diff --git a/example/primary/.well-known/vep b/example/primary/.well-known/vep
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..2312ce7c85d00c7ac53e3b8e4e22098d29cf7b5d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/example/primary/.well-known/vep
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+{
+    "provisioning": "/provision.html",
+    "authentication": "/sign_in.html",
+    "public-key": {
+        "algorithm":"RS",
+        "n":"12150646309575666544658791157045645163757575303887721078710172478749665834070170928206481109930468203684865378748391106975718718959563139020999088154811587703010353786258781016056954403240590264386124614262627869140351957459406743577995562584260319925426603313709939197457399455483061173844980456364611416651616781677992262613894501858312578942785385470086255995080524454431673067666784338623903663347118104807073332038428581918086381436489000619294471995801952293054002077519255312962379161724622526642212406262043172654176008908362058486885146430345217844546587383034154533029235541666677817563420349484368059586917",
+        "e":"65537"
+    }
+}
diff --git a/example/primary/sample.privatekey b/example/primary/sample.privatekey
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..709fd6223be2bec3a8756525a160c85bf292f189
--- /dev/null
+++ b/example/primary/sample.privatekey
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{"algorithm":"RS","n":"12150646309575666544658791157045645163757575303887721078710172478749665834070170928206481109930468203684865378748391106975718718959563139020999088154811587703010353786258781016056954403240590264386124614262627869140351957459406743577995562584260319925426603313709939197457399455483061173844980456364611416651616781677992262613894501858312578942785385470086255995080524454431673067666784338623903663347118104807073332038428581918086381436489000619294471995801952293054002077519255312962379161724622526642212406262043172654176008908362058486885146430345217844546587383034154533029235541666677817563420349484368059586917","e":"65537","d":"4576260781837071842193157180361592071303664055813671962186294570898545886786914704989861806863508349047919986322940288592423594917052916069629682361493727501615950722587629763634798747809443360175819977323411869539211550207829724456958122453992362737374381640787683739122037791776987029525545151661621734244874349529048661411099247940582269058676233440040049437304921327491451073610454313255668312747483229646664526246661039878272676051442941399721167635066787800827207115116788251299159776482379477214028479230999290715576867912303554133701642412629365556930442426107748834086621121121510537980546710422816219192577"}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/example/primary/sample.publickey b/example/primary/sample.publickey
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..80b7419d0ba320e55ee964b1eaa19b4bcd34ea96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/example/primary/sample.publickey
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{"algorithm":"RS","n":"12150646309575666544658791157045645163757575303887721078710172478749665834070170928206481109930468203684865378748391106975718718959563139020999088154811587703010353786258781016056954403240590264386124614262627869140351957459406743577995562584260319925426603313709939197457399455483061173844980456364611416651616781677992262613894501858312578942785385470086255995080524454431673067666784338623903663347118104807073332038428581918086381436489000619294471995801952293054002077519255312962379161724622526642212406262043172654176008908362058486885146430345217844546587383034154533029235541666677817563420349484368059586917","e":"65537"}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/browserid/primary.js b/lib/browserid/primary.js
index c27ee3207ba31694e8c3612750da7319417668db..442f7b0465122a5a10c018c55ff70e26fa0cc38a 100644
--- a/lib/browserid/primary.js
+++ b/lib/browserid/primary.js
@@ -139,3 +139,35 @@ exports.checkSupport = function(domain, cb) {
     cacheAndReturn(false);
   });
 };
+
+// Support "shimmed primaries" for local development.  That is an environment variable that is any number of
+// CSV values of the form:
+//  <domain>|<origin>|<path to .well-known/vep>,
+// where 'domain' is the domain that we would like to shim.  'origin' is the origin to which traffic should
+// be directed, and 'path to .well-known/vep' is a path to the vep file for the domain
+//
+// defining this env var will pre-seed the cache so local testing can take place.  example:
+//
+// SHIMMED_PRIMARIES=eyedee.me|http://127.0.0.1:10005|example/primary/.well-known/vep
+
+if (process.env['SHIMMED_PRIMARIES']) {
+  var shims = process.env['SHIMMED_PRIMARIES'].split(',');
+  shims.forEach(function(shim) {
+    var a = shim.split('|');
+    var domain = a[0], origin = a[1], path = a[2];
+    var body = require('fs').readFileSync(path);
+    var r = parseWellKnownBody(body, domain);
+    r.urls.auth = r.urls.auth.replace('https://' + domain, origin);
+    r.urls.prov = r.urls.prov.replace('https://' + domain, origin);
+
+    g_cache[domain] = {
+      when: new Date(),
+      status: r.urls,
+      publicKey: r.publicKey
+    };
+
+    console.log("inserted primary info for '" + domain + "' into cache, pointed at '" + origin + "'");
+  });
+}
+
+
diff --git a/resources/static/shared/provisioning.js b/resources/static/shared/provisioning.js
index f01f52b936745c9dd06e6931509b22c07c27c682..4085c6589f01f20942b373a23ed625b1d467206a 100644
--- a/resources/static/shared/provisioning.js
+++ b/resources/static/shared/provisioning.js
@@ -63,13 +63,11 @@ BrowserID.Provisioning = (function() {
       return fail('internal', 'missing required arguments');
     }
 
-    args.url = args.url.replace('https://eyedee.me', 'http://127.0.0.1:9999');
-
     // extract the expected origin from the provisioning url
     // (this may be a different domain than the email domain part, if the
     //  domain delates authority)
     try {
-      var origin = /^(http:\/\/[^\/]+)\//.exec(args.url)[1];
+      var origin = /^(https?:\/\/[^\/]+)\//.exec(args.url)[1];
     } catch(e) { alert(e); }
     if (!origin) {
       return fail('internal', 'bad provisioning url, can\'t extract origin');
diff --git a/scripts/run_locally.js b/scripts/run_locally.js
index 3d41ef3e383c1e866cce85552341d742eb3a0814..24648fc53f6fb2799c9b835c635593268e306758 100755
--- a/scripts/run_locally.js
+++ b/scripts/run_locally.js
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ var daemonsToRun = {
     HOST: HOST
   },
   browserid: {
+    SHIMMED_PRIMARIES: "example.domain|http://" + HOST + ":10005|" + path.join(__dirname, "..", "example", "primary", ".well-known", "vep"),
     PORT: 10002,
     HOST: HOST
   }