diff --git a/server.js b/server.js
index 933c10d5c..4b4bc9274 100644
--- a/server.js
+++ b/server.js
@@ -261,26 +261,26 @@ app.use(responseTime());
 
 
 /** @type {number} */
-const server_port = cliArguments.port ?? getConfigValue('port', DEFAULT_PORT);
+const server_port = cliArguments.port ?? getConfigValue('port', DEFAULT_PORT, 'number');
 /** @type {boolean} */
-const autorun = (cliArguments.autorun ?? getConfigValue('autorun', DEFAULT_AUTORUN)) && !cliArguments.ssl;
+const autorun = (cliArguments.autorun ?? getConfigValue('autorun', DEFAULT_AUTORUN, 'boolean')) && !cliArguments.ssl;
 /** @type {boolean} */
-const listen = cliArguments.listen ?? getConfigValue('listen', DEFAULT_LISTEN);
+const listen = cliArguments.listen ?? getConfigValue('listen', DEFAULT_LISTEN, 'boolean');
 /** @type {string} */
 const listenAddressIPv6 = cliArguments.listenAddressIPv6 ?? getConfigValue('listenAddress.ipv6', DEFAULT_LISTEN_ADDRESS_IPV6);
 /** @type {string} */
 const listenAddressIPv4 = cliArguments.listenAddressIPv4 ?? getConfigValue('listenAddress.ipv4', DEFAULT_LISTEN_ADDRESS_IPV4);
 /** @type {boolean} */
-const enableCorsProxy = cliArguments.corsProxy ?? getConfigValue('enableCorsProxy', DEFAULT_CORS_PROXY);
-const enableWhitelist = cliArguments.whitelist ?? getConfigValue('whitelistMode', DEFAULT_WHITELIST);
+const enableCorsProxy = cliArguments.corsProxy ?? getConfigValue('enableCorsProxy', DEFAULT_CORS_PROXY, 'boolean');
+const enableWhitelist = cliArguments.whitelist ?? getConfigValue('whitelistMode', DEFAULT_WHITELIST, 'boolean');
 /** @type {string} */
 globalThis.DATA_ROOT = cliArguments.dataRoot ?? getConfigValue('dataRoot', './data');
 /** @type {boolean} */
-const disableCsrf = cliArguments.disableCsrf ?? getConfigValue('disableCsrfProtection', DEFAULT_CSRF_DISABLED);
-const basicAuthMode = cliArguments.basicAuthMode ?? getConfigValue('basicAuthMode', DEFAULT_BASIC_AUTH);
-const perUserBasicAuth = getConfigValue('perUserBasicAuth', DEFAULT_PER_USER_BASIC_AUTH);
+const disableCsrf = cliArguments.disableCsrf ?? getConfigValue('disableCsrfProtection', DEFAULT_CSRF_DISABLED, 'boolean');
+const basicAuthMode = cliArguments.basicAuthMode ?? getConfigValue('basicAuthMode', DEFAULT_BASIC_AUTH, 'boolean');
+const perUserBasicAuth = getConfigValue('perUserBasicAuth', DEFAULT_PER_USER_BASIC_AUTH, 'boolean');
 /** @type {boolean} */
-const enableAccounts = getConfigValue('enableUserAccounts', DEFAULT_ACCOUNTS);
+const enableAccounts = getConfigValue('enableUserAccounts', DEFAULT_ACCOUNTS, 'boolean');
 
 const uploadsPath = path.join(globalThis.DATA_ROOT, UPLOADS_DIRECTORY);
 
@@ -293,15 +293,15 @@ let enableIPv4 = stringToBool(cliArguments.enableIPv4) ?? getConfigValue('protoc
 /** @type {string} */
 const autorunHostname = cliArguments.autorunHostname ?? getConfigValue('autorunHostname', DEFAULT_AUTORUN_HOSTNAME);
 /** @type {number} */
-const autorunPortOverride = cliArguments.autorunPortOverride ?? getConfigValue('autorunPortOverride', DEFAULT_AUTORUN_PORT);
+const autorunPortOverride = cliArguments.autorunPortOverride ?? getConfigValue('autorunPortOverride', DEFAULT_AUTORUN_PORT, 'number');
 
