diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 907024e..0c593f2 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@ clean:
 	cat definition.yaml $< | python -c "import sys, yaml, json; json.dump(yaml.load(sys.stdin), sys.stdout, indent=2)" | sed "s|TIMESTAMP|$(shell date -Iseconds --utc)|g" | snap sign -k "$(USER_KEY)" > $@
 snaps/%: deps/%.yaml
 	node build-tool.js --env $(ENV) --channel $(CHANNEL) --board $*
-%.img: %.model snaps/% $(ENV).cloud-init.yaml # build an image
+.cloud-init.yaml: $(ENV).cloud-init.yaml
+	cat $(ENV).cloud-init.yaml | USER_EMAIL=$(USER_EMAIL) envsubst > .cloud-init.yaml
+%.img: %.model snaps/% .cloud-init.yaml # build an image
 	sudo ubuntu-image snap -o $@ --cloud-init $(ENV).cloud-init.yaml -c $(CHANNEL) $<
 
 # VM stuff
diff --git a/dev.cloud-init.yaml b/dev.cloud-init.yaml
index 5ff1928..a5df021 100644
--- a/dev.cloud-init.yaml
+++ b/dev.cloud-init.yaml
@@ -13,4 +13,4 @@ network:
       nameservers:
         addresses: [1.1.1.1, 1.0.0.1]
 snappy:
-  email: mkg20001@gmail.com
+  email: $USER_EMAIL