diff --git a/bin/embark b/bin/embark
index 1a73026d6..045a0823a 100644
--- a/bin/embark
+++ b/bin/embark
@@ -15,12 +15,19 @@ var run = function(cmd) {
 }
 
 var deploy = function(env, embarkConfig) {
-  contractFiles = grunt.file.expand(embarkConfig.contracts);
-  destFile = embarkConfig.output
-  Embark.init()
-  Embark.blockchainConfig.loadConfigFile(embarkConfig.blockchainConfig)
-  Embark.contractsConfig.loadConfigFile(embarkConfig.contractsConfig)
-  abi = Embark.deployContracts(env, contractFiles, destFile)
+  var contractFiles = grunt.file.expand(embarkConfig.contracts);
+  var destFile = embarkConfig.output;
+  var chainFile = embarkConfig.chains;
+
+  Embark.init();
+  Embark.blockchainConfig.loadConfigFile(embarkConfig.blockchainConfig);
+  Embark.contractsConfig.loadConfigFile(embarkConfig.contractsConfig);
+
+  if (chainFile === undefined) {
+    chainFile = './chains.json';
+  }
+
+  abi = Embark.deployContracts(env, contractFiles, destFile, chainFile);
   grunt.file.write(destFile, abi);
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/chain_manager.js b/lib/chain_manager.js
index 517a22d5d..157d6423a 100644
--- a/lib/chain_manager.js
+++ b/lib/chain_manager.js
@@ -4,11 +4,13 @@ var sha3_256 = require('js-sha3').sha3_256;
 
 ChainManager = function() {
   this.currentChain = {};
+  this.file = "";
 }
 
 ChainManager.prototype.loadConfigFile = function(filename) {
   try {
     var obj = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(filename));
+    this.file = filename;
     this.chainManagerConfig = obj;
   } catch (e) {
     throw new Error("error reading " + filename);
@@ -21,9 +23,7 @@ ChainManager.prototype.loadConfig = function(config) {
   return this;
 };
 
-ChainManager.prototype.init = function(env, blockchainConfig) {
-  var config = blockchainConfig.config(env);
-
+ChainManager.prototype.init = function(env, config) {
   web3.setProvider(new web3.providers.HttpProvider("http://" + config.rpcHost + ":" + config.rpcPort));
 
   var chainId = web3.eth.getBlock(0).hash;
@@ -46,5 +46,9 @@ ChainManager.prototype.getContract = function(code) {
   return this.currentChain.contracts[sha3_256(code)];
 }
 
+ChainManager.prototype.save = function() {
+  fs.writeFileSync(this.file, JSON.stringify(this.chainManagerConfig));
+}
+
 module.exports = ChainManager;
 
diff --git a/lib/deploy.js b/lib/deploy.js
index 9378dbabc..53ddb644b 100644
--- a/lib/deploy.js
+++ b/lib/deploy.js
@@ -10,9 +10,11 @@ sleep = function sleep(ms) {
   while (new Date().getTime() < start + ms);
 }
 
-Deploy = function(env, contractFiles, blockchainConfig, contractsConfig) {
+Deploy = function(env, contractFiles, blockchainConfig, contractsConfig, chainManager) {
   //this.blockchainConfig = (new Config.Blockchain()).loadConfigFile('config/blockchain.yml').config(env);
   this.blockchainConfig = blockchainConfig;
+  this.chainManager = chainManager;
+  this.chainManager.init(env, this.blockchainConfig);
 
   //this.contractsManager = (new Config.Contracts(contractFiles,  blockchainConfig)).loadConfigFile('config/contracts.yml');
   this.contractsManager = contractsConfig;
diff --git a/lib/index.js b/lib/index.js
index 25b56b619..b6ce5cc13 100644
--- a/lib/index.js
+++ b/lib/index.js
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ Embark = {
     this.blockchainConfig = (new Config.Blockchain());
     this.compiler         = (new Compiler(this.blockchainConfig));
     this.contractsConfig  = (new Config.Contracts(this.blockchainConfig, this.compiler));
+    this.chainManager     = (new ChainManager());
   },
 
   tests: function(contractFiles) {
@@ -33,9 +34,11 @@ Embark = {
     chain.startChain(use_tmp);
   },
 
