diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index bc54acde..2f8cde29 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -931,6 +931,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "eyre",
  "once_cell",
  "serde",
+ "serde-with-expand-env",
  "serde_yaml 0.9.11",
  "uuid 1.2.1",
  "which",
@@ -3366,6 +3367,16 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde_derive",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "serde-with-expand-env"
+version = "1.1.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "888d884a3be3a209308d0b66f1918ff18f60e93db837259e53ea7d8dd14e7e98"
+dependencies = [
+ "serde",
+ "shellexpand",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "serde_derive"
 version = "1.0.144"
diff --git a/libraries/core/Cargo.toml b/libraries/core/Cargo.toml
index 494e6160..42b0d368 100644
--- a/libraries/core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/libraries/core/Cargo.toml
@@ -14,3 +14,4 @@ once_cell = "1.13.0"
 zenoh-config = { git = "https://github.com/eclipse-zenoh/zenoh.git", rev = "79a136e4fd90b11ff5d775ced981af53c4f1071b" }
 which = "4.3.0"
 uuid = { version = "1.2.1", features = ["serde"] }
+serde-with-expand-env = "1.1.0"
diff --git a/libraries/core/src/descriptor/mod.rs b/libraries/core/src/descriptor/mod.rs
index d3ed0459..892c7a72 100644
--- a/libraries/core/src/descriptor/mod.rs
+++ b/libraries/core/src/descriptor/mod.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 use crate::config::{CommunicationConfig, DataId, InputMapping, NodeId, NodeRunConfig, OperatorId};
 use eyre::{bail, Result};
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
+use serde_with_expand_env::with_expand_envs;
 use std::{
     collections::{BTreeMap, BTreeSet, HashMap},
     env::consts::EXE_EXTENSION,
@@ -222,8 +223,11 @@ pub struct CustomNode {
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, Serialize, Deserialize)]
 #[serde(untagged)]
 pub enum EnvValue {
+    #[serde(deserialize_with = "with_expand_envs")]
     Bool(bool),
+    #[serde(deserialize_with = "with_expand_envs")]
     Integer(u64),
+    #[serde(deserialize_with = "with_expand_envs")]
     String(String),
 }