diff --git a/src/app/app_tests.rs b/src/app/app_tests.rs
index 59cfb8e..e7a5084 100644
--- a/src/app/app_tests.rs
+++ b/src/app/app_tests.rs
@@ -2,12 +2,16 @@
 mod tests {
   use crate::models::Route;
   use anyhow::anyhow;
-  use pretty_assertions::assert_eq;
+  use pretty_assertions::{assert_eq, assert_str_eq};
   use rstest::rstest;
+  use serde::de::value::StringDeserializer;
+  use serde::de::IntoDeserializer;
   use tokio::sync::mpsc;
 
   use crate::app::context_clues::{build_context_clue_string, SERVARR_CONTEXT_CLUES};
-  use crate::app::{App, AppConfig, Data, ServarrConfig};
+  use crate::app::{
+    deserialize_env_var, interpolate_env_vars, App, AppConfig, Data, ServarrConfig,
+  };
   use crate::models::servarr_data::radarr::radarr_data::{ActiveRadarrBlock, RadarrData};
   use crate::models::servarr_data::sonarr::sonarr_data::{ActiveSonarrBlock, SonarrData};
   use crate::models::{HorizontallyScrollableText, TabRoute};
@@ -347,4 +351,62 @@ mod tests {
     assert!(servarr_config.api_token.is_empty());
     assert_eq!(servarr_config.ssl_cert_path, None);
   }
+
+  #[test]
+  fn test_deserialize_env_var() {
+    std::env::set_var("TEST_VAR_DESERIALIZE", "testing");
+    let deserializer: StringDeserializer<serde_yaml::Error> =
+      "${TEST_VAR_DESERIALIZE}".to_owned().into_deserializer();
+
+    let env_var: Result<String, serde_yaml::Error> = deserialize_env_var(deserializer);
+
+    assert!(env_var.is_ok());
+    assert_str_eq!(env_var.unwrap(), "testing");
+    std::env::remove_var("TEST_VAR_DESERIALIZE");
+  }
+
+  #[test]
+  fn test_interpolate_env_vars() {
+    std::env::set_var("TEST_VAR_INTERPOLATION", "testing");
+
+    let var = interpolate_env_vars("${TEST_VAR_INTERPOLATION}");
+
+    assert_str_eq!(var, "testing");
+    std::env::remove_var("TEST_VAR_INTERPOLATION");
+  }
+
+  #[test]
+  fn test_interpolate_env_vars_defaults_to_original_string_if_not_in_yaml_interpolation_format() {
+    let var = interpolate_env_vars("TEST_VAR_INTERPOLATION");
+
+    assert_str_eq!(var, "TEST_VAR_INTERPOLATION");
+  }
+
+  #[test]
+  fn test_interpolate_env_vars_scrubs_all_unnecessary_characters() {
+    std::env::set_var(
+      "TEST_VAR_INTERPOLATION_UNNECESSARY_CHARACTERS",
+      r#"""
+	        `"'https://dontdo:this@testing.com/query?test=%20query#results'"` {([\|$!])}
+      """#,
+    );
+
+    let var = interpolate_env_vars("${TEST_VAR_INTERPOLATION_UNNECESSARY_CHARACTERS}");
+
+    assert_str_eq!(
+      var,
+      "https://dontdo:this@testing.com/query?test=%20query#results"
+    );
+    std::env::remove_var("TEST_VAR_INTERPOLATION_UNNECESSARY_CHARACTERS");
+  }
+
+  #[test]
+  fn test_interpolate_env_vars_scrubs_all_unnecessary_characters_from_non_environment_variable() {
+    let var = interpolate_env_vars("https://dontdo:this@testing.com/query?test=%20query#results");
+
+    assert_str_eq!(
+      var,
+      "https://dontdo:this@testing.com/query?test=%20query#results"
+    );
+  }
 }
diff --git a/src/app/mod.rs b/src/app/mod.rs
index 41aa3e5..760bc7e 100644
--- a/src/app/mod.rs
+++ b/src/app/mod.rs
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ use std::process;
 use anyhow::{anyhow, Error};
 use colored::Colorize;
 use log::{debug, error};
+use regex::Regex;
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use tokio::sync::mpsc::Sender;
 use tokio_util::sync::CancellationToken;
@@ -213,71 +214,6 @@ pub struct Data<'a> {
   pub sonarr_data: SonarrData<'a>,
 }
 
