diff --git a/app/build_npms.py b/app/build_npms.py
index 4dbed550..f91fcf99 100644
--- a/app/build_npms.py
+++ b/app/build_npms.py
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ def command(ctx, include, exclude):
         repo_dir = package
         repo_full_path = os.path.join(dev_root_path, repo_dir)
         # TODO: make the npm registry url configurable.
-        build_command = ["sh", "-c", "cd /workspace && build-npm-package-local-dependencies.sh http://host.docker.internal:3000/api/packages/cerc-io/npm/ 1.0.16"]
+        build_command = ["sh", "-c", "cd /workspace && build-npm-package-local-dependencies.sh http://host.docker.internal:3000/api/packages/cerc-io/npm/"]
         if not dry_run:
             if verbose:
                 print(f"Executing: {build_command}")
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ def command(ctx, include, exclude):
                                       interactive=True,
                                       tty=True,
                                       user=f"{os.getuid()}:{os.getgid()}",
-                                      envs={"CERC_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN": os.environ["CERC_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN"]},
+                                      envs={"CERC_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN": os.environ["CERC_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN"], "CERC_SCRIPT_DEBUG": "true"},
                                       add_hosts=[("host.docker.internal", "host-gateway")],
                                       volumes=[(repo_full_path, "/workspace")],
                                       command=build_command
diff --git a/container-build/cerc-builder-js/build-npm-package-local-dependencies.sh b/container-build/cerc-builder-js/build-npm-package-local-dependencies.sh
index 6449bb87..2824e008 100755
--- a/container-build/cerc-builder-js/build-npm-package-local-dependencies.sh
+++ b/container-build/cerc-builder-js/build-npm-package-local-dependencies.sh
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 if [ -n "$CERC_SCRIPT_DEBUG" ]; then
     set -x
 fi
-if [[ $# -ne 2 ]]; then
+if ! [[ $# -eq 1 || $# -eq 2 ]]; then
     echo "Illegal number of parameters" >&2
     exit 1
 fi
diff --git a/container-build/cerc-builder-js/build-npm-package.sh b/container-build/cerc-builder-js/build-npm-package.sh
index 88cc974b..c0b8f5dd 100755
--- a/container-build/cerc-builder-js/build-npm-package.sh
+++ b/container-build/cerc-builder-js/build-npm-package.sh
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 if [ -n "$CERC_SCRIPT_DEBUG" ]; then
     set -x
 fi
-if [[ $# -ne 2 ]]; then
+if ! [[ $# -eq 1 || $# -eq 2 ]]; then
     echo "Illegal number of parameters" >&2
     exit 1
 fi
@@ -12,8 +12,12 @@ if [[ -z "${CERC_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN}" ]]; then
     echo "CERC_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN is not set" >&2
     exit 1
 fi
+if [[ $# -eq 2 ]]; then
+    package_publish_version=$2
+else
+    package_publish_version=$( cat package.json | jq -r .version )
+fi
 local_npm_registry_url=$1
-package_publish_version=$2
 npm config set @lirewine:registry ${local_npm_registry_url}
 npm config set @cerc-io:registry ${local_npm_registry_url}
 npm config set -- ${local_npm_registry_url}:_authToken ${CERC_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN}