diff --git a/app/build_containers.py b/app/build_containers.py
index f8edb0b3..43888b3d 100644
--- a/app/build_containers.py
+++ b/app/build_containers.py
@@ -64,6 +64,12 @@ def command(ctx, include, exclude):
     if verbose:
         print(f'Containers: {containers}')
 
+    # TODO: make this configurable
+    container_build_env = {
+        "CERC_NPM_URL": "http://host.docker.internal:3000/api/packages/cerc-io/npm/",
+        "CERC_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN": os.environ["CERC_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN"]
+    }
+
     def process_container(container):
         if not quiet:
             print(f"Building: {container}")
diff --git a/container-build/cerc-laconic-registry-cli/Dockerfile b/container-build/cerc-laconic-registry-cli/Dockerfile
index 45ec0a8c..ba22a5c9 100644
--- a/container-build/cerc-laconic-registry-cli/Dockerfile
+++ b/container-build/cerc-laconic-registry-cli/Dockerfile
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ ARG USERNAME=node
 ARG NPM_GLOBAL=/usr/local/share/npm-global
 
 # This container pulls npm packages from a local registry configured via these env vars
-ARG CERC_LOCAL_NPM_URL
-ARG CERC_LOCAL_NPM_TOKEN
+ARG CERC_NPM_URL
+ARG CERC_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN
 
 # Add NPM global to PATH.
 ENV PATH=${NPM_GLOBAL}/bin:${PATH}
@@ -40,10 +40,10 @@ RUN apt-get update && export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive \
 # RUN su node -c "npm install -g <your-package-list-here>"
 
 # Configure the local npm registry
-RUN npm config set @lirewine:registry ${CERC_LOCAL_NPM_URL} \
-    && npm config set @cerc-io:registry ${CERC_LOCAL_NPM_URL} \
-    && npm config set @lirewine:registry ${CERC_LOCAL_NPM_URL} \
-    && npm config set -- ${CERC_LOCAL_NPM_URL}:_authToken ${CERC_LOCAL_NPM_TOKEN}
+RUN npm config set @lirewine:registry ${CERC_NPM_URL} \
+    && npm config set @cerc-io:registry ${CERC_NPM_URL} \
+    && npm config set @lirewine:registry ${CERC_NPM_URL} \
+    && npm config set -- ${CERC_NPM_URL}:_authToken ${CERC_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN}
 
 # TODO: the image at this point could be made a base image for several different CLI images
 # that install different Node-based CLI commands
diff --git a/container-build/cerc-laconic-registry-cli/build.sh b/container-build/cerc-laconic-registry-cli/build.sh
index 43ec55a7..fa29fa4b 100755
--- a/container-build/cerc-laconic-registry-cli/build.sh
+++ b/container-build/cerc-laconic-registry-cli/build.sh
@@ -6,4 +6,4 @@ SCRIPT_DIR=$( cd -- "$( dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" &> /dev/null && pwd )
 
 docker build -t cerc/laconic-registry-cli:local -f ${SCRIPT_DIR}/Dockerfile \
   --add-host host.docker.internal:host-gateway \
-  --build-arg CERC_LOCAL_NPM_TOKEN --build-arg CERC_LOCAL_NPM_URL ${SCRIPT_DIR}
+  --build-arg CERC_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN --build-arg CERC_NPM_URL ${SCRIPT_DIR}