diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1973af9..659717c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -31,8 +31,10 @@ LokiTransport() takes a Javascript object as an input. These are the options tha
 | `timeout`          | timeout for requests to grafana loki in ms                | 30000                  | undefined     | 
 | `basicAuth`        | basic authentication credentials to access Loki over HTTP | username:password      | undefined     | 
 | `onConnectionError`| Loki error connection handler                        | (err) => console.error(err) | undefined     | 
+| `useWinstonMetaAsLabels` | Use Winston's "meta" (such as defaultMeta values) as Loki labels | true        | false         |
+| `ignoredMeta`      | When useWinstonMetaAsLabels is enabled, a list of meta values to ignore | ["error_description"]  | undefined |
 
-### Example
+### Example (Running Loki Locally)
 With default formatting:
 ```js
 const { createLogger, transports } = require("winston");
@@ -56,6 +58,37 @@ logger.debug({ message: 'test', labels: { 'key': 'value' } })
 
 TODO: Add custom formatting example
 
+### Example (Grafana Cloud Loki)
+
+**Important**: this snippet requires the following values, here are the instructions for how you can find them.
+
+* `LOKI_HOST`: find this in your Grafana Cloud instance by checking Connections > Data Sources, find the right Loki connection, and copy its URL, which may look like `https://logs-prod-006.grafana.net`
+* `USER_ID`: the user number in the same data source definition, it will be a multi-digit number like `372040`
+* `GRAFANA_CLOUD_TOKEN`: In Grafana Cloud, search for Cloud Access Policies. Create a new Cloud Access Policy, ensuring its scopes include `logs:write`.  Generate a token for this cloud access policy, and use this value here.
+
+```js
+const { createLogger, transports } = require("winston");
+const LokiTransport = require("winston-loki");
+const options = {
+  ...,
+  transports: [
+    new LokiTransport({
+        host: 'LOKI_HOST',
+        labels: { app: 'my-app' },
+        json: true,
+        basicAuth: 'USER_ID:GRAFANA_CLOUD_TOKEN',
+        format: winston.format.json(),
+        replaceTimestamp: true,
+        onConnectionError: (err) => console.error(err),
+    })
+  ]
+  ...
+};
+const logger = createLogger(options);
+logger.debug({ message: 'test', labels: { 'key': 'value' } })
+```
+
+
 ## Developing
 ### Requirements
 Running a local Loki for testing is probably required, and the easiest way to do that is to follow this guide: https://github.com/grafana/loki/tree/master/production#run-locally-using-docker. After that, Grafana Loki instance is available at `http://localhost:3100`, with a Grafana instance running at `http://localhost:3000`. Username `admin`, password `admin`. Add the Loki source with the URL `http://loki:3100`, and the explorer should work.
diff --git a/index.d.ts b/index.d.ts
index 539eb70..c550bec 100644
--- a/index.d.ts
+++ b/index.d.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 import TransportStream from "winston-transport";
+import http from 'http';
+import https from 'https';
 
 declare interface LokiTransportOptions extends TransportStream.TransportStreamOptions{
     host: string;
@@ -12,6 +14,10 @@ declare interface LokiTransportOptions extends TransportStream.TransportStreamOp
     replaceTimestamp?: boolean,
     gracefulShutdown?: boolean,
     timeout?: number,
+    httpAgent?: http.Agent | boolean;
+    httpsAgent?: https.Agent | boolean;
+    useWinstonMetaAsLabels?: boolean;
+    ignoredMeta?: Array<string>;
     onConnectionError?(error: unknown): void
 }
 
diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index e1c7605..941d3f5 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -29,11 +29,15 @@ class LokiTransport extends Transport {
       onConnectionError: options.onConnectionError,
       replaceTimestamp: options.replaceTimestamp !== false,
       gracefulShutdown: options.gracefulShutdown !== false,
-      timeout: options.timeout
+      timeout: options.timeout,
+      httpAgent: options.httpAgent,
+      httpsAgent: options.httpsAgent
     })
 
     this.useCustomFormat = options.format !== undefined
     this.labels = options.labels
+    this.useWinstonMetaAsLabels = options.useWinstonMetaAsLabels
+    this.ignoredMeta = options.ignoredMeta || []
   }
 
   /**
@@ -58,7 +62,13 @@ class LokiTransport extends Transport {
     // build custom labels if provided
     let lokiLabels = { level: level }
 
-    if (this.labels) {
+    if (this.useWinstonMetaAsLabels) {
+      // deleting the keys (labels) that we want to ignore from Winston's meta
+      for (const [key, _] of Object.entries(rest)) {
+        if (this.ignoredMeta.includes(key)) delete rest[key]
+      }
+      lokiLabels = Object.assign(lokiLabels, rest)
+    } else if (this.labels) {
       lokiLabels = Object.assign(lokiLabels, this.labels)
     } else {
       lokiLabels.job = label
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 66fc4e0..ccd8945 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "winston-loki",
-  "version": "6.1.0",
+  "version": "6.1.2",
   "description": "A Winston transport for Grafana Loki",
   "keywords": [
     "winston",
diff --git a/src/batcher.js b/src/batcher.js
index 5659320..af50c40 100644
--- a/src/batcher.js
+++ b/src/batcher.js
@@ -42,11 +42,14 @@ class Batcher {
     const URL = this.loadUrl()
     this.url = new URL(this.options.host + '/loki/api/v1/push')
 
+    const btoa = require('btoa')
     // Parse basic auth parameters if given
     if (options.basicAuth) {
-      const btoa = require('btoa')
       const basicAuth = 'Basic ' + btoa(options.basicAuth)
       this.options.headers = Object.assign(this.options.headers, { Authorization: basicAuth })
+    } else if(this.url.username && this.url.password) {
+      const basicAuth = 'Basic ' + btoa(this.url.username + ':' + this.url.password)
+      this.options.headers = Object.assign(this.options.headers, { Authorization: basicAuth })
     }
 
     // Define the batching intervals
@@ -251,7 +254,7 @@ class Batcher {
         }
 
         // Send the data to Grafana Loki
-        req.post(this.url, this.contentType, this.options.headers, reqBody, this.options.timeout)
+        req.post(this.url, this.contentType, this.options.headers, reqBody, this.options.timeout, this.options.httpAgent, this.options.httpsAgent)
           .then(() => {
             // No need to clear the batch if batching is disabled
             logEntry === undefined && this.clearBatch()
diff --git a/src/requests.js b/src/requests.js
index 5f57fdc..6ada7bc 100644
--- a/src/requests.js
+++ b/src/requests.js
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 const http = require('http')
 const https = require('https')
 
-const post = async (lokiUrl, contentType, headers = {}, data = '', timeout) => {
+const post = async (lokiUrl, contentType, headers = {}, data = '', timeout, httpAgent, httpsAgent) => {
   // Construct a buffer from the data string to have deterministic data size
   const dataBuffer = Buffer.from(data, 'utf8')
 
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ const post = async (lokiUrl, contentType, headers = {}, data = '', timeout) => {
   return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
     // Decide which http library to use based on the url
     const lib = lokiUrl.protocol === 'https:' ? https : http
+    const agent = lokiUrl.protocol === 'https:' ? httpsAgent : httpAgent
 
     // Construct the node request options
     const options = {
@@ -22,7 +23,8 @@ const post = async (lokiUrl, contentType, headers = {}, data = '', timeout) => {
       path: lokiUrl.pathname,
       method: 'POST',
       headers: Object.assign(defaultHeaders, headers),
-      timeout: timeout
+      timeout: timeout,
+      agent: agent
     }
 
     // Construct the request