diff --git a/app/common/http_client.py b/app/common/http_client.py
index cbe40e3..e721b3c 100644
--- a/app/common/http_client.py
+++ b/app/common/http_client.py
@@ -7,6 +7,16 @@
 
 logger = getLogger(__name__)
 
+async_proxy_mounts = {
+    "http://": httpx.AsyncHTTPTransport(proxy=config.http_proxy),
+    "https://": httpx.AsyncHTTPTransport(proxy=config.http_proxy)
+} if config.http_proxy else {}
+
+sync_proxy_mounts = {
+    "http://": httpx.HTTPTransport(proxy=config.http_proxy),
+    "https://": httpx.HTTPTransport(proxy=config.http_proxy)
+} if config.http_proxy else {}
+
 
 async def async_hook_request_tracing(request):
     trace_id = ctx_trace_id.get(None)
@@ -20,12 +30,43 @@ def hook_request_tracing(request):
         request.headers[config.tracing_header] = trace_id
 
 
-# Provides an instacne of httpx.AsyncClient with preconfigured hooks for
-# propagating the x-cdp-request-id header to allow requets to be traced across
-# service boundaries as well as adding in request/response logging.
-def async_client():
-    return httpx.AsyncClient(event_hooks={"request": [async_hook_request_tracing]})
+def create_async_client(request_timeout: int = 30) -> httpx.AsyncClient:
+    """
+    Create an async HTTP client with configurable timeout.
+
+    Args:
+        request_timeout: Request timeout in seconds
+
+    Returns:
+        Configured httpx.AsyncClient instance
+    """
+    client_kwargs = {
+        "timeout": request_timeout,
+        "event_hooks": {"request": [async_hook_request_tracing]}
+    }
+
+    if config.http_proxy:
+        client_kwargs["mounts"] = async_proxy_mounts
+
+    return httpx.AsyncClient(**client_kwargs)
+
+
+def create_client(request_timeout: int = 30) -> httpx.Client:
+    """
+    Create a sync HTTP client with configurable timeout.
+
+    Args:
+        request_timeout: Request timeout in seconds
+
+    Returns:
+        Configured httpx.Client instance
+    """
+    client_kwargs = {
+        "timeout": request_timeout,
+        "event_hooks": {"request": [hook_request_tracing]}
+    }
 
+    if config.http_proxy:
+        client_kwargs["mounts"] = sync_proxy_mounts
 
-def client():
-    return httpx.Client(event_hooks={"request": [hook_request_tracing]})
+    return httpx.Client(**client_kwargs)
diff --git a/app/example/router.py b/app/example/router.py
index 5b5c4b4..acd2af3 100644
--- a/app/example/router.py
+++ b/app/example/router.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 from fastapi import APIRouter, Depends
 
-from app.common.http_client import async_client
+from app.common.http_client import create_async_client
 from app.common.mongo import get_db
 from app.config import config
 
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ async def db_query(db=Depends(get_db)):
 
 
 @router.get("/http")
-async def http_query(client=Depends(async_client)):
+async def http_query(client=Depends(create_async_client)):
     endpoint = config.aws_endpoint_url or "http://localstack:4566"
     resp = await client.get(f"{endpoint}/health")
     return {"ok": resp.status_code}