diff --git a/stack_orchestrator/data/compose/docker-compose-ping-pub.yml b/stack_orchestrator/data/compose/docker-compose-ping-pub.yml
index e2120bc2..3255a71c 100644
--- a/stack_orchestrator/data/compose/docker-compose-ping-pub.yml
+++ b/stack_orchestrator/data/compose/docker-compose-ping-pub.yml
@@ -4,5 +4,9 @@ services:
   ping-pub:
     image: cerc/ping-pub:local
     restart: always
+    environment:
+      LACONIC_LACONICD_CHAIN_ID: ${LACONIC_LACONICD_CHAIN_ID:-laconic_9000-1}
+      LACONIC_LACONICD_RPC_URL: ${LACONIC_LACONICD_RPC_URL:-http://localhost:26657}
+      LACONIC_LACONICD_API_URL: ${LACONIC_LACONICD_API_URL:-http://localhost:1317}
     ports:
-      - "5173:5173"
+     - 5173
diff --git a/stack_orchestrator/data/config/fixturenet-laconicd/create-fixturenet.sh b/stack_orchestrator/data/config/fixturenet-laconicd/create-fixturenet.sh
index ed70132d..a7c3f5da 100644
--- a/stack_orchestrator/data/config/fixturenet-laconicd/create-fixturenet.sh
+++ b/stack_orchestrator/data/config/fixturenet-laconicd/create-fixturenet.sh
@@ -88,6 +88,10 @@ if [ "$1" == "clean" ] || [ ! -d "$HOME/.laconicd/data/blockstore.db" ]; then
     sed -i 's/prometheus = false/prometheus = true/g' $HOME/.laconicd/config/config.toml
   fi
 
+  # Run this to allow requests from any origin
+  sed -i 's/cors_allowed_origins.*$/cors_allowed_origins = ["*"]/' $HOME/.laconicd/config/config.toml
+  sed -i 's/enabled-unsafe-cors.*$/enabled-unsafe-cors = true/' $HOME/.laconicd/config/app.toml
+
   # Allocate genesis accounts (cosmos formatted addresses)
   laconicd genesis add-genesis-account $KEY 100000000000000000000000000photon --keyring-backend $KEYRING
 
diff --git a/stack_orchestrator/data/container-build/cerc-ping-pub/scripts/update-explorer-config.sh b/stack_orchestrator/data/container-build/cerc-ping-pub/scripts/update-explorer-config.sh
index 812fa5bd..bc6dd598 100755
--- a/stack_orchestrator/data/container-build/cerc-ping-pub/scripts/update-explorer-config.sh
+++ b/stack_orchestrator/data/container-build/cerc-ping-pub/scripts/update-explorer-config.sh
@@ -22,10 +22,15 @@ fi
 # infers the directory from which to load chain configuration files
 # by the presence or absense of the substring "testnet" in the host name
 # (browser side -- the host name of the host in the address bar of the browser)
-# Accordingly we configure our network in both directories in order to 
+# Accordingly we configure our network in both directories in order to
 # subvert this lunacy.
 explorer_mainnet_config_dir=/app/chains/mainnet
 explorer_testnet_config_dir=/app/chains/testnet
+
+# Create required directories
+mkdir -p $explorer_mainnet_config_dir
+mkdir -p $explorer_testnet_config_dir
+
 config_template_file=/config/chains/laconic-chaindata-template.json
 chain_config_name=laconic.json
 mainnet_config_file=${explorer_mainnet_config_dir}/${chain_config_name}