diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 552f5eb4d..51071e5cd 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -317,6 +317,10 @@ Stop the running container:
 
     docker stop ipfs_host
 
+When starting a container running ipfs for the first time with an empty data directory, it will call `ipfs init` to initialize configuration files and generate a new keypair. At this time, you can choose which profile to apply using the `IPFS_PROFILE` environment variable:
+
+    docker run -d --name ipfs_host -e IPFS_PROFILE=server -v $ipfs_staging:/export -v $ipfs_data:/data/ipfs -p 4001:4001 -p 127.0.0.1:8080:8080 -p 127.0.0.1:5001:5001 ipfs/go-ipfs:latest
+
 ### Troubleshooting
 
 If you have previously installed IPFS before and you are running into problems getting a newer version to work, try deleting (or backing up somewhere else) your IPFS config directory (~/.ipfs by default) and rerunning `ipfs init`. This will reinitialize the config file to its defaults and clear out the local datastore of any bad entries.
diff --git a/bin/container_daemon b/bin/container_daemon
index 81be54dd2..3a0c5fd55 100755
--- a/bin/container_daemon
+++ b/bin/container_daemon
@@ -17,7 +17,11 @@ ipfs version
 if [ -e "$repo/config" ]; then
   echo "Found IPFS fs-repo at $repo"
 else
-  ipfs init
+  case "$IPFS_PROFILE" in
+    "") INIT_ARGS="" ;;
+    *) INIT_ARGS="--profile=$IPFS_PROFILE" ;;
+  esac
+  ipfs init $INIT_ARGS
   ipfs config Addresses.API /ip4/0.0.0.0/tcp/5001
   ipfs config Addresses.Gateway /ip4/0.0.0.0/tcp/8080
 fi