diff --git a/app/__init__.py b/app/__init__.py
index fc5c73b8e..926fd5f13 100644
--- a/app/__init__.py
+++ b/app/__init__.py
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ def create_app(config_name):
 
     application.config['NOTIFY_API_ENVIRONMENT'] = config_name
     application.config.from_object(configs[config_name])
+    if config_name is not 'development':
+        application.config.from_envvar('FLASK_CONFIG')
     db.init_app(application)
     init_app(application)
     init_csrf(application)
diff --git a/appspec.yml b/appspec.yml
index 0ea8d981b..ba8828d98 100644
--- a/appspec.yml
+++ b/appspec.yml
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ hooks:
       timeout: 300
       runas: root
   ApplicationStart:
-    - location: scripts/aws_run_app.sh
+    - location: scripts/aws_start_app.sh
       timeout: 300
-      runas: root
+      runas: ubuntu
+ ApplicationStop:
+    - location: scripts/aws_stop_app.sh
+      timeout: 300
+      runas: ubuntu      
diff --git a/scripts/aws_run_app.sh b/scripts/aws_run_app.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index bd260bc79..000000000
--- a/scripts/aws_run_app.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-echo "Starting application"
-python /home/ubuntu/notifications-admin/app.py runserver &
diff --git a/scripts/aws_start_app.sh b/scripts/aws_start_app.sh
index 1c3743f2c..3ba8676dd 100755
--- a/scripts/aws_start_app.sh
+++ b/scripts/aws_start_app.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
 echo "Starting application"
+export NOTIFICATIONS_ADMIN_ENVIRONMENT='live'
 cd ~/notifications-admin/; 
 sudo service notifications-admin start
\ No newline at end of file