELIA_STORAGE_ENCRYPTION_KEY:-}
+AUTHELIA_JWT_SECRET=${AUTHELIA_JWT_SECRET:-}
 
 # You can find additional configuration for Authelia in Authelia's .env file which will also
 # tell you how to add users 
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ AUTHELIA_JWT_SECRET=""
   # - Add 'cloudflare-ddns' to the 'COMPOSE_PROFILES' variable above. (or use the 'all' profile)
 # Then, obtain a cloudflare API token at (https://dash.cloudflare.com/profile/api-tokens) using the 'Edit zone DNS' template and
 # provide it here.
-CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN=
+CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN=${CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN:-}
 
 # WARNING: if you do not want to use Cloudflare DDNS, you must make sure to manually add the DNS A records for each subdomain you choose to use.
 # If you use DuckDNS, there isn't a need to create additional records, you only need one record created e.g. example.duckdns.org