diff --git a/cmd/substation/playground.go b/cmd/substation/playground.go
index 37a0ad11..3c2e6681 100644
--- a/cmd/substation/playground.go
+++ b/cmd/substation/playground.go
@@ -318,6 +318,8 @@ func handleRun(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 
 	// Set up environment variables
 	for key, value := range request.Env {
+		// Remove surrounding quotes if present to mimic the behavior of export in bash
+		value = strings.Trim(value, "\"")
 		os.Setenv(key, value)
 	}