diff --git a/docker/docker-compose-separate-msl-api.yml b/docker/docker-compose-separate-msl-api.yml
index 8d4b4d5..98303ff 100644
--- a/docker/docker-compose-separate-msl-api.yml
+++ b/docker/docker-compose-separate-msl-api.yml
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ volumes:
   nginx_certificates:
   mslapi_signal:
   mslapi_storage:
+  ckan_api_key:
 
 services:
   ckan:
@@ -38,6 +39,7 @@ services:
        - CKAN_SITE_URL=${CKAN_SITE_URL}
        - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
      volumes:
+       - ckan_api_key:/ckan_api_key
        - ckan_config:/etc/ckan
        - ckan_home:/usr/lib/ckan
        - ckan_storage:/var/lib/ckan
@@ -78,6 +80,7 @@ services:
       -  MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=${MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD}
       -  MSLAPI_ROLE=WEBSERVER
     volumes:
+      -  ckan_api_key:/ckan_api_key
       -  mslapi_signal:/signal
       -  mslapi_storage:/storage
 
@@ -88,6 +91,7 @@ services:
       -  MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=${MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD}
       -  MSLAPI_ROLE=QUEUE_WORKER
     volumes:
+      -  ckan_api_key:/ckan_api_key
       -  mslapi_signal:/signal
       -  mslapi_storage:/storage
 
diff --git a/docker/docker-compose.yml b/docker/docker-compose.yml
index 50ebd5e..de344bf 100644
--- a/docker/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker/docker-compose.yml
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ volumes:
   nginx_certificates:
   mslapi_signal:
   mslapi_storage:
+  ckan_api_key:
 
 services:
   ckan:
@@ -38,6 +39,7 @@ services:
        - CKAN_SITE_URL=${CKAN_SITE_URL}
        - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
      volumes:
+       - ckan_api_key:/ckan_api_key
        - ckan_config:/etc/ckan
        - ckan_home:/usr/lib/ckan
        - ckan_storage:/var/lib/ckan
@@ -80,6 +82,7 @@ services:
       -  MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=${MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD}
       -  MSLAPI_ROLE=BOTH
     volumes:
+      -  ckan_api_key:/ckan_api_key
       -  mslapi_signal:/signal
       -  mslapi_storage:/storage
 
diff --git a/docker/images/ckan/Dockerfile b/docker/images/ckan/Dockerfile
index b9a8ef9..e758350 100644
--- a/docker/images/ckan/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/images/ckan/Dockerfile
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ RUN apt-get -q -y update \
         sqlite3 \
         pwgen \
         uuid-runtime \
+        sudo \
     && apt-get -q clean \
     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
@@ -80,6 +81,7 @@ ADD ckan-uwsgi.ini /etc/ckan/default/ckan-uwsgi.ini
 ENV PATH=${CKAN_VENV}/bin:${PATH}
 ENV EPOS_MSL_FQDN=epos-msl.local
 ENV CKAN_ADMIN_PASSWORD="testtest"
+ENV CKAN_MSLAPI_PASSWORD="testtest"
 
 # Install CKAN and plugins
 RUN ckan-pip3 install -U pip && \
@@ -103,7 +105,7 @@ ADD ./ckan-entrypoint.sh /ckan-entrypoint.sh
 ENTRYPOINT ["/ckan-entrypoint.sh"]
 RUN chmod +x /ckan-entrypoint.sh
 
-USER ckan
+USER root
 EXPOSE 8080
 
 CMD ["/ckan-entrypoint.sh"]
diff --git a/docker/images/ckan/ckan-entrypoint.sh b/docker/images/ckan/ckan-entrypoint.sh
index 580e5f5..b54c7db 100644
--- a/docker/images/ckan/ckan-entrypoint.sh
+++ b/docker/images/ckan/ckan-entrypoint.sh
@@ -53,7 +53,11 @@ else echo "Initializing configuration ..."
      echo "Initializing database ..."
      /usr/lib/ckan/default/bin/ckan -c "$CKAN_CONFIG_FILE" db init
      /usr/lib/ckan/default/bin/ckan -c "$CKAN_CONFIG_FILE" user add ckanadmin password="$CKAN_ADMIN_PASSWORD" email=ckanadmin@localhost name=ckanadmin
+     /usr/lib/ckan/default/bin/ckan -c "$CKAN_CONFIG_FILE" user add mslapi password="$CKAN_MSLAPI_PASSWORD" email=mslapi@localhost name=mslapi
      /usr/lib/ckan/default/bin/ckan -c "$CKAN_CONFIG_FILE" sysadmin add ckanadmin
+     /usr/lib/ckan/default/bin/ckan -c "$CKAN_CONFIG_FILE" sysadmin add mslapi
+     sudo chown ckan /ckan_api_key
+     /usr/lib/ckan/default/bin/ckan -c "$CKAN_CONFIG_FILE" user token add mslapi mslapi | tail -1 | sed 's/^\t//' > /ckan_api_key/api.key
      touch "$CKAN_INIT_STATUS_FILE"
      echo "Configuration and database initialization finished."
 fi
diff --git a/docker/images/msl-api/msl-api-entrypoint.sh b/docker/images/msl-api/msl-api-entrypoint.sh
index dbe560c..ec7c88d 100644
--- a/docker/images/msl-api/msl-api-entrypoint.sh
+++ b/docker/images/msl-api/msl-api-entrypoint.sh
@@ -40,6 +40,17 @@ CREATE USER 'msl'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'msl';
 GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON mslapi.* TO 'msl'@'%';
 FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
 "
+
+         # Wait until CKAN API key has been generated, then
+         # add it to the config.
+         CKAN_API_KEY_FILE="/ckan_api_key/api.key"
+         while ! [ -f "$CKAN_API_KEY_FILE" ]
+         do echo "Waiting for CKAN API key to be available ..."
+                 sleep 1
+         done
+         export CKAN_API_KEY=$(cat "$CKAN_API_KEY_FILE")
+         perl -pi.bak -e '$ckan_api_key=$ENV{CKAN_API_KEY}; s/PUT_API_TOKEN_HERE/"$ckan_api_key"/ge' "/var/www/msl_api/.env"
+
          cd /var/www/msl_api
 	 # Initialize the MSL-API application
 	 set -x