-fn deserialize_env_var<'de, D>(deserializer: D) -> Result<String, D::Error>
-where
-  D: serde::Deserializer<'de>,
-{
-  let s: String = String::deserialize(deserializer)?;
-  let interpolated = interpolate_env_vars(&s);
-  Ok(interpolated)
-}
-
-fn deserialize_optional_env_var<'de, D>(deserializer: D) -> Result<Option<String>, D::Error>
-where
-  D: serde::Deserializer<'de>,
-{
-  let s: Option<String> = Option::deserialize(deserializer)?;
-  match s {
-    Some(value) => {
-      let interpolated = interpolate_env_vars(&value);
-      Ok(Some(interpolated))
-    }
-    None => Ok(None),
-  }
-}
-
-fn deserialize_u16_env_var<'de, D>(deserializer: D) -> Result<Option<u16>, D::Error>
-where
-  D: serde::Deserializer<'de>,
-{
-  let s: Option<String> = Option::deserialize(deserializer)?;
-  match s {
-    Some(value) => {
-      let interpolated = interpolate_env_vars(&value);
-      interpolated
-        .parse::<u16>()
-        .map(Some)
-        .map_err(serde::de::Error::custom)
-    }
-    None => Ok(None),
-  }
-}
-
-fn interpolate_env_vars(s: &str) -> String {
-  let mut result = s.to_string();
-  let start = "${";
-  let end = "}";
-
-  while let Some(start_index) = result.find(start) {
-    let end_index = result[start_index..]
-      .find(end)
-      .map(|i| start_index + i + end.len());
-    if let Some(end_index) = end_index {
-      let var_name = &result[start_index + start.len()..end_index - end.len()];
-      if let Ok(value) = std::env::var(var_name) {
-        // Match found; interpolate
-        result.replace_range(start_index..end_index, &value);
-      } else {
-        break; // No var match found; interpret it literally
-      }
-    } else {
-      break; // No closing brace found
-    }
-  }
-
-  result
-}
-
 #[derive(Debug, Deserialize, Serialize, Default, Clone)]
 pub struct AppConfig {
   pub radarr: Option<ServarrConfig>,
@@ -325,15 +261,15 @@ impl AppConfig {
 
 #[derive(Debug, Deserialize, Serialize, Clone)]
 pub struct ServarrConfig {
-  #[serde(deserialize_with = "deserialize_optional_env_var")]
+  #[serde(default, deserialize_with = "deserialize_optional_env_var")]
   pub host: Option<String>,
-  #[serde(deserialize_with = "deserialize_u16_env_var")]
+  #[serde(default, deserialize_with = "deserialize_u16_env_var")]
   pub port: Option<u16>,
-  #[serde(deserialize_with = "deserialize_optional_env_var")]
+  #[serde(default, deserialize_with = "deserialize_optional_env_var")]
   pub uri: Option<String>,
-  #[serde(deserialize_with = "deserialize_env_var")]
+  #[serde(default, deserialize_with = "deserialize_env_var")]
   pub api_token: String,
-  #[serde(deserialize_with = "deserialize_optional_env_var")]
+  #[serde(default, deserialize_with = "deserialize_optional_env_var")]
   pub ssl_cert_path: Option<String>,
 }
 
@@ -362,3 +298,61 @@ pub fn log_and_print_error(error: String) {
   error!("{}", error);
   eprintln!("error: {}", error.red());
 }
+
+fn deserialize_env_var<'de, D>(deserializer: D) -> Result<String, D::Error>
+where
+  D: serde::Deserializer<'de>,
+{
+  let s: String = String::deserialize(deserializer)?;
+  let interpolated = interpolate_env_vars(&s);
+  Ok(interpolated)
+}
+
+fn deserialize_optional_env_var<'de, D>(deserializer: D) -> Result<Option<String>, D::Error>
+where
+  D: serde::Deserializer<'de>,
+{
+  let s: Option<String> = Option::deserialize(deserializer)?;
+  match s {
+    Some(value) => {
+      let interpolated = interpolate_env_vars(&value);
+      Ok(Some(interpolated))
+    }
+    None => Ok(None),
+  }
+}
+
+fn deserialize_u16_env_var<'de, D>(deserializer: D) -> Result<Option<u16>, D::Error>
+where
+  D: serde::Deserializer<'de>,
+{
+  let s: Option<String> = Option::deserialize(deserializer)?;
+  match s {
+    Some(value) => {
+      let interpolated = interpolate_env_vars(&value);
+      interpolated
+        .parse::<u16>()
+        .map(Some)
+        .map_err(serde::de::Error::custom)
+    }
+    None => Ok(None),
+  }
+}
+
+fn interpolate_env_vars(s: &str) -> String {
+  let result = s.to_string();
+  let scrubbing_regex = Regex::new(r#"[\s\{\}!\$^\(\)\[\]\\\|`'"]+"#).unwrap();
+  let var_regex = Regex::new(r"\$\{(.*?)\}").unwrap();
+
+  var_regex
+    .replace_all(s, |caps: &regex::Captures<'_>| {
+      if let Some(mat) = caps.get(1) {
+        if let Ok(value) = std::env::var(mat.as_str()) {
+          return scrubbing_regex.replace_all(&value, "").to_string();
+        }
+      }
+
+      scrubbing_regex.replace_all(&result, "").to_string()
+    })
+    .to_string()
+}