diff --git a/src/bioregistry/app/cli.py b/src/bioregistry/app/cli.py
index d5ea5868a..eb53543af 100644
--- a/src/bioregistry/app/cli.py
+++ b/src/bioregistry/app/cli.py
@@ -71,6 +71,10 @@ def web(
     app = get_app(
         manager=manager,
         config=config,
+        first_party=registry is None
+        and metaregistry is None
+        and collections is None
+        and contexts is None,
     )
     run_app(
         app=app,
diff --git a/src/bioregistry/app/impl.py b/src/bioregistry/app/impl.py
index 0889d3847..11b7e625a 100644
--- a/src/bioregistry/app/impl.py
+++ b/src/bioregistry/app/impl.py
@@ -87,12 +87,15 @@
 
 
 def get_app(
-    manager: Optional[Manager] = None, config: Union[None, str, Path, Mapping[str, Any]] = None
+    manager: Optional[Manager] = None,
+    config: Union[None, str, Path, Mapping[str, Any]] = None,
+    first_party: bool = True,
 ) -> Flask:
     """Prepare the flask application.
 
     :param manager: A pre-configured manager. If none given, uses the default manager.
     :param config: Additional configuration to be passed to the flask application. See below.
+    :param first_party: Set to true if deploying the "canonical" bioregistry instance
     :returns: An instantiated flask application
     :raises ValueError: if there's an issue with the configuration's integrity
     """
@@ -109,13 +112,9 @@ def get_app(
     app.config.setdefault("METAREGISTRY_VERSION", version.get_version())
     app.config.setdefault("METAREGISTRY_EXAMPLE_PREFIX", "chebi")
     app.config.setdefault("METAREGISTRY_EXAMPLE_IDENTIFIER", "138488")
+    app.config.setdefault("METAREGISTRY_FIRST_PARTY", first_party)
 
-    if manager is None:
-        manager = resource_manager.manager
-        app.config.setdefault("METAREGISTRY_FIRST_PARTY", True)
-    else:
-        app.config.setdefault("METAREGISTRY_FIRST_PARTY", False)
-    app.manager = manager
+    app.manager = manager or resource_manager.manager
 
     example_prefix = app.config["METAREGISTRY_EXAMPLE_PREFIX"]
     resource = app.manager.registry.get(example_prefix)
@@ -143,12 +142,12 @@ def get_app(
                     "url": "https://github.com/biopragmatics/bioregistry/blob/main/LICENSE",
                 },
             },
-            "host": manager.base_url,
+            "host": app.manager.base_url,
             "tags": [
                 {
                     "name": "collections",
                     "externalDocs": {
-                        "url": f"{manager.base_url}/collection/",
+                        "url": f"{app.manager.base_url}/collection/",
                     },
                 },
             ],
diff --git a/src/bioregistry/constants.py b/src/bioregistry/constants.py
index f9746bdd0..342920fb8 100644
--- a/src/bioregistry/constants.py
+++ b/src/bioregistry/constants.py
@@ -97,8 +97,11 @@
 CURIE_VALIDATION_DATA_PATH = CURIE_VALIDATION.joinpath("data.tsv")
 CURIE_VALIDATION_SVG_PATH = CURIE_VALIDATION.joinpath("results.svg")
 
+BIOREGISTRY_DEFAULT_BASE_URL = "https://bioregistry.io"
 #: The URL of the remote Bioregistry site
-BIOREGISTRY_REMOTE_URL = pystow.get_config("bioregistry", "url") or "https://bioregistry.io"
+BIOREGISTRY_REMOTE_URL = pystow.get_config(
+    "bioregistry", "url", default=BIOREGISTRY_DEFAULT_BASE_URL
+)
 
 #: Resolution is broken on identifiers.org for the following
 IDOT_BROKEN = {