diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ce7f798..4145955 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -6,4 +6,3 @@ other than a couple layout tweaks, it adds the following features:
 * route network traffic through a socks5 proxy
 
 if you want to run it for yourself, see INSTALL file for r's original instructions.
-<br>you probably don't have a socks proxy running on port 8080 on your local machine, so comment out lines 41-45 in main.go or set the url on line 41 to a valid proxy url.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/bloat.conf b/bloat.conf
index dd77875..74067b4 100644
--- a/bloat.conf
+++ b/bloat.conf
@@ -50,3 +50,7 @@ post_formats=PlainText:text/plain,HTML:text/html,Markdown:text/markdown,BBCode:t
 # Path to custom CSS. Value can be a file path relative to the static directory.
 # or a URL starting with either "http://" or "https://".
 # custom_css=custom.css
+
+# SOCKS5 proxy URL
+# example works for tor default, change as needed
+# proxy_url=socks5://127.0.0.1:9050
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/config/config.go b/config/config.go
index 8678f52..2353338 100644
--- a/config/config.go
+++ b/config/config.go
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ type config struct {
 	CustomCSS       string
 	PostFormats     []model.PostFormat
 	LogFile         string
+	ProxyUrl        *string
 }
 
 func (c *config) IsValid() bool {
@@ -100,6 +101,8 @@ func Parse(r io.Reader) (c *config, err error) {
 			c.PostFormats = formats
 		case "log_file":
 			c.LogFile = val
+		case "proxy_url":
+			c.ProxyUrl = &val
 		default:
 			return nil, errors.New("invalid config key " + key)
 		}
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 5c08440..056ac36 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ func errExit(err error) {
 	os.Exit(1)
 }
 
-func setupHttp() {
+func setupHttp(proxyUrl *string) {
 	tr := http.DefaultTransport.(*http.Transport)
 	tr.MaxIdleConnsPerHost = 30
 	tr.MaxIdleConns = 300
@@ -38,11 +38,13 @@ func setupHttp() {
 		KeepAlive: 3 * time.Minute,
 		DualStack: true,
 	}).DialContext
-	proxyUrl, err := url.Parse("socks5://127.0.0.1:8080")
-	if err != nil {
-		log.Fatalln(err)
+	if proxyUrl != nil {
+		proxyUrl, err := url.Parse(*proxyUrl)
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Fatalln(err)
+		}
+		tr.Proxy = http.ProxyURL(proxyUrl)
 	}
-	tr.Proxy = http.ProxyURL(proxyUrl)
 	client := http.DefaultClient
 	client.Transport = tr
 }
@@ -114,7 +116,7 @@ func main() {
 		logger = log.New(lf, "", log.LstdFlags)
 	}
 
-	setupHttp()
+	setupHttp(config.ProxyUrl)
 
 	s := service.NewService(config.ClientName, config.ClientScope,
 		config.ClientWebsite, customCSS, config.PostFormats, renderer,