diff --git a/lib/cmd.js b/lib/cmd.js
index 5d60ee2a7..ebc82b249 100644
--- a/lib/cmd.js
+++ b/lib/cmd.js
@@ -181,11 +181,7 @@ class Cmd {
       .option('--loglevel [loglevel]', 'level of logging to display ["error", "warn", "info", "debug", "trace"]', /^(error|warn|info|debug|trace)$/i, 'debug')
       .description('Upload your dapp to a decentralized storage (e.g embark upload ipfs).')
       .action(function (platform, env, _options) {
-        let environment = env || 'development';
-        embark.initConfig(environment, {
-          embarkConfig: 'embark.json', interceptLogs: false
-        });
-        _options.env = environment;
+        _options.env = env || 'development';
         _options.logFile = _options.logfile; // fix casing
         _options.logLevel = _options.loglevel; // fix casing
         embark.upload(platform, _options);
diff --git a/lib/core/engine.js b/lib/core/engine.js
index 53d763b09..a837cdae3 100644
--- a/lib/core/engine.js
+++ b/lib/core/engine.js
@@ -67,7 +67,8 @@ class Engine {
       "webServer": this.webServerService,
       "ipfs": this.ipfsService,
       "web3": this.web3Service,
-      "libraryManager": this.libraryManagerService
+      "libraryManager": this.libraryManagerService,
+      "swarm": this.swarmService
     };
 
     let service = services[serviceName];
@@ -194,6 +195,16 @@ class Engine {
     });
   }
 
+  swarmService(_options) {
+    this.registerModule('swarm', {
+      addCheck: this.servicesMonitor.addCheck.bind(this.servicesMonitor),
+      storageConfig: this.config.storageConfig,
+      host: _options.host,
+      port: _options.port,
+      web3: _options.web3
+    });
+  }
+
   web3Service(options) {
     let self = this;
     this.web3 = options.web3;
diff --git a/lib/index.js b/lib/index.js
index f292c12c5..0cf4fd0fe 100644
--- a/lib/index.js
+++ b/lib/index.js
@@ -256,20 +256,6 @@ class Embark {
   }
 
   upload(platform, options) {
-    
-    // populate options that were instantiated with initConfig to pass around
-    options.buildDir = 'dist/';
-    options.storageConfig = this.config.storageConfig;
-    options.events = this.events;
-    options.logger = this.logger;
-    options.config = this.config;
-
-    // load plugins
-    this.plugins.loadInternalPlugin('ipfs', options);
-    this.plugins.loadInternalPlugin('swarm', options);
-
-    // upddate our options with loaded plugins
-    options.plugins = this.plugins;
 
     let engine = new Engine({
       env: options.env,
@@ -286,11 +272,27 @@ class Embark {
     engine.init();
 
     let cmdPlugin;
-    let self = this;
     async.waterfall([
+      
+      function startServices(callback) {
+        
+        engine.startService("libraryManager");
+        engine.startService("web3");
+        engine.startService("pipeline");
+        engine.startService("codeGenerator");
+        engine.startService("deployment");
+        engine.startService("ipfs");
+        engine.startService("swarm", {buildDir:'dist/',web3: engine.web3});
+        callback();
+      },
       function setupStoragePlugin(callback){
+        let pluginList = engine.plugins.listPlugins();
+        if (pluginList.length > 0) {
+          engine.logger.info("loaded plugins: " + pluginList.join(", "));
+        }
+        
         // check use has input existing storage plugin
-        let cmdPlugins = self.plugins.getPluginsFor('uploadCmds');
+        let cmdPlugins = engine.plugins.getPluginsFor('uploadCmds');
         
