diff --git a/install.ps1 b/install.ps1
index 88db452..f3afc82 100644
--- a/install.ps1
+++ b/install.ps1
@@ -255,7 +255,14 @@ function Write-Utf8File {
     $enc = New-Object System.Text.UTF8Encoding $false
     [System.IO.File]::WriteAllText($Path, $Content, $enc)
 }
- 
+
+# Single-quote a value for .env/.conf files so special characters ($, &, ;, etc.)
+# are preserved. Embedded single quotes are escaped as '\''.
+function Format-EnvVal([string]$Key, [string]$Val) {
+    $escaped = $Val -replace "'", "'\\''"
+    return "$Key='$escaped'"
+}
+
 # --- Config file ---
  
 function Load-ConfigFile {
@@ -266,6 +273,12 @@ function Load-ConfigFile {
         if ($line -match '^\s*([^=]+?)\s*=\s*(.*?)\s*$') {
             $key = $Matches[1].Trim()
             $val = $Matches[2].Trim()
+            # Strip surrounding quotes and unescape '\''
+            if ($val.Length -ge 2 -and $val[0] -eq "'" -and $val[-1] -eq "'") {
+                $val = $val.Substring(1, $val.Length - 2) -replace "'\\''"  , "'"
+            } elseif ($val.Length -ge 2 -and $val[0] -eq '"' -and $val[-1] -eq '"') {
+                $val = $val.Substring(1, $val.Length - 2)
+            }
             switch ($key) {
                 'install_dir'           { if (-not $script:cfg.InstallDir)          { $script:cfg.InstallDir          = $val } }
                 'public_host'           { if (-not $script:cfg.PublicHost)           { $script:cfg.PublicHost           = $val } }
@@ -669,15 +682,10 @@ HTTPS_PORT=$($c.HttpsPort)
 
 # PostgreSQL
 POSTGRES_USER=cameleer
-POSTGRES_PASSWORD=$($c.PostgresPassword)
 POSTGRES_DB=cameleer
 
-# ClickHouse
-CLICKHOUSE_PASSWORD=$($c.ClickhousePassword)
-
 # Server admin
 SERVER_ADMIN_USER=$($c.AdminUser)
-SERVER_ADMIN_PASS=$($c.AdminPass)
 
 # Bootstrap token
 BOOTSTRAP_TOKEN=$bt
@@ -697,6 +705,10 @@ CLICKHOUSE_IMAGE=$($c.Registry)/cameleer-clickhouse
 SERVER_IMAGE=$($c.Registry)/cameleer-server
 SERVER_UI_IMAGE=$($c.Registry)/cameleer-server-ui
 "@
+        # Passwords appended with single-quoting for special character safety
+        $content += "`n$(Format-EnvVal 'POSTGRES_PASSWORD' $c.PostgresPassword)"
+        $content += "`n$(Format-EnvVal 'CLICKHOUSE_PASSWORD' $c.ClickhousePassword)"
+        $content += "`n$(Format-EnvVal 'SERVER_ADMIN_PASS' $c.AdminPass)"
         if ($c.TlsMode -eq 'custom') {
             $content += "`nCERT_FILE=/user-certs/cert.pem"
             $content += "`nKEY_FILE=/user-certs/key.pem"
@@ -728,16 +740,11 @@ LOGTO_CONSOLE_BIND=$consoleBind
 
