diff --git a/DOCKER/chain_api.sh b/DOCKER/chain_api.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..f5b234a20c5a8ef66fc8fa5cd07ede6f7625dc9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/DOCKER/chain_api.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#! /bin/bash
+
+echo Running chain $CHAIN_ID (via ErisDB API)
+erisdb $TMROOT
diff --git a/DOCKER/start.sh b/DOCKER/start.sh
index f7c8d163638d2288b0a3b7c53dd0f47a801a3a32..b688812756fa147e87455b069400120f03736002 100755
--- a/DOCKER/start.sh
+++ b/DOCKER/start.sh
@@ -108,6 +108,8 @@ case $CMD in
 	;;
 "run" ) $ECM_PATH/chain_run.sh
 	;;
-*)	echo "Enter a command for starting the chain (install, new, run)"
+"api" ) $ECM_PATH/chain_api.sh
+  ;;
+*)	echo "Enter a command for starting the chain (install, new, run, api)"
 	;;
 esac