diff --git a/bin/couch-url-rewrite-proxy.js b/bin/couch-url-rewrite-proxy.js
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..302b792
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/couch-url-rewrite-proxy.js
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+const proxy = require('../server')
+
+require('yargs')
+  .command(
+    'start',
+    'start the registry URL rewrite proxy',
+    function (yargs) {
+      return yargs
+        .option('port', {
+          alias: 'p',
+          default: 8080,
+          describe: 'what port should the proxy run on'
+        })
+        .option('upstream', {
+          alias: 'u',
+          default: 'http://127.0.0.1:9999',
+          describe: 'what upstream should the proxy connect to'
+        })
+        .option('front-door-host', {
+          alias: 'f',
+          default: process.env.FRONT_DOOR_HOST || 'https://registry.example.com',
+          describe: 'what external URL should tarball URLs be rewritten to'
+        })
+    },
+    function (argv) {
+      proxy(argv)
+    }
+  )
+  .help()
+  .alias('help', 'h')
+  .demand(1, 'please provide a command to run')
+  .argv
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 89700fb..d1cbf05 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
   "version": "1.0.0",
   "description": "a proxy that rewrites URLs on their way out of couch, making registry migrations easier",
   "main": "server.js",
+  "bin": "bin/couch-url-rewrite-proxy.js",
   "scripts": {
     "coverage": "nyc report --reporter=text-lcov | coveralls",
     "pretest": "standard",
@@ -37,6 +38,7 @@
   "dependencies": {
     "@npm/npm-urls": "^1.0.1",
     "express": "^4.14.0",
-    "request": "^2.72.0"
+    "request": "^2.72.0",
+    "yargs": "^4.7.1"
   }
 }
diff --git a/server.js b/server.js
index f16a4d0..5b88114 100644
--- a/server.js
+++ b/server.js
@@ -9,9 +9,11 @@ function CouchUrlRewriteProxy (opts) {
   function proxy (req, res, next) {
     var payload = {
       method: req.method,
-      url: url.resolve(opts.frontDoorHost, req.path),
+      url: url.resolve(opts.upstream, req.path),
       headers: req.headers,
-      qs: req.query
+      qs: req.query,
+      gzip: true,
+      strictSSL: false
     }
     req.headers.host = 'registry.npmjs.org'
 
@@ -58,7 +60,10 @@ function rewriteUrls (res, status, body, frontDoorHost) {
 }
 
 module.exports = function (opts, cb) {
+  cb = cb || function () {}
   CouchUrlRewriteProxy(opts)
+  console.info('routing', opts.port, 'to', opts.upstream)
+  console.info('rewriting to FRONT_DOOR_HOST =', opts.frontDoorHost)
   var server = app.listen(opts.port, function () {
     console.info('listening on ', opts.port)
     return cb(undefined, server)
diff --git a/test/couch-url-rewrite-proxy.js b/test/couch-url-rewrite-proxy.js
index dee861e..0a6ecd0 100644
--- a/test/couch-url-rewrite-proxy.js
+++ b/test/couch-url-rewrite-proxy.js
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ describe('couch-url-rewrite-proxy', function () {
   before(function (done) {
     proxy({
       port: 9999,
+      upstream: 'http://www.example.com',
       frontDoorHost: 'http://www.example.com'
     }, function (err, _server) {
       if (err) return done(err)