 # PostgreSQL
 POSTGRES_USER=cameleer
-POSTGRES_PASSWORD=$($c.PostgresPassword)
 POSTGRES_DB=cameleer_saas
- 
-# ClickHouse
-CLICKHOUSE_PASSWORD=$($c.ClickhousePassword)
- 
+
 # Admin user
 SAAS_ADMIN_USER=$($c.AdminUser)
-SAAS_ADMIN_PASS=$($c.AdminPass)
- 
+
 # TLS
 NODE_TLS_REJECT=$($c.NodeTlsReject)
 "@
@@ -772,10 +779,14 @@ CAMELEER_SERVER_SECURITY_JWTSECRET=$jwtSecret
 SMTP_HOST=$($c.SmtpHost)
 SMTP_PORT=$(if ($c.SmtpPort) { $c.SmtpPort } else { '587' })
 SMTP_USER=$($c.SmtpUser)
-SMTP_PASS=$($c.SmtpPass)
 SMTP_FROM_EMAIL=$(if ($c.SmtpFromEmail) { $c.SmtpFromEmail } else { "noreply@$($c.PublicHost)" })
 "@
         $content += $provisioningBlock
+        # Passwords appended with single-quoting for special character safety
+        $content += "`n$(Format-EnvVal 'POSTGRES_PASSWORD' $c.PostgresPassword)"
+        $content += "`n$(Format-EnvVal 'CLICKHOUSE_PASSWORD' $c.ClickhousePassword)"
+        $content += "`n$(Format-EnvVal 'SAAS_ADMIN_PASS' $c.AdminPass)"
+        $content += "`n$(Format-EnvVal 'SMTP_PASS' $c.SmtpPass)"
         $composeFile = 'docker-compose.yml;docker-compose.saas.yml'
         if ($c.TlsMode -eq 'custom') { $composeFile += ';docker-compose.tls.yml' }
         if ($c.MonitoringNetwork)     { $composeFile += ';docker-compose.monitoring.yml' }
@@ -1017,12 +1028,13 @@ deployment_mode=$($c.DeploymentMode)
 smtp_host=$($c.SmtpHost)
 smtp_port=$($c.SmtpPort)
 smtp_user=$($c.SmtpUser)
-smtp_pass=$($c.SmtpPass)
 smtp_from_email=$($c.SmtpFromEmail)
 registry=$($c.Registry)
 registry_user=$($c.RegistryUser)
-registry_token=$($c.RegistryToken)
 "@
+    # Passwords appended with single-quoting for special character safety
+    $txt += "`n$(Format-EnvVal 'smtp_pass' $c.SmtpPass)"
+    $txt += "`n$(Format-EnvVal 'registry_token' $c.RegistryToken)"
     Write-Utf8File $f $txt
     Log-Info 'Saved installer config to cameleer.conf'
 }
diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index a8585c9..cb75680 100644
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -156,6 +156,14 @@ generate_password() {
   tr -dc 'A-Za-z0-9' < /dev/urandom | head -c 32 || :
 }
 
+# Write KEY='escaped_value' to a file. Single-quotes prevent Docker Compose
+# from interpreting $, &, ;, etc. Embedded single quotes are escaped as '\''.
+env_val() {
+  local file="$1" key="$2" val="$3"
+  val="${val//\'/\'\\\'\'}"
+  printf "%s='%s'\n" "$key" "$val" >> "$file"
+}
+
 # --- Argument parsing ---
 
 parse_args() {
@@ -259,8 +267,9 @@ load_config_file() {
     case "$key" in
       \#*|"") continue ;;
     esac
-    key=$(echo "$key" | tr -d ' ')
-    value=$(echo "$value" | sed 's/^[ ]*//;s/[ ]*$//')
+    key=$(printf '%s' "$key" | tr -d ' ')
+    # Trim whitespace, strip surrounding quotes, unescape '\''
+    value=$(printf '%s' "$value" | sed "s/^[ ]*//;s/[ ]*$//;s/^'\\(.*\\)'$/\\1/;s/^\"\\(.*\\)\"$/\\1/" | sed "s/'\\\\''/'/g")
     case "$key" in
       install_dir)          [ -z "$INSTALL_DIR" ] && INSTALL_DIR="$value" ;;
       public_host)          [ -z "$PUBLIC_HOST" ] && PUBLIC_HOST="$value" ;;
@@ -663,15 +672,10 @@ HTTPS_PORT=${HTTPS_PORT}
 
 # PostgreSQL
 POSTGRES_USER=cameleer
-POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
 POSTGRES_DB=cameleer
 
-# ClickHouse
-CLICKHOUSE_PASSWORD=${CLICKHOUSE_PASSWORD}
-
 # Server admin
 SERVER_ADMIN_USER=${ADMIN_USER}
-SERVER_ADMIN_PASS=${ADMIN_PASS}
 
