diff --git a/scripts/cosm/README.md b/scripts/cosm/README.md
index a7248f5d..13c16ea5 100644
--- a/scripts/cosm/README.md
+++ b/scripts/cosm/README.md
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ Run the following:
 
 ## CLI
 
-Docker-friendly access to `gaiacli` is provided. Just use the `./cli.sh` script.
+Docker-friendly access to `wasmcli` is provided. Just use the `./cli.sh` script.
 For example:
 
 ```
diff --git a/scripts/cosm/cli.sh b/scripts/cosm/cli.sh
index 5487cfa2..f7131106 100755
--- a/scripts/cosm/cli.sh
+++ b/scripts/cosm/cli.sh
@@ -2,10 +2,12 @@
 set -o errexit -o nounset -o pipefail
 command -v shellcheck > /dev/null && shellcheck "$0"
 
-# Choose from https://hub.docker.com/r/tendermint/gaia/tags
-VERSION="v2.0.0"
+# Choose from https://hub.docker.com/r/cosmwasm/wasmd/tags
+REPOSITORY="cosmwasm/wasmd"
+VERSION="manual"
+
 CURRENT_DIR="$(realpath "$(dirname "$0")")"
-GAIAD_CONTAINER_NAME="gaiad"
+BLOCKCHAIN_CONTAINER_NAME="wasmd"
 HOME_DIR="/home"
 
 docker run \
@@ -16,6 +18,6 @@ docker run \
   -v "$CURRENT_DIR/.gaiacli:$HOME_DIR/.gaiacli" \
   -w "$HOME_DIR" \
   --env "HOME=$HOME_DIR" \
-  --net "container:$GAIAD_CONTAINER_NAME" \
-  "tendermint/gaia:${VERSION}" \
-  gaiacli "$@"
+  --net "container:$BLOCKCHAIN_CONTAINER_NAME" \
+  "$REPOSITORY:$VERSION" \
+  wasmcli "$@"
diff --git a/scripts/cosm/generate_template.sh b/scripts/cosm/generate_template.sh
index 3f31d3f1..b9550409 100755
--- a/scripts/cosm/generate_template.sh
+++ b/scripts/cosm/generate_template.sh
@@ -1,22 +1,23 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-
 set -o errexit -o nounset -o pipefail
 command -v shellcheck > /dev/null && shellcheck "$0"
 
 # Choose from https://hub.docker.com/r/cosmwasm/wasmd/tags
+REPOSITORY="cosmwasm/wasmd"
 VERSION="manual"
-CONTAINER_NAME="wasmd"
 
-rm -rf ./template
-mkdir ./template
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(realpath "$(dirname "$0")")"
+
+rm -rf "$SCRIPT_DIR/template"
+mkdir "$SCRIPT_DIR/template"
 
 # any any more addresses you want to fund in genesis below
 docker run --rm \
-    -e PASSWORD=my-secret-password \
-    --mount type=bind,source="$(pwd)/template",target=/root \
-    "$CONTAINER_NAME:$VERSION" \
-    ./setup.sh \
-    cosmos1pkptre7fdkl6gfrzlesjjvhxhlc3r4gmmk8rs6
+  -e PASSWORD=my-secret-password \
+  --mount type=bind,source="$SCRIPT_DIR/template",target=/root \
+  "$REPOSITORY:$VERSION" \
+  ./setup.sh \
+  cosmos1pkptre7fdkl6gfrzlesjjvhxhlc3r4gmmk8rs6
 
 # this is created as root, let's make it ours
-sudo chown -R "$(id -u):$(id -g)" ./template
+sudo chown -R "$(id -u):$(id -g)" "$SCRIPT_DIR/template"
diff --git a/scripts/cosm/start.sh b/scripts/cosm/start.sh
index 189dfe15..383403d3 100755
--- a/scripts/cosm/start.sh
+++ b/scripts/cosm/start.sh
@@ -3,32 +3,41 @@ set -o errexit -o nounset -o pipefail
 command -v shellcheck > /dev/null && shellcheck "$0"
 
 # Choose from https://hub.docker.com/r/cosmwasm/wasmd/tags
+REPOSITORY="cosmwasm/wasmd"
 VERSION="manual"
-CONTAINER_NAME="wasmd"
 
 TMP_DIR=$(mktemp -d "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/gaia.XXXXXXXXX")
 chmod 777 "$TMP_DIR"
 echo "Using temporary dir $TMP_DIR"
 WASMD_LOGFILE="$TMP_DIR/wasmd.log"
 REST_SERVER_LOGFILE="$TMP_DIR/rest-server.log"
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(realpath "$(dirname "$0")")"
+CONTAINER_NAME="wasmd"
 
 # This starts up wasmd
 docker volume rm -f wasmd_data
 docker run --rm \
-    --name "$CONTAINER_NAME" \
-    -p 1317:1317 \
-    -p 26657:26657 \
-    -p 26656:26656 \
-    --mount type=bind,source="$(pwd)/template",target=/template \
-    --mount type=volume,source=wasmd_data,target=/root \
-    "cosmwasm/$CONTAINER_NAME:$VERSION" \
-    ./run_wasmd.sh /template \
-    > "$WASMD_LOGFILE" &
+  --name "$CONTAINER_NAME" \
+  -p 1317:1317 \
+  -p 26657:26657 \
+  -p 26656:26656 \
+  --mount type=bind,source="$SCRIPT_DIR/template",target=/template \
+  --mount type=volume,source=wasmd_data,target=/root \
+  "$REPOSITORY:$VERSION" \
+  ./run_wasmd.sh /template \
+  > "$WASMD_LOGFILE" &
 
 echo "wasmd running and logging into $WASMD_LOGFILE"
 
 sleep 10
 
+if [ "$(docker inspect -f '{{.State.Running}}' "$CONTAINER_NAME")" != "true" ]; then
+  echo "Container named '$CONTAINER_NAME' not running. We cannot continue." \
+    "This can happen when 'docker run' needs too long to download and start." \
+    "It might be worth retrying this step once the image is in the local docker cache."
+  exit 1
+fi
+
 docker exec "$CONTAINER_NAME" \
   wasmcli rest-server \
   --node tcp://localhost:26657 \