diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3469f1b1..8344b32f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -46,9 +46,11 @@ TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN="<YOUR_TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN>"
 Additional optional (but recommended) configuration values:
 ```bash
 ALLOWED_TELEGRAM_USER_IDS="<USER_ID_1>,<USER_ID_2>,..." # Defaults to "*"
-DEBUG=false # Defaults to TRUE, set to FALSE to disable debug mode
+PROXY="<HTTP/HTTPS_PROXY>" # E.g. "http://localhost:8080", defaults to none
+DEBUG=false # Defaults to true
 ```
 * `ALLOWED_TELEGRAM_USER_IDS`: A comma-separated list of Telegram user IDs that are allowed to interact with the bot (use [getidsbot](https://t.me/getidsbot) to find your user ID). **Important**: by default, *everyone* is allowed (`*`)
+* `PROXY`: Proxy to be used when authenticating with OpenAI
 * `DEBUG`: Enable debug logging for the [revChatGpt](https://github.com/acheong08/ChatGPT) package
 
 ### Run
diff --git a/main.py b/main.py
index c8e70d8b..93252117 100644
--- a/main.py
+++ b/main.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ def main():
     chatgpt_config = {
         'email': os.environ['OPENAI_EMAIL'],
         'password': os.environ['OPENAI_PASSWORD'],
+        'proxy': os.environ.get('PROXY', ''),
     }
     telegram_config = {
         'token': os.environ['TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN'],