 /** @type {boolean} */
-const dnsPreferIPv6 = cliArguments.dnsPreferIPv6 ?? getConfigValue('dnsPreferIPv6', DEFAULT_PREFER_IPV6);
+const dnsPreferIPv6 = cliArguments.dnsPreferIPv6 ?? getConfigValue('dnsPreferIPv6', DEFAULT_PREFER_IPV6, 'boolean');
 
 /** @type {boolean} */
-const avoidLocalhost = cliArguments.avoidLocalhost ?? getConfigValue('avoidLocalhost', DEFAULT_AVOID_LOCALHOST);
+const avoidLocalhost = cliArguments.avoidLocalhost ?? getConfigValue('avoidLocalhost', DEFAULT_AVOID_LOCALHOST, 'boolean');
 
-const proxyEnabled = cliArguments.requestProxyEnabled ?? getConfigValue('requestProxy.enabled', DEFAULT_PROXY_ENABLED);
+const proxyEnabled = cliArguments.requestProxyEnabled ?? getConfigValue('requestProxy.enabled', DEFAULT_PROXY_ENABLED, 'boolean');
 const proxyUrl = cliArguments.requestProxyUrl ?? getConfigValue('requestProxy.url', DEFAULT_PROXY_URL);
 const proxyBypass = cliArguments.requestProxyBypass ?? getConfigValue('requestProxy.bypass', DEFAULT_PROXY_BYPASS);
 
@@ -395,7 +395,7 @@ if (enableCorsProxy) {
 
 function getSessionCookieAge() {
     // Defaults to "no expiration" if not set
-    const configValue = getConfigValue('sessionTimeout', -1);
+    const configValue = getConfigValue('sessionTimeout', -1, 'number');
 
     // Convert to milliseconds
     if (configValue > 0) {
@@ -924,7 +924,7 @@ function setWindowTitle(title) {
 function logSecurityAlert(message) {
     if (basicAuthMode || enableWhitelist) return; // safe!
     console.error(color.red(message));
-    if (getConfigValue('securityOverride', false)) {
+    if (getConfigValue('securityOverride', false, 'boolean')) {
         console.warn(color.red('Security has been overridden. If it\'s not a trusted network, change the settings.'));
         return;
     }
diff --git a/src/endpoints/backends/chat-completions.js b/src/endpoints/backends/chat-completions.js
index 17b1fce0a..144749dce 100644
--- a/src/endpoints/backends/chat-completions.js
+++ b/src/endpoints/backends/chat-completions.js
@@ -106,8 +106,8 @@ async function sendClaudeRequest(request, response) {
     const apiUrl = new URL(request.body.reverse_proxy || API_CLAUDE).toString();
     const apiKey = request.body.reverse_proxy ? request.body.proxy_password : readSecret(request.user.directories, SECRET_KEYS.CLAUDE);
     const divider = '-'.repeat(process.stdout.columns);
-    const enableSystemPromptCache = getConfigValue('claude.enableSystemPromptCache', false) && request.body.model.startsWith('claude-3');
-    let cachingAtDepth = getConfigValue('claude.cachingAtDepth', -1);
+    const enableSystemPromptCache = getConfigValue('claude.enableSystemPromptCache', false, 'boolean') && request.body.model.startsWith('claude-3');
+    let cachingAtDepth = getConfigValue('claude.cachingAtDepth', -1, 'number');
     // Disabled if not an integer or negative, or if the model doesn't support it
     if (!Number.isInteger(cachingAtDepth) || cachingAtDepth < 0 || !request.body.model.startsWith('claude-3')) {
         cachingAtDepth = -1;
@@ -969,7 +969,7 @@ router.post('/generate', jsonParser, function (request, response) {
             bodyParams.logprobs = true;
         }
 
-        if (getConfigValue('openai.randomizeUserId', false)) {
+        if (getConfigValue('openai.randomizeUserId', false, 'boolean')) {
             bodyParams['user'] = uuidv4();
         }
     } else if (request.body.chat_completion_source === CHAT_COMPLETION_SOURCES.OPENROUTER) {
@@ -1008,7 +1008,7 @@ router.post('/generate', jsonParser, function (request, response) {
             bodyParams['include_reasoning'] = true;
         }
 