 # Bootstrap token (required by server, not used externally in standalone mode)
 BOOTSTRAP_TOKEN=$(generate_password)
@@ -694,6 +698,10 @@ SERVER_UI_IMAGE=${REGISTRY}/cameleer-server-ui
 # Compose file assembly
 COMPOSE_FILE=docker-compose.yml:docker-compose.server.yml$([ "$TLS_MODE" = "custom" ] && echo ":docker-compose.tls.yml")$([ -n "$MONITORING_NETWORK" ] && echo ":docker-compose.monitoring.yml")
 EOF
+    # Passwords are appended with single-quoting to handle special characters
+    env_val "$f" POSTGRES_PASSWORD "$POSTGRES_PASSWORD"
+    env_val "$f" CLICKHOUSE_PASSWORD "$CLICKHOUSE_PASSWORD"
+    env_val "$f" SERVER_ADMIN_PASS "$ADMIN_PASS"
     if [ "$TLS_MODE" = "custom" ]; then
       echo "CERT_FILE=/user-certs/cert.pem" >> "$f"
       echo "KEY_FILE=/user-certs/key.pem" >> "$f"
@@ -729,15 +737,10 @@ LOGTO_CONSOLE_BIND=$([ "$LOGTO_CONSOLE_EXPOSED" = "true" ] && echo "0.0.0.0" ||
 
 # PostgreSQL
 POSTGRES_USER=cameleer
-POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
 POSTGRES_DB=cameleer_saas
 
-# ClickHouse
-CLICKHOUSE_PASSWORD=${CLICKHOUSE_PASSWORD}
-
 # Admin user
 SAAS_ADMIN_USER=${ADMIN_USER}
-SAAS_ADMIN_PASS=${ADMIN_PASS}
 
 # TLS
 NODE_TLS_REJECT=${NODE_TLS_REJECT}
@@ -778,13 +781,18 @@ CAMELEER_SERVER_SECURITY_JWTSECRET=$(generate_password)
 SMTP_HOST=${SMTP_HOST}
 SMTP_PORT=${SMTP_PORT:-587}
 SMTP_USER=${SMTP_USER}
-SMTP_PASS=${SMTP_PASS}
 SMTP_FROM_EMAIL=${SMTP_FROM_EMAIL:-noreply@${PUBLIC_HOST}}
 
 # Compose file assembly
 COMPOSE_FILE=docker-compose.yml:docker-compose.saas.yml$([ "$TLS_MODE" = "custom" ] && echo ":docker-compose.tls.yml")$([ -n "$MONITORING_NETWORK" ] && echo ":docker-compose.monitoring.yml")
 EOF
 
+  # Passwords are appended with single-quoting to handle special characters
+  env_val "$f" POSTGRES_PASSWORD "$POSTGRES_PASSWORD"
+  env_val "$f" CLICKHOUSE_PASSWORD "$CLICKHOUSE_PASSWORD"
+  env_val "$f" SAAS_ADMIN_PASS "$ADMIN_PASS"
+  env_val "$f" SMTP_PASS "$SMTP_PASS"
+
   if [ -n "$MONITORING_NETWORK" ]; then
     echo "" >> "$f"
     echo "# Monitoring" >> "$f"
@@ -967,12 +975,13 @@ deployment_mode=${DEPLOYMENT_MODE}
 smtp_host=${SMTP_HOST}
 smtp_port=${SMTP_PORT}
 smtp_user=${SMTP_USER}
-smtp_pass=${SMTP_PASS}
 smtp_from_email=${SMTP_FROM_EMAIL}
 registry=${REGISTRY}
 registry_user=${REGISTRY_USER}
-registry_token=${REGISTRY_TOKEN}
 EOF
+  # Passwords appended with single-quoting for special character safety
+  env_val "$f" smtp_pass "$SMTP_PASS"
+  env_val "$f" registry_token "$REGISTRY_TOKEN"
   log_info "Saved installer config to cameleer.conf"
 }
 
diff --git a/templates/docker-compose.saas.yml b/templates/docker-compose.saas.yml
index 23be1f9..3aa140f 100644
--- a/templates/docker-compose.saas.yml
+++ b/templates/docker-compose.saas.yml
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ services:
       cameleer-postgres:
         condition: service_healthy
     environment:
-      DB_URL: postgres://${POSTGRES_USER:-cameleer}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@cameleer-postgres:5432/logto
+      # DB_URL is built by the entrypoint from PG_USER/PG_PASSWORD/PG_HOST
+      # to safely handle special characters in the password
       ENDPOINT: ${PUBLIC_PROTOCOL:-https}://${AUTH_HOST:-localhost}
       ADMIN_ENDPOINT: ${PUBLIC_PROTOCOL:-https}://${AUTH_HOST:-localhost}:${LOGTO_CONSOLE_PORT:-3002}
       TRUST_PROXY_HEADER: 1