-  deployContracts: function(env, contractFiles, destFile) {
+  deployContracts: function(env, contractFiles, destFile, chainFile) {
     this.contractsConfig.init(contractFiles, env);
-    var deploy = new Deploy(env, contractFiles, this.blockchainConfig.config(env), this.contractsConfig);
+
+    this.chainManager.loadConfigFile(chainFile)
+    var deploy = new Deploy(env, contractFiles, this.blockchainConfig.config(env), this.contractsConfig, this.chainManager);
     deploy.deploy_contracts(env);
     return deploy.generate_abi_file(destFile);
   },
diff --git a/test/chain_manager.js b/test/chain_manager.js
index 83a63d8d3..26dcd13dd 100644
--- a/test/chain_manager.js
+++ b/test/chain_manager.js
@@ -2,10 +2,14 @@ var ChainManager = require('../lib/chain_manager.js');
 var Config = require('../lib/config/config.js');
 var Blockchain = require('../lib/blockchain.js');
 var assert = require('assert');
+var fs = require('fs');
 
 describe('embark.chain_manager', function() {
-  var chainManager = (new ChainManager()).loadConfigFile('./test/support/chain_manager.json');
-  var blockchainConfig = (new Config.Blockchain()).loadConfigFile('test/support/blockchain.yml');
+  var chainFile = './test/support/chain_manager.json';
+  fs.writeFileSync(chainFile, '{}');
+
+  var chainManager = (new ChainManager()).loadConfigFile(chainFile);
+  var blockchainConfig = (new Config.Blockchain()).loadConfigFile('test/support/blockchain.yml').config('development');
 
   describe('#init', function() {
     chainManager.init('development', blockchainConfig);
@@ -41,4 +45,16 @@ describe('embark.chain_manager', function() {
 
   });
 
+  describe('#save', function() {
+
+    it('should save changes in the chain', function() {
+      chainManager.save();
+
+      var chainFile = './test/support/chain_manager.json';
+      var content = fs.readFileSync(chainFile).toString();
+      assert.equal(content, '{"0x629e768beb87dc8c54a475d310a7196e86c97d0006e5a6d34a8217726c90223f":{"contracts":{"d7190eb194ff9494625514b6d178c87f99c5973e28c398969d2233f2960a573e":{"name":"Foo","address":"0x123"}}}}');
+    });
+
+  });
+
 });
diff --git a/test/deploy.js b/test/deploy.js
index c52ddfe35..c5df8511e 100644
--- a/test/deploy.js
+++ b/test/deploy.js
@@ -9,10 +9,11 @@ setDeployConfig = function(config) {
   var blockchainConfig = _blockchainConfig.config("development");
   var compiler = new Compiler(_blockchainConfig);
   var contractsConfig = new Config.Contracts(blockchainConfig, compiler);
+  var chainManager = (new ChainManager()).loadConfigFile('./test/support/chain_manager.json');
   contractsConfig.loadConfigFile(config.contracts);
   contractsConfig.init(config.files, 'development');
   compiler.init('development');
-  return new Deploy('development', config.files, blockchainConfig, contractsConfig);
+  return new Deploy('development', config.files, blockchainConfig, contractsConfig, chainManager);
 }
 
 describe('embark.deploy', function() {
diff --git a/test/support/chain_manager.json b/test/support/chain_manager.json
index 0967ef424..ccb1943fb 100644
--- a/test/support/chain_manager.json
+++ b/test/support/chain_manager.json
@@ -1 +1 @@
-{}
+{"0x629e768beb87dc8c54a475d310a7196e86c97d0006e5a6d34a8217726c90223f":{"contracts":{"d7190eb194ff9494625514b6d178c87f99c5973e28c398969d2233f2960a573e":{"name":"Foo","address":"0x123"}}}}
\ No newline at end of file