diff --git a/packages/@nodepack/service/package.json b/packages/@nodepack/service/package.json
index 0a93ac2..77c1294 100644
--- a/packages/@nodepack/service/package.json
+++ b/packages/@nodepack/service/package.json
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
     "cli-highlight": "^2.1.1",
     "cliui": "^5.0.0",
     "cosmiconfig": "^5.2.1",
+    "deasync": "^0.1.15",
     "dotenv": "^8.1.0",
     "execa": "^2.0.4",
     "find-up": "^4.1.0",
diff --git a/packages/@nodepack/service/src/lib/Service.js b/packages/@nodepack/service/src/lib/Service.js
index 120207c..75b584e 100644
--- a/packages/@nodepack/service/src/lib/Service.js
+++ b/packages/@nodepack/service/src/lib/Service.js
@@ -76,6 +76,9 @@ module.exports = class Service {
 
     /** @type {string} */
     this.configPath = null
+
+    // @ts-ignore
+    process.NODEPACK_SERVICE = this
   }
 
   resolvePlugins () {
diff --git a/packages/@nodepack/service/weback.config.js b/packages/@nodepack/service/weback.config.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5d6c28e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/@nodepack/service/weback.config.js
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+// this file is for cases where we need to access the
+// webpack config as a file when using CLI commands.
+
+const deasync = require('deasync')
+
+async function resolve (cb) {
+  try {
+    /** @type {import('./src/lib/Service')} */
+    let service = process.NODEPACK_SERVICE
+
+    if (!service || process.env.NODEPACK_API_MODE) {
+      const Service = require('./src/lib/Service')
+      service = new Service(process.env.NODEPACK_CONTEXT || process.cwd())
+      await service.init(process.env.NODEPACK_ENV || process.env.NODE_ENV || 'development')
+    }
+
+    const config = await service.resolveWebpackConfig()
+    cb(null, config)
+  } catch (e) {
+    cb(e, null)
+  }
+}
+
+const resolveWebpackConfig = deasync(resolve)
+module.exports = resolveWebpackConfig()