-        let cachingAtDepth = getConfigValue('claude.cachingAtDepth', -1);
+        let cachingAtDepth = getConfigValue('claude.cachingAtDepth', -1, 'number');
         if (Number.isInteger(cachingAtDepth) && cachingAtDepth >= 0 && request.body.model?.startsWith('anthropic/claude-3')) {
             cachingAtDepthForOpenRouterClaude(request.body.messages, cachingAtDepth);
         }
diff --git a/src/endpoints/backends/text-completions.js b/src/endpoints/backends/text-completions.js
index c5da6280d..fa7cd089a 100644
--- a/src/endpoints/backends/text-completions.js
+++ b/src/endpoints/backends/text-completions.js
@@ -372,8 +372,8 @@ router.post('/generate', jsonParser, async function (request, response) {
         }
 
         if (request.body.api_type === TEXTGEN_TYPES.OLLAMA) {
-            const keepAlive = getConfigValue('ollama.keepAlive', -1);
-            const numBatch = getConfigValue('ollama.batchSize', -1);
+            const keepAlive = getConfigValue('ollama.keepAlive', -1, 'number');
+            const numBatch = getConfigValue('ollama.batchSize', -1, 'number');
             if (numBatch > 0) {
                 request.body['num_batch'] = numBatch;
             }
diff --git a/src/endpoints/characters.js b/src/endpoints/characters.js
index 294a195dc..8e6f831d9 100644
--- a/src/endpoints/characters.js
+++ b/src/endpoints/characters.js
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ import { importRisuSprites } from './sprites.js';
 const defaultAvatarPath = './public/img/ai4.png';
 
 // KV-store for parsed character data
-const cacheCapacity = Number(getConfigValue('cardsCacheCapacity', 100)); // MB
+const cacheCapacity = getConfigValue('cardsCacheCapacity', 100, 'number'); // MB
 // With 100 MB limit it would take roughly 3000 characters to reach this limit
 const characterDataCache = new MemoryLimitedMap(1024 * 1024 * cacheCapacity);
 // Some Android devices require tighter memory management
diff --git a/src/endpoints/chats.js b/src/endpoints/chats.js
index 803bb1ca5..e72542789 100644
--- a/src/endpoints/chats.js
+++ b/src/endpoints/chats.js
@@ -19,9 +19,9 @@ import {
     formatBytes,
 } from '../util.js';
 
-const isBackupEnabled = !!getConfigValue('backups.chat.enabled', true);
-const maxTotalChatBackups = Number(getConfigValue('backups.chat.maxTotalBackups', -1));
-const throttleInterval = Number(getConfigValue('backups.chat.throttleInterval', 10_000));
+const isBackupEnabled = getConfigValue('backups.chat.enabled', true, 'boolean');
+const maxTotalChatBackups = getConfigValue('backups.chat.maxTotalBackups', -1, 'number');
+const throttleInterval = getConfigValue('backups.chat.throttleInterval', 10_000, 'number');
 
 /**
  * Saves a chat to the backups directory.
diff --git a/src/endpoints/content-manager.js b/src/endpoints/content-manager.js
index 254134362..efc198aac 100644
--- a/src/endpoints/content-manager.js
+++ b/src/endpoints/content-manager.js
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ async function seedContentForUser(contentIndex, directories, forceCategories) {
  */
 export async function checkForNewContent(directoriesList, forceCategories = []) {
     try {
-        const contentCheckSkip = getConfigValue('skipContentCheck', false);
+        const contentCheckSkip = getConfigValue('skipContentCheck', false, 'boolean');
         if (contentCheckSkip && forceCategories?.length === 0) {
             return;
         }
diff --git a/src/endpoints/secrets.js b/src/endpoints/secrets.js
index a7f0094ba..9f2c74769 100644
--- a/src/endpoints/secrets.js
+++ b/src/endpoints/secrets.js
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ router.post('/read', jsonParser, (request, response) => {
 });
 
 router.post('/view', jsonParser, async (request, response) => {
-    const allowKeysExposure = getConfigValue('allowKeysExposure', false);
+    const allowKeysExposure = getConfigValue('allowKeysExposure', false, 'boolean');
 
