diff --git a/cmd/cmd.js b/cmd/cmd.js
index 53ba06f1b..dbb43412c 100644
--- a/cmd/cmd.js
+++ b/cmd/cmd.js
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ class Cmd {
       .option('-c, --client [client]', __('Use a specific ethereum client or simulator (supported: %s)', 'geth, testrpc'))
       .option('--loglevel [loglevel]', __('level of logging to display') + ' ["error", "warn", "info", "debug", "trace"]', /^(error|warn|info|debug|trace)$/i, 'debug')
       .option('--locale [locale]', __('language to use (default: en)'))
+      .option('--pipeline [pipeline]', __('webpack config to use (default: production)'))
       .description(__('deploy and build dapp at ') + 'dist/ (default: development)')
       .action(function (env, _options) {
         i18n.setOrDetectLocale(_options.locale);
@@ -107,6 +108,7 @@ class Cmd {
         _options.logLevel = _options.loglevel; // fix casing
         _options.onlyCompile = _options.contracts;
         _options.client = _options.client || 'geth';
+        _options.webpackConfigName = _options.pipeline || 'production';
         embark.build(_options);
       });
   }
@@ -123,6 +125,7 @@ class Cmd {
       .option('--logfile [logfile]', __('filename to output logs (default: %s)', 'none'))
       .option('--loglevel [loglevel]', __('level of logging to display') + ' ["error", "warn", "info", "debug", "trace"]', /^(error|warn|info|debug|trace)$/i, 'debug')
       .option('--locale [locale]', __('language to use (default: en)'))
+      .option('--pipeline [pipeline]', __('webpack config to use (default: development)'))
       .description(__('run dapp (default: %s)', 'development'))
       .action(function (env, options) {
         i18n.setOrDetectLocale(options.locale);
@@ -135,7 +138,8 @@ class Cmd {
           runWebserver: !options.noserver,
           useDashboard: !options.nodashboard,
           logFile: options.logfile,
-          logLevel: options.loglevel
+          logLevel: options.loglevel,
+          webpackConfigName: options.pipeline || 'development'
         });
       });
   }
diff --git a/cmd/cmd_controller.js b/cmd/cmd_controller.js
index 43f5523f1..93af42a4b 100644
--- a/cmd/cmd_controller.js
+++ b/cmd/cmd_controller.js
@@ -84,7 +84,8 @@ class EmbarkController {
       logLevel: options.logLevel,
       context: self.context,
       useDashboard: options.useDashboard,
-      webServerConfig: webServerConfig
+      webServerConfig: webServerConfig,
+      webpackConfigName: options.webpackConfigName
     });
     engine.init();
 
@@ -191,7 +192,8 @@ class EmbarkController {
       logger: options.logger,
       config: options.config,
       plugins: options.plugins,
-      context: this.context
+      context: this.context,
+      webpackConfigName: options.webpackConfigName
     });
     engine.init();
 
diff --git a/lib/core/engine.js b/lib/core/engine.js
index c6857095f..3c54aa368 100644
--- a/lib/core/engine.js
+++ b/lib/core/engine.js
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ class Engine {
     this.useDashboard = options.useDashboard;
     this.webServerConfig = options.webServerConfig;
     this.ipcRole = options.ipcRole;
+    this.webpackConfigName = options.webpackConfigName;
   }
 
   init(_options) {
@@ -102,7 +103,8 @@ class Engine {
       assetFiles: this.config.assetFiles,
       events: this.events,
       logger: this.logger,
-      plugins: this.plugins
+      plugins: this.plugins,
+      webpackConfigName: this.webpackConfigName
     });
     this.events.on('code-generator-ready', function () {
       self.events.request('code', function (abi, contractsJSON) {
diff --git a/lib/pipeline/pipeline.js b/lib/pipeline/pipeline.js
index 76f69e427..b5829f30b 100644
--- a/lib/pipeline/pipeline.js
+++ b/lib/pipeline/pipeline.js
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ class Pipeline {
     this.events = options.events;
     this.logger = options.logger;
     this.plugins = options.plugins;
+    this.webpackConfigName = options.webpackConfigName;
     this.pipelinePlugins = this.plugins.getPluginsFor('pipeline');
   }
 
@@ -81,6 +82,7 @@ class Pipeline {
           });
         });
       },
+        webpackProcess.send({action: constants.pipeline.init, options: {webpackConfigName: self.webpackConfigName}});
       function assetFileWrite(next) {
         async.eachOf(self.assetFiles, function (files, targetFile, cb) {
             async.map(files,
diff --git a/lib/pipeline/webpackProcess.js b/lib/pipeline/webpackProcess.js
index 32e579fb2..ef420626a 100644
--- a/lib/pipeline/webpackProcess.js
+++ b/lib/pipeline/webpackProcess.js
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ let webpackProcess;
 class WebpackProcess extends ProcessWrapper {
   constructor(options) {
     super(options);
-    this.env = options.env;
+    this.webpackConfigName = options.webpackConfigName;
   }
 
   build(file, importsList, callback) {