         if (cmdPlugins.length > 0) {
           cmdPlugin = cmdPlugins.find((pluginCmd) => {
@@ -298,30 +300,16 @@ class Embark {
           });
         }
         if (!cmdPlugin) {
-          self.logger.info('try "embark upload ipfs" or "embark upload swarm"'.green);
+          engine.logger.info('try "embark upload ipfs" or "embark upload swarm"'.green);
           callback({message: 'unknown platform: ' + platform});
         } else {
           callback();
         }
       },
-      function startServices(callback) {
-        let pluginList = engine.plugins.listPlugins();
-        if (pluginList.length > 0) {
-          engine.logger.info("loaded plugins: " + pluginList.join(", "));
-        }
-
-        engine.startService("libraryManager");
-        engine.startService("web3");
-        engine.startService("pipeline");
-        engine.startService("codeGenerator");
-        engine.startService("deployment");
-        engine.startService("ipfs");
-        callback();
-      },
       function deploy(callback) {
         // 2. upload to storage (outputDone event triggered after webpack finished)
-        self.events.on('outputDone', function () {
-          cmdPlugin.uploadCmds[0].cb({web3: engine.web3})
+        engine.events.on('outputDone', function () {
+          cmdPlugin.uploadCmds[0].cb()
           .then((success) => {
             callback(null, success);
           })
@@ -329,7 +317,7 @@ class Embark {
         });
         // 1. build the contracts and dapp webpack
         engine.deployManager.deployContracts(function (err) {
-          engine.logger.info("finished building".underline);
+          engine.logger.info("finished deploying".underline);
           if(err){
               callback(err);
           }
@@ -337,10 +325,10 @@ class Embark {
       }
     ], function (err, _result) {
       if (err) {
-        self.logger.error(err.message);
-        self.logger.debug(err.stack);
+        engine.logger.error(err.message);
+        engine.logger.debug(err.stack);
       } else {
-        self.logger.info("finished building dapp and deploying to " + platform.underline);
+        engine.logger.info(`finished building DApp and deploying to ${platform}`.underline);
       }
 
       // needed due to child processes
diff --git a/lib/modules/swarm/index.js b/lib/modules/swarm/index.js
index 452f08bd8..b19bf9271 100644
--- a/lib/modules/swarm/index.js
+++ b/lib/modules/swarm/index.js
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ class Swarm {
 
     this.upload_swarm = new UploadSwarm({
       buildDir: options.buildDir || 'dist/',
-      storageConfig: options.storageConfig
+      storageConfig: options.storageConfig,
+      web3: options.web3
     });
 
     embark.registerUploadCommand('swarm', this.upload_swarm.deploy.bind(this.upload_swarm));
diff --git a/lib/modules/swarm/upload.js b/lib/modules/swarm/upload.js
index 4369e8b65..26d11be10 100644
--- a/lib/modules/swarm/upload.js
+++ b/lib/modules/swarm/upload.js
@@ -5,21 +5,18 @@ class Swarm {
   constructor(options) {
     this.options = options;
     this.buildDir = options.buildDir || 'dist/';
+    this.web3 = options.web3;
+    this.storageConfig = options.storageConfig;
   }
 
-  deploy(deployOptions) {
+  deploy() {
     return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
       console.log("deploying to swarm!");
       let self = this;
-      let web3 = (deployOptions || {}).web3;
+      let web3 = this.web3;
       async.waterfall([
-        function findWeb3(callback){
-          if(!web3){
-            callback('web3 must be passed in to the swarm deploy() method');
-          }else callback();
-        },
         function setProvider(callback){
-          web3.bzz.setProvider(`http://${self.options.storageConfig.host}:${self.options.storageConfig.port}`);
+          web3.bzz.setProvider(`http://${self.storageConfig.host}:${self.storageConfig.port}`);
           callback();
         },
         function runCommand(callback) {
@@ -35,7 +32,7 @@ class Swarm {
           .catch(callback);
         },
         function printUrls(dir_hash, callback) {
-          console.log((`=== DApp available at ${self.options.storageConfig.getUrl}${dir_hash}/`).green);
+          console.log((`=== DApp available at ${self.storageConfig.getUrl}${dir_hash}/`).green);
 
           callback();
         }