diff --git a/docs/development/pluginhooks.md b/docs/development/pluginhooks.md
index 6a81a3310..e8c9a6712 100644
--- a/docs/development/pluginhooks.md
+++ b/docs/development/pluginhooks.md
@@ -335,6 +335,7 @@ set -eo pipefail; [[ $DOKKU_TRACE ]] && set -x
 # `DOKKU_DISABLE_DEPLOY` env var is set to `true` for an app
 
 set -eo pipefail; [[ $DOKKU_TRACE ]] && set -x
+source "$PLUGIN_PATH/config/functions"
 
 CONTAINERID="$1"; APP="$2"; PORT="$3" ; HOSTNAME="${4:-localhost}"
 
diff --git a/plugins/00_dokku-standard/commands b/plugins/00_dokku-standard/commands
index 4a95d480e..047b66b14 100755
--- a/plugins/00_dokku-standard/commands
+++ b/plugins/00_dokku-standard/commands
@@ -1,13 +1,14 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 set -eo pipefail; [[ $DOKKU_TRACE ]] && set -x
 source "$PLUGIN_PATH/common/functions"
+source "$PLUGIN_PATH/config/functions"
 
 case "$1" in
   build)
     APP="$2"; IMAGE="dokku/$APP"; IMAGE_SOURCE_TYPE="$3"; TMP_WORK_DIR="$4"
     CACHE_DIR="$DOKKU_ROOT/$APP/cache"
 
-    eval "$(dokku config $APP --export)"
+    eval "$(config_export app $APP)"
     pushd "$TMP_WORK_DIR" &> /dev/null
 
     case "$IMAGE_SOURCE_TYPE" in
@@ -65,17 +66,17 @@ case "$1" in
         # *DEPRECATED* in v0.3.22: `pluginhook pre-release-buildstep` will be removed in future releases
         pluginhook pre-release-buildstep "$APP"
         pluginhook pre-release-buildpack "$APP"
-        if [[ -n $(dokku config --global --export) ]]; then
+        if [[ -n $(config_export global) ]]; then
           TMPFILE=$(mktemp /tmp/dokku.XXXXXX) || dokku_log_fail "Cannot create temp file using mktemp in /tmp dir"
-          dokku config --global --export > $TMPFILE
+          config_export global > $TMPFILE
           id=$(docker run -i -a stdin $IMAGE /bin/bash -c "mkdir -p /app/.profile.d && cat > /app/.profile.d/00-global-env.sh" < "$TMPFILE")
           test "$(docker wait $id)" -eq 0
           docker commit $id $IMAGE > /dev/null
           rm -rf $TMPFILE
         fi
-        if [[ -n $(dokku config $APP --export) ]]; then
+        if [[ -n $(config_export app $APP) ]]; then
           TMPFILE=$(mktemp /tmp/dokku.XXXXXX) || dokku_log_fail "Cannot create temp file using mktemp in /tmp dir"
-          dokku config $APP --export > $TMPFILE
+          config_export app $APP > $TMPFILE
           id=$(docker run -i -a stdin $IMAGE /bin/bash -c "mkdir -p /app/.profile.d && cat > /app/.profile.d/01-app-env.sh" < "$TMPFILE")
           test "$(docker wait $id)" -eq 0
           docker commit $id $IMAGE > /dev/null
@@ -191,7 +192,7 @@ case "$1" in
     verify_app_name "$2"
     APP="$2";
 
-    eval "$(dokku config $APP --export)"
+    eval "$(config_export app $APP)"
 
     if [[ -s "$DOKKU_ROOT/$APP/URLS" ]]; then
       case "$1" in
diff --git a/plugins/build-env/pre-build b/plugins/build-env/pre-build
index 94353e649..b1c7cd8c8 100755
--- a/plugins/build-env/pre-build
+++ b/plugins/build-env/pre-build
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 set -eo pipefail; [[ $DOKKU_TRACE ]] && set -x
 source "$PLUGIN_PATH/common/functions"
+source "$PLUGIN_PATH/config/functions"
 
 APP="$1"; IMAGE="dokku/$APP"; BUILD_ENV=""
 
@@ -12,14 +13,14 @@ APP="$1"; IMAGE="dokku/$APP"; BUILD_ENV=""
 dokku config:get --global CURL_CONNECT_TIMEOUT > /dev/null 2>&1 || dokku config:set --global CURL_CONNECT_TIMEOUT=5
 dokku config:get --global CURL_TIMEOUT > /dev/null 2>&1 || dokku config:set --global CURL_TIMEOUT=30
 
-if [[ -n $(dokku config --global --export) ]]; then
+if [[ -n $(config_export global) ]]; then
   BUILD_ENV+=$'\n'
-  BUILD_ENV+=$(dokku config --global --export)
+  BUILD_ENV+=$(config_export global)
   BUILD_ENV+=$'\n'
 fi
-if [[ -n $(dokku config $APP --export) ]]; then
+if [[ -n $(config_export app $APP) ]]; then
   BUILD_ENV+=$'\n'
-  BUILD_ENV+=$(dokku config $APP --export)
+  BUILD_ENV+=$(config_export app $APP)
   BUILD_ENV+=$'\n'
 fi
 
diff --git a/plugins/checks/check-deploy b/plugins/checks/check-deploy
index 8fc104e23..85ac68dce 100755
--- a/plugins/checks/check-deploy
+++ b/plugins/checks/check-deploy
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 
 set -eo pipefail; [[ $DOKKU_TRACE ]] && set -x
 source "$PLUGIN_PATH/common/functions"
+source "$PLUGIN_PATH/config/functions"
 
