diff --git a/app/adapters/_baseAdapter.js b/app/adapters/_baseAdapter.js
index 6b4759a3f40bf44946ba7fc5f8d497a4fde97faf..4ea1e03d66d542866a2544dbe6eb7c76cc3e32cc 100644
--- a/app/adapters/_baseAdapter.js
+++ b/app/adapters/_baseAdapter.js
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 import Ember from 'ember';
 import RESTAdapter from 'ember-data/adapters/rest';
 import FixtureAdapter from 'ember-data-fixture-adapter';
+import ENV from 'iobserve-ui/config/environment';
 
 export default RESTAdapter.extend({
-    host: 'http://localhost:8080', // TODO: replace with live url
+    host: ENV.APP.API_ROOT,
     namespace: 'v1',
     session: Ember.inject.service()
 });
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/services/changelog-stream.js b/app/services/changelog-stream.js
index ec511b9c954f88a905908932867e2a80f7c9a417..52849dacbf9ea72a9430e45df467aad8f2911e8d 100644
--- a/app/services/changelog-stream.js
+++ b/app/services/changelog-stream.js
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import Ember from 'ember';
+import ENV from 'iobserve-ui/config/environment';
 
 export default Ember.Service.extend({
     changelogQueue: Ember.inject.service(),
@@ -11,7 +12,7 @@ export default Ember.Service.extend({
         this.set('shouldClose', false);
 
         this.debug('setting up websocket', systemId);
-        const socket = new WebSocket(`ws://localhost:8080/v1/changelogstream/${systemId}`); // TODO: from environment!
+        const socket = new WebSocket(`${ENV.APP.WEBSOCKET_ROOT}/v1/changelogstream/${systemId}`);
         this.set('socket', socket);
 
         socket.onopen = this.get('events.onOpen').bind(this);
@@ -19,15 +20,17 @@ export default Ember.Service.extend({
         socket.onmessage = this.get('events.onMessage').bind(this);
 
         // automatically reconnect
-        socket.onclose = () => {
-            if(!this.get('shouldClose')) {
-                this.debug('connection lost, reconnecting!');
-                this.set('reconnectionTimeout', setTimeout(() => {
-                    this.connect(systemId);
-                    this.set('reconnectionTimeout', null);
-                }, 500));
-            }
-        };
+        if(ENV.APP.WEBSOCKET_RECONNECT) {
+            socket.onclose = () => {
+                if(!this.get('shouldClose')) {
+                    this.debug('connection lost, reconnecting!');
+                    this.set('reconnectionTimeout', setTimeout(() => {
+                        this.connect(systemId);
+                        this.set('reconnectionTimeout', null);
+                    }, 500));
+                }
+            };
+        }
 
         // close socket connection when the user closes the window/tab or nagivates to a different website
         window.onbeforeunload = this.get('disconnect').bind(this);
diff --git a/config/environment.js b/config/environment.js
index f4cbd28c0aceeb86be5f89d1eac0908afa6eff6a..6e5811596160f1754ae583622fd609fd211dc5ff 100644
--- a/config/environment.js
+++ b/config/environment.js
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@ module.exports = function(environment) {
     APP: {
       // Here you can pass flags/options to your application instance
       // when it is created
+      API_ROOT: 'http://iobserve-api.herokuapp.com',
+      WEBSOCKET_ROOT: 'ws://iobserve-api.herokuapp.com',
+      WEBSOCKET_RECONNECT: false // not running on heroku/jetty-runner
     }
   };
 
@@ -27,6 +30,10 @@ module.exports = function(environment) {
     // ENV.APP.LOG_TRANSITIONS = true;
     // ENV.APP.LOG_TRANSITIONS_INTERNAL = true;
     // ENV.APP.LOG_VIEW_LOOKUPS = true;
+    ENV.APP.API_ROOT = 'http://localhost:8080';
+    ENV.APP.WEBSOCKET_ROOT = 'ws://localhost:8080';
+    ENV.APP.WEBSOCKET_RECONNECT = true;
+
   }
 
   if (environment === 'test') {