diff --git a/environment.sh b/environment.sh
index 7b9a1e5..168f5eb 100755
--- a/environment.sh
+++ b/environment.sh
@@ -10,13 +10,22 @@ echo "Loading IOC environment for BL45P ..."
 
 # a mapping between genenric IOC repo roots and the related container registry
 export EC_REGISTRY_MAPPING='github.com=ghcr.io gitlab.diamond.ac.uk=gcr.io/diamond-privreg/controls/ioc'
+# the namespace to use for kubernetes deployments
 export EC_K8S_NAMESPACE=bl45p
+# the git organisation used for beamline repositories
 export EC_GIT_ORG=https://github.com/epics-containers
+# the git repo for this beamline (or accelerator domain)
+export EC_DOMAIN_REPO=git@github.com:epics-containers/bl45p.git
+# declare your centralised log server Web UI
 export EC_LOG_URL='https://graylog2.diamond.ac.uk/search?rangetype=relative&fields=message%2Csource&width=1489&highlightMessage=&relative=172800&q=pod_name%3A{ioc_name}*'
-# export EC_CONTAINER_CLI=podman (uncomment to enforce a specific container cli)
-# export EC_DEBUG=1 (uncomment to enable debug output)
+# enforce a specific container cli - defaults to whatever is available
+# export EC_CONTAINER_CLI=podman
+# enable debug output in all 'ec' commands
+# export EC_DEBUG=1
 
 # the following configures kubernetes inside DLS.
+# replace this with however your cluster is configured - essenially needs to
+# ~/.kube/config
 if module --version &> /dev/null; then
     if module avail pollux > /dev/null; then
         module unload pollux > /dev/null
@@ -24,13 +33,16 @@ if module --version &> /dev/null; then
     fi
 fi
 
-# must be in a venv and this is the reliable check
-if python3 -c 'import sys; sys.exit(0 if sys.base_prefix==sys.prefix else 1)'
-then
-    echo "ERROR: Please activate a virtualenv and re-run"
-else
-    if ! ec --version &> /dev/null; then
+# check if epics-containers-cli (ec command) is installed and install if not
+if ! ec --version &> /dev/null; then
+    # must be in a venv and this is the reliable check
+    if python3 -c 'import sys; sys.exit(0 if sys.base_prefix==sys.prefix else 1)'; then
+        echo "ERROR: Please activate a virtualenv and re-run"
+        return
+    elif ! ec --version &> /dev/null; then
         pip install epics-containers-cli
     fi
-    ec --install-completion ${SHELL} &> /dev/null
 fi
+
+# enable shell completion for ec commands
+source <(ec --show-completion ${SHELL})