diff --git a/red/nodes/Flow.js b/red/nodes/Flow.js
index 2e3607a47..bec251138 100644
--- a/red/nodes/Flow.js
+++ b/red/nodes/Flow.js
@@ -27,10 +27,42 @@ function getID() {
     return (1+Math.random()*4294967295).toString(16);
 }
 
+var EnvVarPropertyRE = /^\$\((\S+)\)$/;
+
+function mapEnvVarProperties(obj,prop) {
+    if (Buffer.isBuffer(obj[prop])) {
+        return;
+    } else if (Array.isArray(obj[prop])) {
+        for (var i=0;i<obj[prop].length;i++) {
+            mapEnvVarProperties(obj[prop],i);
+        }
+    } else if (typeof obj[prop] === 'string') {
+        var m;
+        if ( (m = EnvVarPropertyRE.exec(obj[prop])) !== null) {
+            if (process.env.hasOwnProperty(m[1])) {
+                obj[prop] = process.env[m[1]];
+            }
+        }
+    } else {
+        for (var p in obj[prop]) {
+            if (obj[prop].hasOwnProperty) {
+                mapEnvVarProperties(obj[prop],p);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 function createNode(type,config) {
     var nn = null;
+    var m;
     var nt = typeRegistry.get(type);
     if (nt) {
+        for (var p in config) {
+            if (config.hasOwnProperty(p)) {
+                mapEnvVarProperties(config,p);
+            }
+        }
+
         try {
             nn = new nt(clone(config));
         }