     if (!allowKeysExposure) {
         console.error('secrets.json could not be viewed unless the value of allowKeysExposure in config.yaml is set to true');
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ router.post('/view', jsonParser, async (request, response) => {
 });
 
 router.post('/find', jsonParser, (request, response) => {
-    const allowKeysExposure = getConfigValue('allowKeysExposure', false);
+    const allowKeysExposure = getConfigValue('allowKeysExposure', false, 'boolean');
     const key = request.body.key;
 
     if (!allowKeysExposure && !EXPORTABLE_KEYS.includes(key)) {
diff --git a/src/endpoints/settings.js b/src/endpoints/settings.js
index 887fd664b..de4afd36f 100644
--- a/src/endpoints/settings.js
+++ b/src/endpoints/settings.js
@@ -11,9 +11,9 @@ import { jsonParser } from '../express-common.js';
 import { getAllUserHandles, getUserDirectories } from '../users.js';
 import { getFileNameValidationFunction } from '../middleware/validateFileName.js';
 
-const ENABLE_EXTENSIONS = !!getConfigValue('extensions.enabled', true);
-const ENABLE_EXTENSIONS_AUTO_UPDATE = !!getConfigValue('extensions.autoUpdate', true);
-const ENABLE_ACCOUNTS = getConfigValue('enableUserAccounts', false);
+const ENABLE_EXTENSIONS = getConfigValue('extensions.enabled', true, 'boolean');
+const ENABLE_EXTENSIONS_AUTO_UPDATE = getConfigValue('extensions.autoUpdate', true, 'boolean');
+const ENABLE_ACCOUNTS = getConfigValue('enableUserAccounts', false, 'boolean');
 
 // 10 minutes
 const AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL = 10 * 60 * 1000;
diff --git a/src/endpoints/thumbnails.js b/src/endpoints/thumbnails.js
index bba6a2a13..e67570157 100644
--- a/src/endpoints/thumbnails.js
+++ b/src/endpoints/thumbnails.js
@@ -12,8 +12,8 @@ import { getAllUserHandles, getUserDirectories } from '../users.js';
 import { getConfigValue } from '../util.js';
 import { jsonParser } from '../express-common.js';
 
-const thumbnailsEnabled = !!getConfigValue('thumbnails.enabled', true);
-const quality = Math.min(100, Math.max(1, parseInt(getConfigValue('thumbnails.quality', 95))));
+const thumbnailsEnabled = !!getConfigValue('thumbnails.enabled', true, 'boolean');
+const quality = Math.min(100, Math.max(1, parseInt(getConfigValue('thumbnails.quality', 95, 'number'))));
 const pngFormat = String(getConfigValue('thumbnails.format', 'jpg')).toLowerCase().trim() === 'png';
 
 /** @type {Record<string, number[]>} */
diff --git a/src/endpoints/tokenizers.js b/src/endpoints/tokenizers.js
index 505c932d9..f746d2e78 100644
--- a/src/endpoints/tokenizers.js
+++ b/src/endpoints/tokenizers.js
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ export const TEXT_COMPLETION_MODELS = [
 ];
 
 const CHARS_PER_TOKEN = 3.35;
-const IS_DOWNLOAD_ALLOWED = getConfigValue('enableDownloadableTokenizers', true);
+const IS_DOWNLOAD_ALLOWED = getConfigValue('enableDownloadableTokenizers', true, 'boolean');
 
 /**
  * Gets a path to the tokenizer model. Downloads the model if it's a URL.
diff --git a/src/endpoints/users-public.js b/src/endpoints/users-public.js
index 8370e5748..4332b4b9b 100644
--- a/src/endpoints/users-public.js
+++ b/src/endpoints/users-public.js
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import { jsonParser, getIpFromRequest } from '../express-common.js';
 import { color, Cache, getConfigValue } from '../util.js';
 import { KEY_PREFIX, getUserAvatar, toKey, getPasswordHash, getPasswordSalt } from '../users.js';
 
