diff --git a/app/Actions/Proxy/CheckProxy.php b/app/Actions/Proxy/CheckProxy.php
index 47bc002d68..6ac4487082 100644
--- a/app/Actions/Proxy/CheckProxy.php
+++ b/app/Actions/Proxy/CheckProxy.php
@@ -53,6 +53,17 @@ class CheckProxy
 
             return true;
         } else {
+            $status = getContainerStatus($server, $proxyContainerName);
+            if ($status === 'running') {
+                $server->proxy->set('status', 'running');
+                $server->save();
+
+                return false;
+            }
+            if ($server->settings->is_cloudflare_tunnel) {
+                return false;
+            }
+
             $portsToCheck = [];
 
             try {
@@ -65,17 +76,6 @@ class CheckProxy
 
                 return false;
             }
-
-            $status = getContainerStatus($server, $proxyContainerName);
-            if ($status === 'running') {
-                $server->proxy->set('status', 'running');
-                $server->save();
-
-                return false;
-            }
-            if ($server->settings->is_cloudflare_tunnel) {
-                return false;
-            }
             if (count($portsToCheck) === 0) {
                 return false;
             }
diff --git a/app/Services/ProxyPortParser.php b/app/Services/ProxyPortParser.php
index 5d118ed278..efc5a551f5 100644
--- a/app/Services/ProxyPortParser.php
+++ b/app/Services/ProxyPortParser.php
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 namespace App\Services;
 
 use Symfony\Component\Yaml\Exception\ParseException;
+use Symfony\Component\Yaml\Tag\TaggedValue;
 use Symfony\Component\Yaml\Yaml;
 
 class ProxyPortParser
@@ -31,12 +32,14 @@ class ProxyPortParser
      * a port invalid: a variable with a default is checked as its default, and a port that still
      * depends on a variable (or whose default is not a valid port) is accepted but not returned.
      *
+     * Docker Compose merge tags such as `!reset` and `!override` are accepted; their values are validated.
+     *
      * @return list<int>
      */
     public static function fromConfiguration(string $configuration): array
     {
         try {
-            $parsed = Yaml::parse($configuration);
+            $parsed = self::withoutTags(Yaml::parse($configuration, Yaml::PARSE_CUSTOM_TAGS));
         } catch (ParseException $exception) {
             throw new \InvalidArgumentException('The proxy configuration must contain valid YAML.', previous: $exception);
         }
@@ -70,6 +73,19 @@ class ProxyPortParser
         return array_values(array_unique($ports));
     }
 
+    private static function withoutTags(mixed $value): mixed
+    {
+        if ($value instanceof TaggedValue) {
+            return self::withoutTags($value->getValue());
+        }
+
+        if (is_array($value)) {
+            return array_map(self::withoutTags(...), $value);
+        }
+
+        return $value;
+    }
+
     private static function publishedPort(mixed $configuredPort): ?int
     {
         if (is_string($configuredPort) && self::containsVariable($configuredPort)) {
diff --git a/tests/Feature/Proxy/ProxyPortSecurityTest.php b/tests/Feature/Proxy/ProxyPortSecurityTest.php
index 88ec25dc9d..4d4c77f6f3 100644
--- a/tests/Feature/Proxy/ProxyPortSecurityTest.php
+++ b/tests/Feature/Proxy/ProxyPortSecurityTest.php
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ use App\Actions\Proxy\CheckProxy;
 use App\Actions\Proxy\SaveProxyConfiguration;
 use App\Enums\ProxyTypes;
 use App\Models\InstanceSettings;
+use App\Models\PrivateKey;
 use App\Models\Server;
 use App\Models\Team;
 use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\RefreshDatabase;
@@ -44,7 +45,19 @@ it('does not execute remote commands for a malformed legacy stored port', functi
     $this->server->save();
 
     expect(CheckProxy::run($this->server))->toBeFalse();
-    Process::assertNothingRan();
+    Process::assertDidntRun(fn ($process): bool => str_contains((string) $process->command, '$(id)'));
+});
+
+it('refreshes the status of a running proxy even when its stored configuration is invalid', function () {
+    Process::fake([
+        '*' => Process::result(output: json_encode(['State' => ['Status' => 'running']])),
+    ]);
+    $this->server->private_key_id = PrivateKey::factory()->create(['team_id' => $this->server->team_id])->id;
+    $this->server->proxy->last_saved_proxy_configuration = "services:\n  traefik:\n    image: traefik:v3.7\n    ports:\n      - '$(id):80'\n";
+    $this->server->save();
+
+    expect(CheckProxy::run($this->server->fresh()))->toBeFalse()
+        ->and($this->server->fresh()->proxy->status)->toBe('running');
 });
 
 it('builds port checks only from normalized integer ports', function () {
diff --git a/tests/Unit/ProxyPortValidationTest.php b/tests/Unit/ProxyPortValidationTest.php
index 2e8b13a4a9..ef2edcadaf 100644
--- a/tests/Unit/ProxyPortValidationTest.php
+++ b/tests/Unit/ProxyPortValidationTest.php
@@ -113,3 +113,17 @@ it('rejects invalid proxy port collection shapes', function (mixed $ports) {
     'null' => [null],
     'boolean' => [true],
 ]);
+
+it('accepts Docker Compose merge tags in proxy configurations', function (string $configuration, array $expected) {
+    expect(ProxyPortParser::fromConfiguration($configuration))->toBe($expected);
+})->with([
+    'override ports' => ["services:\n  traefik:\n    ports: !override\n      - '80:80'\n      - '443:443'\n", [80, 443]],
+    'reset ports' => ["services:\n  traefik:\n    ports: !reset []\n", []],
+    'reset labels next to ports' => ["services:\n  caddy:\n    labels: !reset []\n    ports: ['8080:80']\n", [8080]],
+    'override a long syntax port' => ["services:\n  traefik:\n    ports: !override\n      - target: 80\n        published: !!str 8080\n", [8080]],
+]);
+
+it('still rejects malformed ports inside Docker Compose merge tags', function () {
+    expect(fn () => ProxyPortParser::fromConfiguration("services:\n  traefik:\n    ports: !override\n      - '\$(id):80'\n"))
+        ->toThrow(InvalidArgumentException::class);
+});