 APP="$1"; DOKKU_APP_CONTAINER_ID="$2"; DOKKU_APP_CONTAINER_TYPE="$3"; DOKKU_APP_LISTEN_PORT="$4"; DOKKU_APP_LISTEN_IP="$5"
 if [[ -z "$DOKKU_APP_LISTEN_PORT" ]] && [[ -f "$DOKKU_ROOT/$APP/PORT" ]]; then
@@ -51,8 +52,8 @@ fi
 
 
 # source global and in-app envs to get DOKKU_CHECKS_WAIT and any other necessary vars
-eval "$(dokku config --global $APP --export)"
-eval "$(dokku config $APP --export)"
+eval "$(config_export global)"
+eval "$(config_export app $APP)"
 
 # Wait this many seconds (default 5) for server to start before running checks.
 WAIT="${DOKKU_CHECKS_WAIT:-5}"
diff --git a/plugins/config/commands b/plugins/config/commands
index e53ba519d..edb03c309 100755
--- a/plugins/config/commands
+++ b/plugins/config/commands
@@ -89,9 +89,9 @@ case "$1" in
   config)
     parse_config_args "$@"
     config_create
+    is_config_export "$@" && config_export "$DOKKU_CONFIG_TYPE" "$APP" && exit 0
 
     [[ "$APP" ]] && DOKKU_CONFIG_TYPE=$APP
-    [[ ! -s $ENV_FILE ]] && is_config_export "$@" && exit 0
     [[ ! -s $ENV_FILE ]] && echo "no config vars for $DOKKU_CONFIG_TYPE" && exit 1
 
     VARS=$(grep -Eo "export ([a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*=.*)" $ENV_FILE | cut -d" " -f2-)
@@ -101,10 +101,6 @@ case "$1" in
         echo $VARS
         exit 0
       fi
-      if [[ "$var" == "--export" ]]; then
-        echo "$VARS" | awk '{print "export " $0}'
-        exit 0
-      fi
     done
 
 
diff --git a/plugins/config/docker-args-deploy b/plugins/config/docker-args-deploy
index e2c23b5c6..14263ef96 100755
--- a/plugins/config/docker-args-deploy
+++ b/plugins/config/docker-args-deploy
@@ -1,14 +1,15 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 set -eo pipefail; [[ $DOKKU_TRACE ]] && set -x
 source "$PLUGIN_PATH/common/functions"
+source "$PLUGIN_PATH/config/functions"
 
 STDIN=$(cat); APP="$1"; IMAGE="dokku/$APP"
 DOCKERFILE_ENV_FILE="$DOKKU_ROOT/$APP/DOCKERFILE_ENV_FILE"
 
 if ! is_image_herokuish_based "$IMAGE"; then
   > "$DOCKERFILE_ENV_FILE"
-  dokku config --global --export | sed -e "s:^export ::g" -e "s:=':=:g" -e "s:'$::g" > "$DOCKERFILE_ENV_FILE"
-  dokku config "$APP" --export | sed -e "s:^export ::g" -e "s:=':=:g" -e "s:'$::g" >> "$DOCKERFILE_ENV_FILE"
+  config_export global | sed -e "s:^export ::g" -e "s:=':=:g" -e "s:'$::g" > "$DOCKERFILE_ENV_FILE"
+  config_export app $APP | sed -e "s:^export ::g" -e "s:=':=:g" -e "s:'$::g" >> "$DOCKERFILE_ENV_FILE"
 
   echo "$STDIN --env-file=$DOCKERFILE_ENV_FILE"
 else
diff --git a/plugins/config/functions b/plugins/config/functions
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8c2b54841
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/config/functions
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -eo pipefail; [[ $DOKKU_TRACE ]] && set -x
+source "$PLUGIN_PATH/common/functions"
+
+config_export() {
+  local CONFIG_TYPE="$1"
+  local APP="$2"
+  local ENV_FILE="$DOKKU_ROOT/$APP/ENV"
+
+  [[ $CONFIG_TYPE == "global" ]] && ENV_FILE="$DOKKU_ROOT/ENV"
+  [[ ! -f $ENV_FILE ]] && return 0
+  [[ ! -s $ENV_FILE ]] && return 0
+
+  VARS=$(grep -Eo "export ([a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*=.*)" $ENV_FILE | cut -d" " -f2-)
+  echo "$VARS" | awk '{print "export " $0}'
+  return 0
+}
diff --git a/plugins/nginx-vhosts/commands b/plugins/nginx-vhosts/commands
index 2bfb6773d..d2f400402 100755
--- a/plugins/nginx-vhosts/commands
+++ b/plugins/nginx-vhosts/commands
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 set -eo pipefail; [[ $DOKKU_TRACE ]] && set -x
 source "$PLUGIN_PATH/common/functions"
+source "$PLUGIN_PATH/config/functions"
 
 validate_nginx () {
   set +e
@@ -52,8 +53,8 @@ case "$1" in
     DOKKU_APP_CIDS=($(get_app_container_ids $APP))
     docker cp "${DOKKU_APP_CIDS[0]}:/app/nginx.conf.template" "$DOKKU_ROOT/$APP/" 2> /dev/null || true
 
-    eval "$(dokku config --global $APP --export)"
-    eval "$(dokku config $APP --export)"
+    eval "$(config_export global)"
+    eval "$(config_export app $APP)"
     [[ -f "$APP_NGINX_TEMPLATE" ]] && NGINX_TEMPLATE="$APP_NGINX_TEMPLATE" && NGINX_CUSTOM_TEMPLATE="true" && dokku_log_info1 'Overriding default nginx.conf with detected nginx.conf.template'
 
     if [[ ! -n "$NO_VHOST" ]] && [[ -f "$DOKKU_ROOT/$APP/VHOST" ]]; then