diff --git a/api/src/docker/README.md b/api/src/docker/README.md
index 1d27432..d1d0624 100644
--- a/api/src/docker/README.md
+++ b/api/src/docker/README.md
@@ -13,20 +13,21 @@ You'll need to have Docker installed
 
 Because of the way the docker containers to be deployed as lambdas on aws are somewhat specialised for the purpose we're using `docker-compose` to spin one up for each function/endpoint. So we've added a aws-emulation layer
 
-first cd into this folder `cd api/src/docker`
-then
+
+Then cd into this folder `cd api/src/docker` and:
 
 ```bash
 docker-compose up --build
 ```
-The first time you run the, when it has to build the main image it will take some time, but launching again will be quicker.
+The first time you run this, it has to build the main image it will take some time, but launching again will be quicker.
 
 After which we'll also spin up a light express server to act as an emulator to transform some the request from the front end into how the lambda's expect them.
 ```
 yarn install
 yarn emulate
 ```
-You can now change the url in `web/src/helpers/cadPackages/openScadController.js` from the aws url to `http://localhost:8080`
+You can now add OPENSCAD_BASE_URL="http://localhost:8080" to you .env file and restart your main dev process (`yarn rw dev`)
+comment that line out if you want to go back to using the aws endpoint (and restart the dev process).
 
 If you change anything in the `api/src/docker/openscad` directory, you will need to stop the docker process and restart it (will be fairly quick if you're only changing the js)
 
diff --git a/web/src/helpers/cadPackages/openScadController.js b/web/src/helpers/cadPackages/openScadController.js
index 48034d2..5fc69dc 100644
--- a/web/src/helpers/cadPackages/openScadController.js
+++ b/web/src/helpers/cadPackages/openScadController.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-// const openScadBaseURL = 'http://localhost:8080' // for local development
-const openScadBaseURL =
+let openScadBaseURL =
+  process.env.OPENSCAD_BASE_URL ||
   'https://x2wvhihk56.execute-api.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/dev'
 
 export const render = async ({ code, settings }) => {