diff --git a/app-config.yaml b/app-config.yaml
index 54684b10a9..92b35da31d 100644
--- a/app-config.yaml
+++ b/app-config.yaml
@@ -4,7 +4,9 @@ app:
 
 backend:
   baseUrl: http://localhost:7000
-  listen: 0.0.0.0:7000
+  listen:
+    host: 0.0.0.0
+    port: 7000
   cors:
     origin: http://localhost:3000
     methods: [GET, POST, PUT, DELETE]
diff --git a/packages/backend-common/src/service/lib/config.ts b/packages/backend-common/src/service/lib/config.ts
index 064eacc4f2..49f8dc4f04 100644
--- a/packages/backend-common/src/service/lib/config.ts
+++ b/packages/backend-common/src/service/lib/config.ts
@@ -37,11 +37,18 @@ export type BaseOptions = {
  * ```
  */
 export function readBaseOptions(config: ConfigReader): BaseOptions {
-  // TODO(freben): Expand this to support more addresses and perhaps optional
-  const { host, port } = parseListenAddress(config.getString('listen'));
+  if (typeof config.get('listen') === 'string') {
+    // TODO(freben): Expand this to support more addresses and perhaps optional
+    const { host, port } = parseListenAddress(config.getString('listen'));
+    return removeUnknown({
+      listenPort: port,
+      listenHost: host,
+    });
+  }
+
   return removeUnknown({
-    listenPort: port,
-    listenHost: host,
+    listenPort: config.getOptionalNumber('listen.port'),
+    listenHost: config.getOptionalString('listen.host'),
   });
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/create-app/templates/default-app/app-config.yaml b/packages/create-app/templates/default-app/app-config.yaml
index 04a7913286..addd74ab67 100644
--- a/packages/create-app/templates/default-app/app-config.yaml
+++ b/packages/create-app/templates/default-app/app-config.yaml
@@ -7,7 +7,9 @@ organization:
 
 backend:
   baseUrl: http://localhost:7000
-  listen: 0.0.0.0:7000
+  listen:
+    host: 0.0.0.0
+    port: 7000
   cors:
     origin: http://localhost:3000
     methods: [GET, POST, PUT, DELETE]