diff --git a/backend/.env.example b/backend/.env.example
index 218f5c70..2d0e9503 100644
--- a/backend/.env.example
+++ b/backend/.env.example
@@ -17,3 +17,8 @@ FLASK_ENV=development
 
 # Flask monitoring dashboard
 DASHBOARD_CONFIG=fmd_config.cfg
+
+# Cellsam server
+CELLSAM_IP=127.0.0.1
+CELLSAM_PORT=8765
+CELLSAM_SERVER_VERSION=
diff --git a/backend/deepcell_label/client.py b/backend/deepcell_label/client.py
index b2430423..435c8e47 100644
--- a/backend/deepcell_label/client.py
+++ b/backend/deepcell_label/client.py
@@ -1,23 +1,24 @@
 import asyncio
-import os
 import pickle
 import zlib
 
 import websockets
 from flask import current_app
 
+from deepcell_label.config import CELLSAM_IP, CELLSAM_PORT
+
 
 # connects to cell SAM server
 async def perform_send(to_send):
-    uri = os.environ['CELLSAM_SERVER']  # to be replaced with cell SAM server uri
+    uri = f'ws://{CELLSAM_IP}:{CELLSAM_PORT}'
+
     async with websockets.connect(uri, ping_interval=None) as websocket:
         data = {'img': to_send}
-        print(uri)
         pkt = zlib.compress(pickle.dumps(data))
         await websocket.send(pkt)
-        print('sent')
+
         pkt_received = await websocket.recv()
-        print('received')
+
         mask = pickle.loads(zlib.decompress(pkt_received))
         return mask
 
diff --git a/backend/deepcell_label/config.py b/backend/deepcell_label/config.py
index d59e26a0..b787fde3 100644
--- a/backend/deepcell_label/config.py
+++ b/backend/deepcell_label/config.py
@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@
 AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY = config('AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY', default='')
 S3_BUCKET = config('S3_BUCKET', default='deepcell-label-input')
 
+# Cellsam compute server
+CELLSAM_IP = config('CELLSAM_IP', default='')
+CELLSAM_PORT = config('CELLSAM_PORT', default='')
+
 TEMPLATES_AUTO_RELOAD = config('TEMPLATES_AUTO_RELOAD', cast=bool, default=True)
 
 # SQLAlchemy settings