diff --git a/frontend/apps/artcraft-website/src/main.tsx b/frontend/apps/artcraft-website/src/main.tsx
index d966684c4b..5889377881 100644
--- a/frontend/apps/artcraft-website/src/main.tsx
+++ b/frontend/apps/artcraft-website/src/main.tsx
@@ -14,8 +14,7 @@ const root = ReactDOM.createRoot(
 // In development, route API through the Vite dev server origin to avoid CORS
 if (import.meta.env.DEV) {
   try {
-    const origin = window.location.origin;
-    StorytellerApiHostStore.getInstance().setApiSchemeAndHost(origin);
+    StorytellerApiHostStore.getInstance().setDevelopment();
   } catch (e) {
     console.warn("Failed to set dev API host override", e);
   }
diff --git a/frontend/libs/api/src/lib/config/StorytellerApiHostStore.ts b/frontend/libs/api/src/lib/config/StorytellerApiHostStore.ts
index c90da8cb2f..fe62be5e65 100644
--- a/frontend/libs/api/src/lib/config/StorytellerApiHostStore.ts
+++ b/frontend/libs/api/src/lib/config/StorytellerApiHostStore.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 // Artcraft / Storyteller API backend
-const DEFAULT_API_HOST = "https://api.storyteller.ai";
+const DEFAULT_API_HOST_PRODUCTION = "https://api.storyteller.ai";
+const DEFAULT_API_HOST_DEVELOPMENT = "http://localhost:12345";
+
 
 // NB(bt,2025-09-25): 'nx' is creating multiple copies of the library with name 
 //   mangling, so the singleton pattern fails to resolve to a single instance.
@@ -32,7 +34,7 @@ export class StorytellerApiHostStore {
     if ((window as any).STORYTELLER_API_HOST_STORE !== undefined) {
       return (window as any).STORYTELLER_API_HOST_STORE;
     }
-    const instance = new StorytellerApiHostStore(DEFAULT_API_HOST);
+    const instance = new StorytellerApiHostStore(DEFAULT_API_HOST_PRODUCTION);
     (window as any).STORYTELLER_API_HOST_STORE = instance;
     return instance;
   }
@@ -43,6 +45,21 @@ export class StorytellerApiHostStore {
     return this.apiSchemeAndHost;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * This mutates the singleton instance to target development.
+   */
+  public setDevelopment() {
+    console.warn("StorytellerApiHostStore.setDevelopment() - all calls will target development");
+    this.apiSchemeAndHost = DEFAULT_API_HOST_DEVELOPMENT;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * This mutates the singleton instance to target production.
+   */
+  public setProduction() {
+    this.apiSchemeAndHost = DEFAULT_API_HOST_PRODUCTION;
+  }
+
   /** 
    * Externally update the API host. 
    * This is used to sync with Tauri for enabling easier development.