diff --git a/scripts/show_config.js b/scripts/show_config.js
index db4073ad7a39882f5e8c7c45ac704835a0df874d..857e511ddbf29967157a348eab0fbd5ee1aa7778 100755
--- a/scripts/show_config.js
+++ b/scripts/show_config.js
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env node
 
+var path = require('path');
+
+// use the 'local' configuration if one isn't explicitly specified in the environment
+process.env['CONFIG_FILES'] = process.env['CONFIG_FILES'] ||
+  path.join(__dirname, '..', 'config', 'local.json');
+
 console.log(require("../lib/configuration.js").toString());