-const DISCREET_LOGIN = getConfigValue('enableDiscreetLogin', false);
+const DISCREET_LOGIN = getConfigValue('enableDiscreetLogin', false, 'boolean');
 const MFA_CACHE = new Cache(5 * 60 * 1000);
 
 export const router = express.Router();
diff --git a/src/middleware/basicAuth.js b/src/middleware/basicAuth.js
index b75856289..910bfaeb7 100644
--- a/src/middleware/basicAuth.js
+++ b/src/middleware/basicAuth.js
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ import storage from 'node-persist';
 import { getAllUserHandles, toKey, getPasswordHash } from '../users.js';
 import { getConfig, getConfigValue, safeReadFileSync } from '../util.js';
 
-const PER_USER_BASIC_AUTH = getConfigValue('perUserBasicAuth', false);
-const ENABLE_ACCOUNTS = getConfigValue('enableUserAccounts', false);
+const PER_USER_BASIC_AUTH = getConfigValue('perUserBasicAuth', false, 'boolean');
+const ENABLE_ACCOUNTS = getConfigValue('enableUserAccounts', false, 'boolean');
 
 const basicAuthMiddleware = async function (request, response, callback) {
     const unauthorizedWebpage = safeReadFileSync('./public/error/unauthorized.html') ?? '';
diff --git a/src/middleware/whitelist.js b/src/middleware/whitelist.js
index cb90328ee..56bb3919c 100644
--- a/src/middleware/whitelist.js
+++ b/src/middleware/whitelist.js
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import { getIpFromRequest } from '../express-common.js';
 import { color, getConfigValue, safeReadFileSync } from '../util.js';
 
 const whitelistPath = path.join(process.cwd(), './whitelist.txt');
-const enableForwardedWhitelist = getConfigValue('enableForwardedWhitelist', false);
+const enableForwardedWhitelist = getConfigValue('enableForwardedWhitelist', false, 'boolean');
 let whitelist = getConfigValue('whitelist', []);
 let knownIPs = new Set();
 
diff --git a/src/plugin-loader.js b/src/plugin-loader.js
index 744c3396d..221a6bc09 100644
--- a/src/plugin-loader.js
+++ b/src/plugin-loader.js
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ import { default as git } from 'simple-git';
 import { sync as commandExistsSync } from 'command-exists';
 import { getConfigValue, color } from './util.js';
 
-const enableServerPlugins = !!getConfigValue('enableServerPlugins', false);
-const enableServerPluginsAutoUpdate = !!getConfigValue('enableServerPluginsAutoUpdate', true);
+const enableServerPlugins = getConfigValue('enableServerPlugins', false, 'boolean');
+const enableServerPluginsAutoUpdate = getConfigValue('enableServerPluginsAutoUpdate', true, 'boolean');
 
 /**
  * Map of loaded plugins.
diff --git a/src/prompt-converters.js b/src/prompt-converters.js
index 4389b7199..f432e8a04 100644
--- a/src/prompt-converters.js
+++ b/src/prompt-converters.js
@@ -572,7 +572,7 @@ export function convertMistralMessages(messages, names) {
     }
 
     // Make the last assistant message a prefill
-    const prefixEnabled = getConfigValue('mistral.enablePrefix', false);
+    const prefixEnabled = getConfigValue('mistral.enablePrefix', false, 'boolean');
     const lastMsg = messages[messages.length - 1];
     if (prefixEnabled && messages.length > 0 && lastMsg?.role === 'assistant') {
         lastMsg.prefix = true;
diff --git a/src/transformers.js b/src/transformers.js
index c8f8da4f6..2bd03f4a5 100644
--- a/src/transformers.js
+++ b/src/transformers.js
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ export async function getPipeline(task, forceModel = '') {
 
     const cacheDir = path.join(globalThis.DATA_ROOT, '_cache');
     const model = forceModel || getModelForTask(task);
-    const localOnly = !getConfigValue('extensions.models.autoDownload', true);
+    const localOnly = !getConfigValue('extensions.models.autoDownload', true, 'boolean');
     console.log('Initializing transformers.js pipeline for task', task, 'with model', model);
     const instance = await pipeline(task, model, { cache_dir: cacheDir, quantized: tasks[task].quantized ?? true, local_files_only: localOnly });
     tasks[task].pipeline = instance;
diff --git a/src/users.js b/src/users.js
index e7460fb1c..b02c6e935 100644
--- a/src/users.js
+++ b/src/users.js
@@ -21,9 +21,9 @@ import { getContentOfType } from './endpoints/content-manager.js';
 
