diff --git a/lib/cmd.js b/lib/cmd.js
index e6e17848..12cd67b8 100644
--- a/lib/cmd.js
+++ b/lib/cmd.js
@@ -170,13 +170,15 @@ class Cmd {
   upload() {
     program
       .command('upload [platform] [environment]')
+      .option('--logfile [logfile]', 'filename to output logs (default: none)')
       .description('upload your dapp to a decentralized storage (e.g embark upload ipfs)')
       .action(function (platform, env, _options) {
-        // TODO: get env in cmd line as well
-        embark.initConfig(env || 'development', {
+        let environment = env || 'development';
+        embark.initConfig(environment, {
           embarkConfig: 'embark.json', interceptLogs: false
         });
-        embark.upload(platform);
+        _options.env = environment;
+        embark.upload(platform, _options);
       });
   }
 
diff --git a/lib/index.js b/lib/index.js
index dcb5ac66..abf2f222 100644
--- a/lib/index.js
+++ b/lib/index.js
@@ -247,11 +247,18 @@ class Embark {
   }
 
   // TODO: should deploy if it hasn't already
-  upload(platform) {
-    let options = {
-      buildDir: 'dist/',
-      storageConfig: this.config.storageConfig
-    };
+  upload(platform, options) {
+    
+    options.buildDir = 'dist/';
+    options.storageConfig = this.config.storageConfig;
+
+    let engine = new Engine({
+      env: options.env,
+      version: this.version,
+      embarkConfig: options.embarkConfig || 'embark.json',
+      logfile: options.logfile
+    });
+    engine.init();
 
     this.plugins.loadInternalPlugin('ipfs', options);
     this.plugins.loadInternalPlugin('swarm', options);
@@ -265,11 +272,54 @@ class Embark {
     }
 
     if (cmdPlugin) {
-      cmdPlugin.uploadCmds[0].cb();
+      async.waterfall([
+
+        function buildDapp(callback){
+          engine.logger.debug('building dapp...');
+          engine.startMonitor();
+          engine.startService("libraryManager");
+          engine.startService("web3");
+          engine.startService("pipeline");
+          engine.startService("codeGenerator");
+          engine.startService("deployment");
+          engine.startService("ipfs");
+          
+          engine.events.on('outputDone', function () {
+            engine.logger.debug('deploying...');
+            cmdPlugin.uploadCmds[0].cb();
+            callback();
+          });
+
+          // build the contracts
+          engine.contractsManager.build(function(){
+            // trigger code generation and dapp webpack
+            engine.events.emit('asset-changed', engine.contractsManager);
+          });
+
+          
+        },
+        function upload(callback){
+          
+          callback();
+        }
+      ], function (err, _result) {
+        if (err) {
+          engine.logger.error(err.message);
+          engine.logger.debug(err.stack);
+        } else {
+          engine.logger.info("finished building dapp and deploying to " + platform.underline);
+        }
+
+        // needed due to child processes
+        process.exit();
+      });
+      
     } else {
-      console.log(("unknown platform: " + platform).red);
-      console.log('try "embark upload ipfs" or "embark upload swarm"'.green);
+      engine.logger.error(("unknown platform: " + platform));
+      engine.logger.info('try "embark upload ipfs" or "embark upload swarm"'.green);
     }
+
+    
   }
 
   runTests(file) {