diff --git a/src/components/Chat.tsx b/src/components/Chat.tsx
index ca4cf422..7b350017 100644
--- a/src/components/Chat.tsx
+++ b/src/components/Chat.tsx
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ const Chat: React.FC<ChatProps> = ({
       const content = await getFileContent(file, app.vault);
       const tags = await getTagsFromNote(file, app.vault);
       if (content) {
-        notes.push({ name: getFileName(file), content, tags});
+        notes.push({ name: getFileName(file), content, tags });
       }
     }
 
@@ -456,6 +456,7 @@ const Chat: React.FC<ChatProps> = ({
           addMessage={addMessage}
           vault={app.vault}
           vault_qa_strategy={plugin.settings.indexVaultToVectorStore}
+          proxyServer={plugin.proxyServer}
         />
         <ChatInput
           inputMessage={inputMessage}
diff --git a/src/components/ChatComponents/ChatIcons.tsx b/src/components/ChatComponents/ChatIcons.tsx
index 7d4ff278..599a30d7 100644
--- a/src/components/ChatComponents/ChatIcons.tsx
+++ b/src/components/ChatComponents/ChatIcons.tsx
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ import { SetChainOptions } from "@/aiParams";
 import {
   AI_SENDER,
   ChatModelDisplayNames,
-  PROXY_SERVER_PORT,
   VAULT_VECTOR_STORE_STRATEGY,
 } from "@/constants";
 import { ProxyServer } from "@/proxyServer";
@@ -36,6 +35,7 @@ interface ChatIconsProps {
   addMessage: (message: ChatMessage) => void;
   vault: Vault;
   vault_qa_strategy: string;
+  proxyServer: ProxyServer;
 }
 
 const ChatIcons: React.FC<ChatIconsProps> = ({
@@ -52,9 +52,9 @@ const ChatIcons: React.FC<ChatIconsProps> = ({
   addMessage,
   vault,
   vault_qa_strategy,
+  proxyServer,
 }) => {
   const [selectedChain, setSelectedChain] = useState<ChainType>(currentChain);
-  const proxyServer = new ProxyServer(PROXY_SERVER_PORT);
 
   const handleModelChange = async (event: React.ChangeEvent<HTMLSelectElement>) => {
     const selectedModel = event.target.value;
@@ -69,6 +69,23 @@ const ChatIcons: React.FC<ChatIconsProps> = ({
     }
   };
 
+  useEffect(() => {
+    // If Claude is the default, start the proxy server
+    const startProxyServerForClaude = async () => {
+      if (currentModel === ChatModelDisplayNames.CLAUDE) {
+        await proxyServer.startProxyServer('https://api.anthropic.com/');
+      }
+    };
+
+    // Call the function on component mount
+    startProxyServerForClaude();
+
+    // Cleanup function to stop the proxy server when the component unmounts
+    return () => {
+      proxyServer.stopProxyServer().catch(console.error);
+    };
+  }, [currentModel, proxyServer]);
+
   const handleChainChange = async (
     event: React.ChangeEvent<HTMLSelectElement>
   ) => {
diff --git a/src/main.ts b/src/main.ts
index ea735b07..cd4d6001 100644
--- a/src/main.ts
+++ b/src/main.ts
@@ -12,10 +12,12 @@ import {
   CHAT_VIEWTYPE,
   DEFAULT_SETTINGS,
   DEFAULT_SYSTEM_PROMPT,
+  PROXY_SERVER_PORT,
   VAULT_VECTOR_STORE_STRATEGY,
 } from "@/constants";
 import { CustomPrompt } from "@/customPromptProcessor";
 import EncryptionService from "@/encryptionService";
+import { ProxyServer } from "@/proxyServer";
 import { CopilotSettingTab, CopilotSettings } from "@/settings/SettingsPage";
 import SharedState from "@/sharedState";
 import {
@@ -25,7 +27,6 @@ import {
 } from "@/utils";
 import VectorDBManager, { VectorStoreDocument } from "@/vectorDBManager";
 import { MD5 } from "crypto-js";
-import { Server } from "http";
 import { Editor, Notice, Plugin, TFile, WorkspaceLeaf } from "obsidian";
 import PouchDB from "pouchdb";
 
@@ -41,12 +42,13 @@ export default class CopilotPlugin extends Plugin {
   dbVectorStores: PouchDB.Database<VectorStoreDocument>;
   embeddingsManager: EmbeddingsManager;
   encryptionService: EncryptionService;
-  server: Server | null = null;
+  proxyServer: ProxyServer;
 
   isChatVisible = () => this.chatIsVisible;
 
   async onload(): Promise<void> {
     await this.loadSettings();
+    this.proxyServer = new ProxyServer(PROXY_SERVER_PORT);
     this.addSettingTab(new CopilotSettingTab(this.app, this));
     // Always have one instance of sharedState and chainManager in the plugin
     this.sharedState = new SharedState();
diff --git a/src/proxyServer.ts b/src/proxyServer.ts
index e3d11e5c..69c071e3 100644
--- a/src/proxyServer.ts
+++ b/src/proxyServer.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
-import cors from '@koa/cors';
-import Koa from 'koa';
-import proxy from 'koa-proxies';
-import net from 'net';
+import cors from "@koa/cors";
+import Koa from "koa";
+import proxy from "koa-proxies";
+import net from "net";
 
 export class ProxyServer {
   private port: number;
@@ -12,29 +12,25 @@ export class ProxyServer {
   }
 
   async startProxyServer(proxyBaseUrl: string) {
-    console.log('loading plugin');
-    // check if the port is already in use
-    const inUse = await this.checkPortInUse(this.port);
+    console.log("Attempting to start proxy server...");
 
-    if (!inUse) {
-      // Create a new Koa application
-      const app = new Koa();
+    const app = new Koa();
+    app.use(cors());
+    app.use(proxy("/", { target: proxyBaseUrl, changeOrigin: true }));
 
-      app.use(cors());
+    // Create the server and attach error handling for "EADDRINUSE"
+    this.server = app.listen(this.port);
+    this.server.on("error", (err: NodeJS.ErrnoException) => {
+      if (err.code === "EADDRINUSE") {
+        console.error(`Proxy server port ${this.port} is already in use.`);
+      } else {
+        console.error(`Failed to start proxy server: ${err.message}`);
+      }
+    });
 
-      // Create and apply the proxy middleware
-      app.use(proxy('/', {
-        // your target API, e.g. https://api.anthropic.com/
-        target: proxyBaseUrl,
-        changeOrigin: true,
-      }));
-
-      // Start the server on the specified port
-      this.server = app.listen(this.port);
+    this.server.on("listening", () => {
       console.log(`Proxy server running on http://localhost:${this.port}`);
-    } else {
-      console.error(`Port ${this.port} is in use`);
-    }
+    });
   }
 
   async stopProxyServer() {
@@ -42,24 +38,4 @@ export class ProxyServer {
       this.server.close();
     }
   }
-
-  checkPortInUse(port: number) {
-    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
-      const server = net.createServer()
-        .once('error', (err: NodeJS.ErrnoException) => {
-          if (err.code === 'EADDRINUSE') {
-            resolve(true);  // Port is in use
-          } else {
-            reject(err);
-          }
-        })
-        .once('listening', () => {
-          server.once('close', () => {
-            resolve(false);  // Port is not in use
-          })
-          .close();
-        })
-        .listen(port);
-    });
-  }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}