 export const KEY_PREFIX = 'user:';
 const AVATAR_PREFIX = 'avatar:';
-const ENABLE_ACCOUNTS = getConfigValue('enableUserAccounts', false);
-const AUTHELIA_AUTH = getConfigValue('autheliaAuth', false);
-const PER_USER_BASIC_AUTH = getConfigValue('perUserBasicAuth', false);
+const ENABLE_ACCOUNTS = getConfigValue('enableUserAccounts', false, 'boolean');
+const AUTHELIA_AUTH = getConfigValue('autheliaAuth', false, 'boolean');
+const PER_USER_BASIC_AUTH = getConfigValue('perUserBasicAuth', false, 'boolean');
 const ANON_CSRF_SECRET = crypto.randomBytes(64).toString('base64');
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/util.js b/src/util.js
index 27d6d2cf6..e1bbd53fd 100644
--- a/src/util.js
+++ b/src/util.js
@@ -54,19 +54,33 @@ export function getConfig() {
     }
 }
 
+
 /**
  * Returns the value for the given key from the config object.
  * @param {string} key - Key to get from the config object
  * @param {any} defaultValue - Default value to return if the key is not found
+ * @param {'number'|'boolean'|null} typeConverter - Type to convert the value to
  * @returns {any} Value for the given key
  */
-export function getConfigValue(key, defaultValue = null) {
-    const envKey = keyToEnv(key);
-    if (envKey in process.env) {
-        return process.env[envKey];
+export function getConfigValue(key, defaultValue = null, typeConverter = null) {
+    function _getValue() {
+        const envKey = keyToEnv(key);
+        if (envKey in process.env) {
+            return process.env[envKey];
+        }
+        const config = getConfig();
+        return _.get(config, key, defaultValue);
+    }
+
+    const value = _getValue();
+    switch (typeConverter) {
+        case 'number':
+            return Number(value);
+        case 'boolean':
+            return toBoolean(value);
+        default:
+            return value;
     }
-    const config = getConfig();
-    return _.get(config, key, defaultValue);
 }
 
 /**
@@ -392,7 +406,7 @@ export function generateTimestamp() {
  * @param {number?} limit Maximum number of backups to keep. If null, the limit is determined by the `backups.common.numberOfBackups` config value.
  */
 export function removeOldBackups(directory, prefix, limit = null) {
-    const MAX_BACKUPS = limit ?? Number(getConfigValue('backups.common.numberOfBackups', 50));
+    const MAX_BACKUPS = limit ?? Number(getConfigValue('backups.common.numberOfBackups', 50, 'number'));
 
     let files = fs.readdirSync(directory).filter(f => f.startsWith(prefix));
     if (files.length > MAX_BACKUPS) {
@@ -745,6 +759,27 @@ export async function canResolve(name, useIPv6 = true, useIPv4 = true) {
     }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Converts various JavaScript primitives to boolean values.
+ * Handles special case for "true"/"false" strings (case-insensitive)
+ *
+ * @param {any} value - The value to convert to boolean
+ * @returns {boolean} - The boolean representation of the value
+ */
+export function toBoolean(value) {
+    // Handle string values case-insensitively
+    if (typeof value === 'string') {
+        // Trim and convert to lowercase for case-insensitive comparison
+        const trimmedLower = value.trim().toLowerCase();
+
+        // Handle explicit "true"/"false" strings
+        if (trimmedLower === 'true') return true;
+        if (trimmedLower === 'false') return false;
+    }
+
+    // Handle all other JavaScript values based on their "truthiness"
+    return Boolean(value);
+}
 
 /**
  * converts string to boolean accepts 'true' or 'false' else it returns the string put in
@@ -761,7 +796,7 @@ export function stringToBool(str) {
  * Setup the minimum log level
  */
 export function setupLogLevel() {
-    const logLevel = getConfigValue('minLogLevel', LOG_LEVELS.DEBUG);
+    const logLevel = getConfigValue('minLogLevel', LOG_LEVELS.DEBUG, 'number');
 
     globalThis.console.debug = logLevel <= LOG_LEVELS.DEBUG ? console.debug : () => {};
     globalThis.console.info = logLevel <= LOG_LEVELS.INFO ? console.info : () => {};